A question I am asked frequently is what is the average conversion rate for an e-commerce website or for any website for that matter. There is a basic answer and a more complicated yet more practical one.
For the basic answer I reference a recent study conducted by Forrester as presented in an article from the August 2007 edition of Target Marketing Magazine. The article stated, “Forrester research indicates that the average conversion rate – that is the ratio of orders to overall site visits – is 2.9 percent.”
About three-fourths of the e-commerce companies I have worked with to improve their conversion rate (defined the same way as indicated above) initially reported to me a conversion rate of less than 1.0 percent. Therefore, from my experience the average conversion rate among small to mid-size businesses (ones probably not well represented in Forrester’s study) is maybe closer to 1.5 percent.
NOTE: If anyone has expereince with a larger number of samll to mid-size e-comemrce sites, please send me your thougths on the average conversion rate! It would be a great information for everyone to know.
For lead generation and other non e-commerce sites, the conversion rate fluctuates drastically. I have not found reliable average conversion rate figures yet for non e-commerce sites but I assume that subscription sites could expereince similar to slightly higher rates (around 2.9 to 6 percent) while lead forms could reach even higher levels around 8% to over 20%. Certainly variables like B2B versus B2C, the type of offer,the type of attracted visitors (advertising methods), incentivizied vs. not incentivized, quality/relevance of creative and so on will influence the conversion rates.
The paragraph above and its obscure assumptions lead perfectly into the “more complicated yet more practical” response.
Comparing conversion rates within markets or worse across industries is difficult if not almost impossible. There are so many variables affecting conversion rates. More importantly a conversion rate metric provides no indication of profitablility – the number that really matters. Knowing an “average conversion rate” is nice but you should really be concerned with what conversion rate you need to achieve to drive profitable leads, subscriptions, sales or other business value associated with your objectives.
Set your own conversion rate goal based on a financial analysis focused on greater sales volume and/or higher profits and compete against this internal benchmark. At the end of the day, its not a matter of whether you are above or below the “industry average” – instead it’s about the financial success of your web business.
By the way, if you want to easily calculate your conversion rate use this free conversion rate calculator. It might help.
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About the Author
Kevin Gold is Director of Internet Marketing at iNET Interactive, a social media company operating prominent online communities for technology professionals and technology enthusiasts. Kevin is a frequent contributing author to multiple publications including Search Marketing Standard, Practical eCommerce, DIRECT, Entrepreneur.com, ConversionChronicles.com, About.com, and On Target (Yahoo! Search Marketing newsletter).
Thanks for the references, Kevin. As for average conversion rates, I’m never happy with “average”. In fact, if 2.9% of my visitors are buying, then that means 97.1% of my visitors aren’t buying, and I want to know why!
I will only rest when I have a 97.1% conversion rate
Thanks for the informative article.
Paul Hancox
With some small business e-commerce sites i see around 1% conversions, so there is much more room for improvement.
chris faron
I asked a couple marketing directors that I’ve worked with in the past, what their average conversion rates were for people who contacted their businesses, inquiring about products and services.
The answers I got were “1.2%” and “1.7%” respectively. Granted, those are bricks-and-mortar businesses with tangible products – and, while they said they certainly wouldn’t mind higher conversion rates, those rates still translated into highly profitable businesses.
Hi,
Great information. It will be also interesting to know, if we have average conversion rate for different industries like apparel, fashion, electronics, computer etc. which will help to identify the future prospect for start up e commerce site!
I recently reviewed a book on increasing the ROI for ecommerce sites. The concept is a conversion optimization to improve the ratio in converting visitors into customers. Search for ‘Pixel Handler’ to read or listen to the audio review of the book, “Web Design for ROI”.
In my experience, between 1-2% for competitive e-commerce markets is about right, but it can be significantly higher with a well written (plug plug plug) site in a less competitive market.
Wow, 2.9%. That’s really high, at least from my personal experience. Generally happy to get between 1-2% as mentioned before.
I am looking to increase our conversion rate as I thought it was low. It has been for the last 3 months average: 3.64% and we are quieter than normal.
I’ll keep at it though. Regards
I would be more than happy with 2.9% conversion. Got a little to go but hey the sites fairly new and Ive got a lot of work still to do but its always good to have goals to beat!
One more thing – conversion rate depends on the category. I have seen conversion rates in electronics business in the low single digits, in apparel in the higher single digits. In grocery in high double digits and some specialty sites in 20-30%
[...] different campaigns have different goals, conversion rates can vary significantly. According to a 2007 Forrester Research study, the average conversion rate for e-commerce websites is 2.9%. Reports on the web put the average [...]