What are conversion rates?
Conversion rates are the percentage of users who have completed an action (conversion) on your website. These actions could be completing a purchase, filling out a contact form, downloading content, subscribing to a newsletter or a click of any other button. Conversion rates can vary by industry and even visitor type, meaning that a ‘good conversion rate’ is dependent on a variety of factors.
For example, you may run a data capturing campaign with the aim of increasing the number of email newsletter signups by offering a discount code in exchange for the visitors’ names and email addresses. The conversion rate of this campaign would be measured by looking at the number of visitors to your signup page i.e. 1000, compared to the number of actual signups i.e. 20.
How is conversion rate calculated?
A conversion rate is calculated using the below formula:
The number of actions (conversions) divided by the number of interactions (visitors) multiplied by 100.
Using the example above, the data capture campaign conversion rate would be calculated as:
20 / 1000 x 100 = 2%
Why are conversion rates important?
Conversion rates are extremely important to your business as each conversion brings a visitor one step closer to becoming your customer. They are a way of measuring the success of a campaign or the ongoing performance of a web page. And they identify areas of potential improvements.
They also help you to better understand your audience which in turn helps you to attract the right type of customer. You could attract 1000’s of visitors but if they are the wrong kind, they won’t convert.
Conversion rate optimisation
Conversation rate optimisation (CRO) is the process of enhancing your website or landing page with the aim of increasing visitor actions. It involves understanding how visitors navigate through your site, what actions they take, and what issues are preventing them from completing your desired goals.
Optimising your conversion rates helps you to not only acquire more customers but also grow your business. It also allows for a better user experience which helps retain visitors and encourages repeat purchases.
There are several effective ways to perform CRO on your site such as strengthening your CTA copy, or adding a newsletter signup pop-up. There are also many different metrics that can be used as a way of measuring your conversion rates. What is important to know, is that most businesses will need to run tests as part of their conversion rate strategy to see which optimisation techniques work best for them.
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