What’s the Average eCommerce Conversion Rate? Find Out Here
Overall, the average eCommerce conversion rate ranges from 2-3%.
This is the short answer. Of course, the reality in measuring the conversion rate of eCommerce stores is that there are a number of variables involved. These variables include things like industry, product type, device, country, and traffic source. All of these factors have an effect, positive or negative, on the conversion rate of your ecommerce store.
How to calculate eCommerce conversion rates
Calculating the conversion rate for your eCommerce store is simple. All you have to do is divide the total number of conversions (like sales, for example) you get within a specified period of time by the total number of people who visited your site within that same time period.
The formula looks like this:
eCommerce Conversion rate = (conversions / total visitors) * 100%
For example, if you have 100 conversions from 5,000 visitors, your conversion rate is 2%. A conversion can mean you’ve generated a lead, an email signup, or a sale. This same formula applies to whatever conversion you’re attempting to measure. In the case of the data we’re presenting to you here, we’re talking about sales conversions. When calculating your conversion rate, you can be either broad or specific. Our recommendation is that you segment your traffic by page, source, or both, and calculate the conversion rates of these different segments. Here are a few different segments you can use to calculate your conversion rates:
Your homepage conversion rate.
Your product page conversion rates.
Your blog article conversion rates from organic search.
Email marketing conversion rates from specific email list segments.
Segmenting your conversion rate data helps you get a better understanding of how your specific pages are performing with traffic from particular sources. You may find that, for example, organic search traffic to your blog articles is bringing in more sales than social media traffic. Knowing this, you can adjust your budget accordingly.
Things to consider when measuring your eCommerce conversion rate
When you’re getting your conversion rate, it’s important to consider the following variables:
Your industry – Conversion rates vary significantly by industry. For example, the average conversion rate in the arts & crafts industry is 4%, but baby and child stores average conversion rates of just 0.7%.
Your product type – The type of product you sell has a lot to do with your conversion rate as well. Food and drink products range from conversion rates of 3.6% – 7.2%, for example. Furniture, however, can have conversion rates as low as 0.7%.
Your country – The cultural differences of individual countries naturally result in different purchasing behavior online. Germany has the highest average conversion rate of 2.22%, while Italy has the lowest at 0.99%.
Your traffic source – The source of your traffic can have a massive impact on your conversion rates. This data varies significantly by industry, as you’ll see in the infographic below. A common theme, however, is that email and referral traffic convert the best at 5.4% and 5.3%, respectively.
The device your visitors are using – Mobile devices have a significantly lower conversion rate than other devices. Smartphones convert at just 1.8% on average, while desktops have an average conversion rate of 3.9%.
What’s the average eCommerce conversion rate? Here’s the data
As we’ve shown, the question of eCommerce conversion rates is a bit of a complicated answer. We know that, overall, the answer is 2-3%, but it’s important to understand what conversion rate you should expect when considering the variables involved. To help you come up with the answer for your particular eCommerce business, take a look at this infographic we put together to help visualize some important eCommerce conversion rate statistics. Further, you can reach out to a software development company for more help. Hopefully, this information helps you come up with an answer that’s relevant to your stores specific circumstances!
