Conversion rate

noun

Topic: Selling online

1. The percentage of visitors to a website who go on to do what you want them to do, which for an online shop usually means placing an order.
2. If 100 people visit and 2 buy, the conversion rate is 2 per cent. For online shops a figure of around 1 to 3 per cent is commonly quoted as typical, though it varies a lot between industries and between sources of traffic. It is more useful for tracking your own shop over time than for comparing yourself with other people’s. Small improvements to product pages, photos and checkout add up.

Example Doubling the traffic helped less than lifting the conversion rate from one per cent to two.

See also Call to action Abandoned basket Checkout