KPIMarketing

Online Conversion Rate

Percentage of website sessions that result in a completed purchase or transaction

What is Online Conversion Rate?

Online conversion rate is the percentage of website sessions that end in a completed purchase. It shows how effectively an online shop turns visitors into customers.

It is the central measure of an eCommerce business, because it links traffic to sales. Improving it raises revenue from the visitors you already have, which is usually cheaper than buying more traffic.

How this KPI is measured

Function: Marketing
Sub-function: eCommerce
Industry: All Industries
Type: Lagging
Impact: Revenue
Unit: %
Measurement frequency: Daily / Weekly
Formula: (Completed transactions / Total website sessions) × 100

How to calculate it

Divide the number of completed transactions by the total number of website sessions, and multiply by 100.

For example, if a shop had 60,000 sessions in a month and 1,500 completed orders, the conversion rate is (1,500 / 60,000) x 100 = 2.5%.

Break it down by traffic source, device and new versus returning visitors, since the overall figure hides big differences. Mobile shoppers, for example, often browse far more than they buy.

Where it is used

Testing store changes
See whether changes to pages, pricing or checkout increase the share of visitors who buy.
Judging traffic quality
Compare conversion by source to see which channels bring buyers.
Forecasting sales
Combine expected traffic with conversion rate to estimate orders and revenue.

How to improve it

Find where shoppers drop outFollow the path from product page to payment and identify the biggest losses.
Improve product pagesUse clear images, honest descriptions, reviews and visible delivery and returns information.
Speed up the siteFast pages convert better, particularly on mobile connections.
Streamline checkoutCut steps and required fields, and offer the payment methods customers expect.
Test one change at a timeRun controlled tests with enough traffic to be sure which version wins.

Tips and common mistakes

Look at conversion by device. A single blended number can hide a weak mobile experience.
Average order value matters as much. A lower conversion rate can still earn more if baskets are larger.
Do not judge a change on a few days of data. Allow enough orders for a reliable result.

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