Conversion Rate – Must-Know Facts Before You Even Start Increasing It

Increasing conversion rate is what most internet marketers aim to achieve. But not all of them understand what conversion rate is, what to measure and how to measure it. This is true especially for novice marketers. They can get so overwhelmed by all the resources and advices on how to increase conversion rate that they fail to know conversion at its basic definition.

When a site visitor performs a desired action, he is converted. The percentage by which the site visitors are converted to customers is what we call “conversion rate”. In layman’s term, conversion rate refers to the percentage of site visitors who complete a required action. Conversion can differ from one site to the other depending on the objectives of the website.

If a website wants its site visitors to purchase something, the “purchase” is its primary conversion measure. When that website received 1,000 visitors and out of that number, 200 purchased, the site’s conversion rate is 0.2 or 20%. How did we arrive at this rate? The formula for computing the conversion rate is:

Number of Conversions / Total Site Visitors

Types Of Website Conversion

There are two types of website conversion. One is sales conversion. This is the type of conversion wherein a desired action is completed by a site visitor. It means that from level one to the end, the site visitor performed exactly what the website wants him to do.

The other type is suspended conversion. This is when a site visitor performs a desired action but did not complete it yet. There is the possibility that the conversion will be completed sometime in the future. The site visitor may have contacted the website owner already but haven’t purchased yet.

What To Measure In Conversion

What does a website need to measure if it wants to get the value of its conversion rate? The conversion will depend on the objectives of the website. If the website aims to sell products online, then the conversion rate will be the number of purchases over the number of site visitors. If the website needs the site visitors to sign up for a free newsletter, then the conversion rate will the number of sign ups over the number of site visitors.

There are different funnels in measuring conversion rate. It can be measured using the different funnels or the main goal alone. Through the funnels, site owners will be able to see what part of its goals is converting. If the site visitor stops in one funnel, then the conversion is incomplete. The target is a complete conversion. But the funnels will help site owners identify the weak points of their website and be able to improve it.

It is important that before you worry about getting higher conversion rate for website, you understand first what conversion is, what and how to measure it. Not knowing the basics about conversion rate is like jumping into a battle blind.