What is a Good Conversion Rate in E-Commerce?
You now know your conversion rate and want to know if it is good?
Find conversion rates by industry, device, traffic, and marketplace.
Read:
Good and Bad Conversion Rate
Conversion Rate by Industry
Good Conversion Rates by Traffic
Operating Systems and Conversion Rates
Conversion Rate by Country
Conversion Rate and Social Media
You probably hear it all the time, whether on social media, in books, or blog posts, E-Commerce Conversion Rate is a key indicator of your success.
However, it is often unclear what is about a good conversion rate. And how do your industry, marketing concept, platforms, and location affect your E-Commerce Conversion Rate score? This is exactly the topic we will address in this post.
Very briefly in advance and certainly always correct:
A good conversion rate is higher than your current one.
This mindset leads to continuous improvement.
Bastian Hammer
If you want to know what a good conversion rate is, or whether your E-Commerce conversion rate should be considered good or bad, then read on.
Good and Bad Conversion Rates
Conversion rate in e-commerce – What is a good conversion rate and what is a bad conversion rate?
If you want to know what a good conversion rate is, or whether your E-Commerce conversion rate should be considered good or bad, then read on.
| Poor Conversion Rate | approx. 1 % and below |
| Average Conversion Rate | 1 % and 4 % |
| Good Conversion Rate | approx. 4 % and higher |
What is a Conversion Rate in E-Commerce?
The conversion rate in your online store is the relation between the total number of visitors to your website and the number of sales. It, therefore, describes how well your products sell.
Let me illustrate this with a small numerical example. Let’s assume that your website has 10,000 visitors every day. Of these visitors, 100 people buy one of your products. You, therefore, have a Conversion Rate of 1 %. If 300 of these 10,000 visitors buy one of your products, you have a Conversion Rate of 3%.
In another article, we have discussed in detail the topic “What is a Conversion Rate?“. If you want to know more, read more about it in the post: What is a Conversion Rate?
Now that we know what a conversion rate is, the question becomes:
What is a good or a bad conversion rate?
The average conversion rate is between 1% and 4%. Accordingly, it can be said that a conversion rate of 4% and more is considered good, and a conversion rate of less than 1% is considered rather bad.
Nevertheless, you should note that there are major differences in different industries. A generalization like the above may not apply to your individual case. Read on to learn whether the conversation rate in your e-commerce store is good or bad.
How high or low can a conversion rate be?
Theoretically, a conversion rate can be between 0% and 100%.
A conversation rate of 0% would mean that none of your visitors buy a product from your online store. Whereas a conversation rate of 100% would mean that every one of your visitors makes a purchase. Neither is realistic, of course.
Below we look at various conversion rates broken down by Industry, Traffic, Devices, Systems, and Countries.
Conversion Rate by Industry
Conversion rate broken down by Industry
To judge whether your conversion rate is good or bad, be sure to look at your industry average. What is a high conversion rate in one industry may be a poor conversion rate in another.
I have researched for you a small overview of the current (as of January 2021) conversion rates of various industries.
Data source: https://www.growcode.com/blog/ecommerce-conversion-rate/
As you can see in the table, the average conversion rate of 2% (as described above) in Art, Health and Pets is rather a low conversion rate. Conversely, a 2% conversion rate in the children or cars section would be high.
These differences are due to the number of competitors and the strength of the need of customers to buy products from your area. And, of course, many other criteria.
Conversion Rate by Traffic
What is a good conversion rate, broken down by traffic?
It’s important to know what the average conversation rate is by traffic source. This way, you can target your ads to the channels that promise the best conversion rates.
In individual cases, of course, these values can digress. It is therefore always important to consider your specific case and not to look at average data alone.
Nevertheless, you should know these values and thus be able to better classify your own performance. Here is a chart that shows the average conversion rates by traffic source.
Data source: https://www.growcode.com/blog/ecommerce-conversion-rate/
You can directly see that E-Mail Marketing and referrals will give you the highest conversion rates.
Referral means customers who come across your website through hyperlinks. This can happen, for example, through blog articles. These figures show the increasing importance of influencer marketing.
Conversion Rates by Device
What is a good conversion rate, broken down by device?
Another important indicator for a good or bad conversion rate is the breakdown by device. That is, with which device is the probability of a purchase the highest. Knowing this is very important for your advertising strategy.
I have also prepared a diagram for this for you, for a quick overview.
Data source: https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/ecommerce-conversion-rates/
Here you can clearly see how big the differences are. On a cell phone, a conversion rate of 2% is already above average, but on a tablet, 2% is a poor conversion rate., 2% is a poor conversion rate.
The more data we see, the more you will realize the complexity of this topic. It is not easy to make a general statement about what is a good or bad conversion rate.
If you would like to have your individual case evaluated by a professional, contact me for CRO Consulting.
Conversion Rates by Operating System
What is a good conversion rate on different systems?
Furthermore, it is interesting to know how the conversion rate affects different operating systems. For example, a customer with a Windows system is more likely to make a purchase than a customer with an Android system. There are massive differences here as well.
Data source: https://www.growcode.com/blog/ecommerce-conversion-rate/
This data gives you the ability to focus on specific areas when optimizing your website.
From the diagram you can see that the focus should be on optimization for Macintosh and Windows systems. Windows users are most likely to buy from your E-Commerce Store.
However, you should not underestimate Android and iOS. These systems are certainly used by the majority of your B2C store visitors.
Conversion Rates by Country
What is a good conversion rate in different countries?
Another important role in determining whether a conversion rate is good or bad is the country in which you sell.
It is quite clear that different countries have different purchasing power and this purchasing power also influences the conversion rate in the countries. In addition, there are many other factors, such as cultural, economic, etc., that influence the conversion rate.
If you sell in Germany, then you usually have a conversion rate of over 2.2%. This is considered good. Since the purchasing power in Germany is very high, the average conversion rate is also higher than in other countries.
Here is a breakdown of conversion rates in different countries.
Data source: https://www.growcode.com/blog/ecommerce-conversion-rate/
Conversion Rates by Marketplaces and Platforms
What is a good conversion rate on different sales platforms and marketplaces?
Another crucial factor is on which platform you sell your products. There are crucial differences among the top platforms Shopify, Etsy, and Amazon.
Conversion Rates on Shopify
A conversation rate of 0.4% – 3.5% is considered average on Shopify. If your conversion rate is below 0.4%, then it is considered to be in need of major optimization. With this rate, you are far below average and you should start looking for ways to improve.
If your conversion rate is above 3.5%, then you are among the Top 20% on Shopify. And if your conversion rate is above 5.0% then you are in the Top 10%. Accordingly, anything above 3.5% is considered a good conversion rate on Shopify.
Conversion Rates on Etsy
The conversion rate on Etsy is surprisingly similar to the conversion rate on Shopify. This is despite the fact that the two platforms are fundamentally different.
On Etsy, a Conversion rate of 1% – 5% is considered average. This range of 1% – 5% is relatively large. The reason is that on Etsy it strongly depends on what you are selling.
It is interesting that a conversation rate of less than 1% is already considered bad. The figures show that Etsy generally achieves higher conversion rates than e-commerce stores in general. Thus, only a conversation rate of 5% is considered good compared to the competition.
Conversion Rates on Amazon
Amazon conversation rates can be as low as 4% for sellers who don’t sell Prime. Prime sellers sometimes see Conversation Rates as high as 74%!
You are probably similarly amazed as I was when I first heard about these numbers. These high conversation rates are due to the fact that shoppers already go to Amazon’s website with a firm intention to buy. Whereas on Google, Etsy, and Shopify, many potential customers are “only” looking for inspiration.
However, that doesn’t mean you should pull down all your tents and only sell on Amazon. Because high conversation rates are one thing and impressions are another. Amazon’s algorithm decides how many customers see your products. The reality is that most sellers don’t get many impressions, especially in the beginning.
A good conversation rate on eBay
Many sellers still bustle about on eBay as well. eBay is the first major online marketplace that existed and it still holds its own today.
Generally, a Conversation rate of 2% – 3% on eBay is average. So if you have a conversion rate of over 3% on eBay, then you can consider it good.
Conversion Rates and Social Media
Your Conversation Rate and Social Media
As Social Media continues to grow in importance over the past few years, I would also like to discuss conversation rates on social media here.
Earlier in the article, we noted that conversation rates on Social media are comparatively low with approx. 0.7%. What was not considered there, however, are the Impressions.
Depending on the Traffic in your store, a lot of people see your products on social media (if you market them well there). Thus, despite “low” conversation rates, it is usually worthwhile to include social media in your marketing mix.
In addition, it is likely that conversation rates on social media will increase over the next few years as Facebook/Instagram expand their online store capabilities.
Conversion Rates and Paypal / Payment Methods
The Conversion Rate and PayPal
Payment is the last step your customer takes towards conversion. It decides in the end which payment method will increase the conversion rate and which one will not. It’s important to know that PayPal transactions have 70% higher checkout rates than other transactions.
And that’s not surprising. The easier your customer can buy a product, the more likely they are to end up making a purchase. Paypal is currently one of the easiest payment systems for customers.
With one click you can buy your product instead of entering a long credit card number with name and expiration date or using a TAN generator.
Whether you are a fan of PayPal or not, it should not be missing from any online store. Customers are lazy and choose the provider that makes it easiest for them.
Conclusion
So how do you know if you have a high or low conversation rate?
After all these facts and data, let’s now ask the question again, what is a high and what is a low conversion rate. By now at the latest, it should be clear that this question cannot be answered with a simple number.
It is important to examine all of the above areas. You can compare your data from Google Analytics, Matomo, etc. with the above averages. This will help you determine in which area you are above or below average.
This will help you see where you can improve and where you are already performing well and increase the budget for advertising in that area.
In addition, to improve your conversion rate, you should always have an overall view of your business and sales message from a business psychology perspective.
In addition, of course, the German CRO Database will also help you optimize your conversion rate.
Summary
Based on the data we’ve gathered, you can now make a good assessment of whether your conversion rate is good or bad. Have you come to the conclusion that your Conversion Rate higher should be higher?
CRO Hub Overview
Increase Conversion Rate:
Sales Psychology and Your Conversion Rate
German CRO Database
Conversion Rate Optimization & Consulting
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