E-commerce and payments
What is Conversion rate?
Conversion rate is the proportion of visitors who complete the action you care about — a purchase, an enquiry, a booking. It is only meaningful when segmented, because a blended figure hides the device, channel or page where the problem actually is.
Also called: CVR · conversion optimisation
Segments that reveal the problem
- By device: mobile and desktop behave differently enough that the average is misleading
- By channel: organic search, direct and referral arrive with different intent
- By landing page: the home page and a product page convert for different reasons
- By new versus returning, which are effectively two different audiences
The measurement trap
Comparing your rate to an industry benchmark tells you almost nothing, because benchmarks average across price points, categories and traffic mixes that have nothing in common with yours. Compare against your own trend instead.
What usually moves it most on a small site
- Making the cost and the next step obvious
- Removing steps and fields that are not needed to complete the order
- Fixing mobile form behaviour, which is where most sessions are
- Adding the specific proof that answers the objection — reviews, delivery dates, a real contact route
- Speed, on the pages where sessions start and end
Where this is covered in depth
A definition can only go so far. Why checkouts get abandoned, and which fixes belong in the build covers this properly — 2 minutes, free, no email required.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan. These definitions come from client work rather than from a content brief — where an entry describes a mistake, it is usually one found on a real site. More about how I work.