Turn ‘Underperforming’ Content into Conversion Gold

‍What if your 'worst' content is actually driving conversions?

Marketers have long measured content success by its traffic and engagement—how many views, how long someone stays on a page and how far they scroll. But what if we told you that some of the most effective conversion drivers don’t follow that pattern at all?

At Knotch, we analyzed thousands of content pages and found that pages with low scroll depth (10% or less) and short time on page (under 30 seconds) can play a critical role in driving conversions—if recirculation is high. Recirculation measures how often a visitor continues their journey to another page, rather than exiting the website.

This means marketers might be overlooking one of the easiest ways to improve conversion rates—and by extension, revenue. The conversion rate associated with these pages reflects users who visited the page in their journey, and either converted on that page, or converted later, on a different page.

Key Findings: The Hidden Revenue in Low-Engagement Pages

1. Low Scroll Depth & Low Time on Page Alone Do Not Mean Failure

Pages with low engagement metrics (scroll depth under 10% and time on page under 30s) are often assumed to be ineffective. But our data shows that when these pages have high recirculation rates (81%+), they play a force multiplier role to increase conversion rates across the journey. Pages with low scroll depth and low time on page but an 81%+ recirculation rate contributed to nearly 4.5x higher conversion impact than similar pages with a low recirculation rate (0-20%). This suggests that while users may not convert directly on these pages, they are essential stops along the path to conversion.

Takeaway: High recirculation can counteract low engagement, keeping users in the journey and moving toward higher-converting pages—and ultimately increasing overall journey conversion rates.

2. Recirculation Without Purpose Can Kill Conversions

While guiding users to new content is valuable, recirculation without direction doesn't necessarily lead to conversions. If users are bouncing between pages without finding what they need, they may drop off instead of converting.

• Example: Pages with mid-range recirculation (41-60%) but no clear content pathways often showed much lower conversion rates than those with more structured navigation.

Takeaway: Recirculation should be intentional—misalignment between content and user needs can weaken conversion impact and hurt revenue potential. The goal is to ensure that recirculating users progress towards conversion, even if that doesn't happen in the same session. At Knotch, we call this solving for the "missing middle".

3. High Recirculation + Strategic Content Flow = Maximum Revenue Impact

The most successful conversion pathways combine high recirculation (81%+) with strong internal linking to relevant, action-driven pages.

Takeaway: Brands should identify what’s driving high recirculation on successful pages and replicate those elements on low-scroll, low-time pages to maximize ROI.

How You Can Capture More Revenue from These Pages

1. Identify High-Recirculation, High-Conversion Pages

• Look for pages with high recirculation rates (60%+) and strong conversion performance.
• Analyze what’s keeping users engaged—is it strong CTAs, relevant internal links, or suggested next steps?

2. Apply High-Performing Recirculation Strategies to Low-Engagement Pages

• Use HVAs (High-Value Actions) to encourage users to continue their journey.
• Implement stronger internal linking to guide users toward conversion-oriented pages.
• Ensure that next-step recommendations are aligned with user intent—avoid sending users down content rabbit holes that don’t lead to action.

3. A/B Test Content Journeys to Find the Highest ROI Pathways

• Experiment with different calls to action (CTAs) and recommended content placements.
• Track whether conversion rates improve when adding high-recirculation tactics to low-engagement pages.

A low scroll depth or short time on page doesn’t mean failure—if recirculation is strong, these pages can grow conversion across the user journey. Instead of disregarding them, marketers should see them as opportunities to refine their user journey strategy and maximize ROI.

By identifying what’s working for high-recirculation, high-converting pages and applying those lessons to low-scroll, low-time pages, brands can create a more effective content ecosystem that keeps users engaged, moves them towards conversion, and ultimately creates revenue across their whole journey.

‍Introducing Knotch Labs: Elevating Content Marketing with Data-Driven Insights

Knotch Labs is your go-to source for cutting-edge insights in content marketing. By harnessing Knotch's content intelligence data, we analyze brand sentiment, content engagement, conversions, and journey tracking to uncover key trends, identify benchmarks and highlight opportunities to help keep you ahead of the curve and drive impactful business results.

‍
Published February 10, 2025