Be smart about how your website works. Use conversion rates to make your ecommerce platform better. Key performance indicators (known as KPIs) are the measurements of your website’s success. In ecommerce, on of the most vital KPIs is the conversion rate. Your conversion rate indicates how often a purchase is made by a visitor. When used correctly, conversion rates can give your website an extremely clear look at what is working and what may need to be changed. Conversion Rate Benchmarks Monitor your conversion rate to determine how well your website is performing, and to help determine the ultimate impact of any changes you might make. According to a study conducted by The Wordstream blog, an average conversion rate lands at around 2.35%, while the top 25th percentile of conversion rates is around 5.31%. However, as Wordstream also concedes, typical conversion rates may be higher or lower for a specific industry, so when you measure your own conversion rates, be sure to compare yours to that of other businesses in your sector. Use Analytics to Pinpoint Problems Your conversion rate on its own does not offer much more than an ego boost (or, perhaps diminution). However, when you pair your conversion rate with specific analytics, you are given a clearer picture of what is and what is not working on your site. Monitor which pages customers visit, which products they look at, if they use the shopping cart feature, and how much time they spend on your site. Use the trends between these statistics and your conversion rate to pinpoint which of your pages are effective sales tools, and which may be discouraging visitors to your site from making a purchase. With this, you can know which areas of your site are in desperate need of an overhaul versus which areas of your site are effective, and you can go on to fix what needs to be fixed. Segmenting Your Conversion Rate A key way to optimize the way you’re using your conversion rate is by segmenting your conversion rate. This is the practice of having a different conversion rate for different types of users. You could have a different conversion rate for mobile users, for first-time visitors, for users in a particular region-- the possibilities are endless. This really helps you nail down if there is a problem reaching a certain type of audience. For instance, if your overall conversion rate is fairly high, but your conversion rate for mobile users is abysmally low, that is a red flag that your mobile site is not effective. Just as before, this information can inform you what needs to be changed in order to reel in more business. How to Make Changes Once you have determined that your conversion rate could be better, or if there is a particular part of your site that needs changing, what next? It is easy to fall into the trap of simply adjusting surface level issues such as visual design elements, which can actually cause a temporary spike in your conversion rate. However, it is more important to consider the overall functionality of your website. Ask yourself questions about how customers are using the page they are on, and experiment with larger aspects of your website’s flow. For instance, if mobile customers are exhibiting a low conversion rate, look at your mobile site and consider making, for instance, a move to responsive design. You can also use A/B testing to discover which version of a page converts at a higher rate. Whatever changes you implement, continue to monitor your conversion rate over a long period of time to determine if the changes improved your website’s effectiveness. Clarity Can Help To build an ecommerce platform with analytics that are right for you, or if you need assistance with boosting your conversion rate, contact us for a free quote today!