Determine Your Site’s Real eCommerce Conversion Rate with this Conversion Rate Formula


25 Comments
  1. Conversion is the final thing that any business aim at. And every business must know the right way to calculate conversion of the website. So thanks for providing the information to calculate the conversion rate of the website.

  2. Thank you for this article Keith, this is definitely getting forwarded to a client that has my hair turning grey and falling out. I have been talking till I’m blue in the face trying to explain that we need to setup goals to track actual metrics that matter, such as what you discuss.

    I believe they’re scared of the numbers, because they’re all about traffic, traffic, traffic and I argue that traffic is not a measurement that means anything, conversions are, they’re everything.

    Ok, enough ranting, great post!

  3. Great post, Keith.

    I used to only focus on traffic and how many visitors per day. But now I started to realize “Conversion” is way more important than just traffic. Your conversion rate calculation definitely give me more lights on this topic.

    Thanks for sharing.

  4. Thanks Keith, I’ve really learned some things from this post. I didn’t keep track of my conversion rates like you guys do (I mean with “qualified visitors”. . I will copy this idea of qualified visitors. Really interesting.

    Thanks

  5. Thanks for this Mat – one of the most useful / practical articles I’ve seen on actual conversions! I can’t seem to find a way to measure our website accurately, which is for consultancy, and therefore doesn’t have a cart or transaction page. How would you then redefine the Sway Rate, without that transactional data?

    • Hello Emma,
      For you, I would create a core metric sheet to track engagement metrics to start. Then I would implement phone tracking so you could see what page people are calling from (its like having a goal on every page, and integrates with Google Analytics). We like Call Rail for this.

      For you, I might suggest adding a contact form (for people after hours or who prefer it to phone).

      Hope that helps!

  6. Very interesting article Mat! It is true that most of the traffic on a website is often the result of the actions and intentions of a buying customer. Looking forward to your new posts!

    • Yes, in fact, you really need to CUSTOM define the pages, or rather segment you use each site. The best way to do this is to really define a segment of users who visit this or that page, perhaps more than once, and had som many page views, or came back to the site, or have an average time on page over this amount etc etc. Once you have this segment, and are counting all the pageviews or visitors (you can do either), then you know qho qualifies to be persuaded. I tried to keep it simple for the post of course.

  7. I have an ecommerce store and my conversions are very low due to the fact that I can’t collect payment right away. I have to check first if the product is in my supplier’s stock and then get the payment.

  8. Your definition of a qualified visitor is really easy to understand and also helpful to see if people coming to our sites are just occasional visitors or people really interested in our information, product or service.

  9. I have read closely what you call the Sway rate and I find it a very interesting concept. Now matter how you name it, it is very important to have a certain idea of which percentage of your vists to your site are really turned into money.

  10. Thank you very much for the post. I have always had doubts regarding how to calculate conversion rates and after reading your explanation everything seems absolutely clear. Thanks!

    • Thanks Dennis. I think I came across your site before when I had little time (ok, I still don’t have much time). Thanks for posting and reminding me to check you guys out. I’m always looking for “that tool” that will bring the sites I work closer to perfection.

      Keith

    • Hey Christian,
      Thanks for your comment. Could you elaborate for everyone? I think I follow but don’t want to assume.

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About The Author

A photograph of Keith Hagen next to a bike on a road next to a river.

Keith Hagen (Alumni)

Keith Hagen comes from the web optimization world, and has been gaining insights into what is and isn’t working with websites since 2002.

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