Is Your Conversion Rate Up To Scratch?

Conversion rate is often used as the main key performance indicator (KPI) to gauge the effectiveness of eCommerce websites. So it’s natural for site managers and owners to want to know how their conversion rate compares to other websites.

General Conversion Rates
The below table shows us that the average conversion rate in Great Britain between 2014 and 2015 was 2.42 – 2.98%. While this is a good starting point for judging if your own conversion rate is above or below average, with online shoppers increasingly using mobile devices, breaking your conversion rate down by traditional PC, tablet, and smartphone traffic offers invaluable insight into how your eCommerce site performs on each platform.

Platform Specific Conversion Rates
From the below table we can see that in Great Britain the conversion rates for traditional PC users averaged 3.27-3.69%. Compared to 2.30-2.87% from tablet users and 0.59-1.31% via smartphones. This tells us not only how you should be benchmarking your own conversion rate per device, but that traditional PC users still convert at a much higher rate than those from mobile devices. Nevertheless, before you think that mobile conversion rates are not as important, don’t forget that more than 25% of online shopping is now done on mobile devices. So ignore mobile shoppers at your peril!

Conversion Rate by Channel
Google organic search is still the king of conversion rates, that much is clear. With Facebook in 2nd place, and other social channels lagging way behind. What this really means is that while social channels are great for branding and customer engagement, you should still be focusing at least 50% of your digital marketing efforts on SEO activities and content marketing that supports SEO.

Industry Specific Conversion Rates
When benchmarking your site conversion rate, you should be comparing like-for-like. So while the average overall conversion rate in Great Britian might be 2.42-2.98%, the average retail conversion rate is slightly less at 2.3%. If you are in the travel or hospitality industries your benchmark average is just 2.2%, while telecoms have a very low 1.1% conversion average. It is also worth considering that those sites which have focused on maximising conversion rate have achieved much higher results; as high as 4.4% in the retail sector.

The data provided here should go some way to helping you understand how your own website conversion rate compares to national, platform specific and industry averages. Even if you feel that your conversion rate is competing well with these averages, no matter how good it is, you can always make improvements. The obvious reason to continually improve your conversion rate is that it helps you to capitalise on gaining new customers without spending more money than you already are on advertising.

Here at Web Bureau we are experts in conversion rate optimisation techniques, and we work closely with our clients to advise on which are best to increasing conversions in your marketplace and with your audience in mind. Get a free eCommerce consultation today from one of our experts by calling 028 9073 1190 or email us incoming@thewebbureau.com