Conversion rate (CR) is an important metric that every business owner should consider. It shows how many people walking by your store or browsing the internet will decide to purchase a product or service, sign up for a newsletter, or request a call back. Therefore, CR shows how many people become your customers. It is possible to improve conversion rate indicators with the help of various tools and methods.
Gaining information about the target audience and consumers’ experience with the company is one of the important ways to increase brand success. Conversion rate metrics help you collect detailed data on this subject. By using e-commerce and social media tools, you can measure users’ reactions to your brand and find out what kind of place you have among your target audience. By reading this article we have prepared for you, you can ask “What is the conversion rate?” You can find a comprehensive answer to the question.
What is Conversion Rate?
Conversion rate is the percentage of your total visitors who complete the actions you want on your website and/or app. Depending on the type of business and business goals, “conversion” can be anything. For example, users purchasing products on an e-commerce site or reading your content on a blog site can be examples of conversion.
An average conversion rate is between 2% and 4%, depending on the industry. If the conversion rate is 10% or higher, you own a successful business. But differences in business type, season and product or service level push managers to carefully examine the business and competitors’ indicators to understand whether any efforts need to be made to improve the situation.
Conversion rate in e-commerce is one of the metrics that show how successful companies are in their work. If we need to give the exact definition of conversion rate, it is the percentage ratio of the number of users who performed an activity (e-mail newsletter subscription, page visit, product sale, etc.) predetermined by the company to the total number of people who received the message sent for this purpose.
What is Examined in Conversion Rate?
Visitor activities generally tracked as conversions are:
- Filling out the contact or customer form
- Sign up for email newsletters
- Membership and subscription
- Specific session duration, number of sessions, number of page views per session
- Downloadable resources
The actions you set as conversions do not have to be your main goals. You can also consider micro goals that direct the user to the main goal as conversions. In other words, you can define any measurable action that moves a visitor closer to becoming a customer as a conversion. Identifying a high number of conversions will help you resolve potential conversion rate issues.
How to Calculate Conversion Rate?
To find your business’s conversion rate, you need to divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors to the website and multiply the result by 100%.
Conversion rate= (Number of conversions/total number of visitors) x 100%
What is meant by conversion in this formula is related to what a business wants its visitors to do. This could be purchasing a product or service, sharing contact information, requesting a demo, registering online, etc. it could be.
For example, let’s say your website is visited by 4,000 visitors daily and 100 people decide to purchase your product. In this example, your CR rate is 2.5%.
100/4000* 100% = 2.5%
What is a Good Conversion Rate?
A good conversion rate is a relative value. It depends on the type of business you run, season, national holidays, etc. It depends.
Conversion rates are important, but a satisfactory result will be different for different businesses. For example, let’s say you’re currently running two projects. Let the first project’s website receive 5,000 visitors and 200 license agreements every day. Let’s assume that there are 1,000 visitors and 100 conversions in the second project. According to this example, the CR of the first project is 4% and the CR of the second is 10%. When evaluated based on CR alone, the second project is more profitable. However, the first project’s website was very well attended. If the aim of the advertising strategy of the first project is to increase brand awareness, the results are satisfactory as 5,000 unique visitors per day is a very promising result.
Therefore, a good conversion rate for one company might be a bad conversion rate for another. Aside from the objectives of a marketing campaign, cost per lead and return on marketing investment (ROMI) should also be considered.
Conversion Rates by Sector
As can be seen from the table below, the top conversion rate is usually around three times the average level. If your score is in the range of these two numbers, you know you’re in good shape. If your company’s CR is below 2%, it is imperative that you take significant steps as soon as possible to correct the situation. Conversion rates are often lower in a competitive niche. For example, customers in the financial sector are looking for some specialized services and competition is lower compared to mass market or e-commerce.
Conversion Rates by Channel
Organic traffic is the most reliable channel, but it is the one that requires the most effort. But if SEO experts are doing their job right, the website content is unique and useful, and the quality of the product is impeccable, you can expect word-of-mouth traffic to be your primary advertising channel. In this case, customers will trust your company and you. As a result, the conversion rate will skyrocket.
Social media conversion rates are the lowest because people scrolling through their news feed barely realize they need your products. At this point you must convince them and become a real expert in accurate targeting.
E-commerce Conversion Rates
The most important point in e-commerce products is that the more expensive the product, the more time it takes for customers to think about the purchase. People are unlikely to buy luxury handbags or expensive household appliances frequently and impulsively. In contrast, food and beverages, as well as beauty products, sell much faster on store shelves.
Why is Conversion Rate Important?
Conversion rate shows the profitability of your business. It shows whether customers are interested in your product or service, how competitive you are in the market and how you can improve your business and plan a suitable marketing strategy. Conversion rate is an important indicator of business success and a motivating trigger for subsequent improvements.
What is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Conversion rate optimization or CRO is the process of increasing the percentage of visitors who complete an action on your website. Therefore, it is a strategy that allows your business to leverage different factors to complete a desired outcome. Create your campaign, advertisement, registration form, etc. you optimize it to perform best in your target demographic.
Conversion rate optimization focuses on achieving two things:
- Reducing the amount of friction in your funnel.
- Adding value to the product you offer
Why is Conversion Rate Optimization Important?
1. Rising pay-per-click costs
Due to the increasing popularity of the Google Adwords platform, the pay per click (PPC) price is also increasing day by day. That’s why CRO is important to make the most of the clicks you receive.
2. Increasing competition
More and more content is published on the Internet every day. That’s why CRO is so important to beat the competition.
3. Shorter attention span
Many studies show that today’s generation of consumers has a shorter attention span than their parents. Therefore, CRO is important to capture the consumer’s attention quickly.
4. Save money
CRO increases the conversion rate of your existing visitors. Thus, CRO allows you to generate better revenue with the same traffic. Therefore, there is no additional cost to acquire new customers or grow your business.
How Can You Increase Conversion Rate?
“How to increase conversion rate?” When answering the question, it is possible to talk about a comprehensive and multi-layered process. There are many metrics you can use to measure consumer reaction to your brand. You can determine your shortcomings by measuring criteria such as click rates, purchase figures and number of followers. After eliminating these deficiencies, you can work to appeal to your target audience more effectively.
When studying conversion rates, it would be useful to consider that consumers have different alternatives. The way to be successful in e-commerce is to stand out from your competitors and attract the attention of the consumer. Conversion rates let you know how successful you are in this regard. So what methods can be used to refine this ratio?
You Can Use Quality Images
In order to increase your conversion rates, you should take care to ensure that the images you use in both the product photographs and advertising you use on the site are of high quality.
You need to show consumers the product or information you offer in the best possible way. Internet users attach great importance to visual content, and the importance of visuality comes to the fore when it comes to e-commerce. In this case, you need to show your products in the best way and promote your products from different angles.
The quality of the images you use in your ads will attract users’ attention on their timelines, which can attract them to your site and help you increase your conversion rates.
You Can Write Descriptions with Detailed and Satisfactory Product Information
The next step after attracting consumers to your site greatly affects your conversion rates. After attracting consumers to your site through advertisements, you need to keep these people on your site and direct them to purchase.
In order to keep consumers on your site and inform them about the products, you also need to pay attention to product descriptions. Creating detailed and informative product descriptions will allow users to get more information about the products.
You can divide product descriptions into two parts. You can prepare a shorter version by including important information about the product next to the product on the product page. You can include a more comprehensive product description, including technical details, further down the page. Thus, those who want to get quick information about the product can read the short descriptions, and those who want to get detailed information can look at the bottom of the page.
You Can Prepare Product Videos
Another activity that will help you increase your conversion rates is to prepare product videos. Videos will attract more attention and provide information about the product than written descriptions and photos. Therefore, when you prepare product videos, you can give consumers more information about the product, and when you show the usage areas of the product, you make the product more interesting and influence consumers’ purchasing decisions in a better way.
You Can Offer Free Shipping Option
One of the most important factors that will increase your conversion rates is that you offer free shipping. Consumers do not want to pay shipping fees for online payments, and therefore they want to look at shipping costs first. Offering free shipping on your products will have a positive impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions.
You Can Improve User Experience
In order to increase your conversions, you also need to work on improving the user experience on the site. It is possible to increase user experience in different ways. If we consider these under headings:
- You Can Increase Site Opening Speed
- Making in-site navigation easier
- The category system is easy to understand; However, it should be presented to users in detail.
- Payment transactions can be made easily and in the fewest possible steps.
- Including different payment alternatives (credit card, money order, prepaid card, etc.).
- We can list items that will cause confusion as not being included in the site design.
You Can Present Your Contact Information Clearly
Displaying your contact information clearly on all pages of your site will not only let consumers understand that your company is a reliable site, but will also enable them to easily reach you if they have a question.
Since you will have the opportunity to establish a one-on-one dialogue with people who reach you through your communication channels, you can more easily direct these people to purchase. Since you can provide detailed information about both your services and products, following such a path will have a positive impact on your conversion rates.
Use strong CTAs
Let’s say a user found your blog post, read it, and wants to learn more about your business. But you don’t have clear contact information and they aren’t sure what the next step is. This is where CTA comes into play.
CTA tells your users the next step to take after viewing a page on your site, opening an email, or reading any of your content. That’s why CTAs should be short, direct and easy to follow so the user knows what you want them to do next.
Some popular CTAs include:
- Sign up for our email newsletter
- Buy our product online
- Request a free quote
- Contact us
Show More Product/Service Images
Having lots of visuals on your site is a great way to show people what your business does. If they want to learn about a product, they’ll probably want to see it in person. If they don’t know what they’re buying, they’ll be less likely to convert.
So make sure you have images that meet the following criteria:
- Clear visuals
- Pictures from different angles
- Images that highlight the product
Eliminate Visual Clutter
Although adding images, videos and graphics is important for a good web design, white space is also very important. Too much information can overwhelm people and cause them to bounce, costing you a sale or conversion.
At this point, make sure there is plenty of white space around your images and text, and don’t fill pages with elements that don’t serve a purpose. Be intentional with your design and only include elements that serve the user.
Optimize Your Navigation
Making your site easier to navigate will help users find what they need.
Therefore, you can also choose a sidebar that includes all pages/categories on your site. You also need to pay attention to your internal links. Sending your users from one page to another can help them move forward in the sales funnel.
Show Social Proof
Testimonials, reviews, and case studies increase your credibility and encourage people to convert. It never hurts to hear how much your customers enjoy working with your business.
At this point, you can ask your loyal customers to leave a review or give their feedback in exchange for a discount.
Test Different Website Versions
To increase conversions, you need to know what users want to see on your site. A/B testing allows you to see which versions of your website your customers like to see the most.
The A/B method involves creating two page versions and seeing which one performs better. You can run a test with your target audience to make sure you’re doing everything possible to convert users.
Use Retargeting Strategies
Retargeting is the process of reaching users based on their previous experiences with your business. This method specifically targets people who have visited your website before but have not yet converted.
Reaching out to customers reminds them of products they almost purchased and keeps your business fresh in their minds when they continue shopping or searching for services.
Write Informative Content
Content can include anything from product descriptions to blog and social media posts. If you want to improve user experience and give them a reason to work with you, your content should definitely include informative pieces.
- Sectoral issues
- How-to guides
- Product reviews and recommendations
All of this content doesn’t directly drive users to convert, but it shows that you care about their experience and your position in the market. You become a thought leader and they will be more excited to work with you.
Optimize for Mobile
More than 40% of online transactions occur on mobile devices. If your website is not optimized for mobile devices, you may miss out on sales.
Using a responsive web design can help you get the most conversions possible. Responsive design adjusts your website according to the accessing device. So the user accesses the same website, but the website is suitable for his tablet, phone or computer.
Outline Your Value Proposition
Your value proposition is a statement that describes the benefits (or value) you offer to customers who work with your business. A clear explanation of what you aim to offer will help you resonate with customers and humanize your brand.
For example, if you own a manufacturing company, your value proposition might read: “We help our customers bring their designs to life with quality materials and dedicated customer service.” This statement explains what you do while also outlining your benefits.
Track Your Customer Journey
Your customer journey describes the path customers take from the moment they find your business to the moment they convert.
Some businesses get most of their conversions from social media, while others may use organic search. Knowing where your customers are coming from can help you capture them and encourage them to convert.
Using tools like Google Analytics can help you track your customer journey and see what stages they typically go through before purchasing.
With this tool, you can manually enter the activities you know users are taking to convert.
