What is Conversion Rate?

The formula is straightforward: (number of conversions ÷ total visitors) × 100. If 50 out of 1,000 visitors sign up for a trial, your trial conversion rate is 5%. But what counts as a 'conversion' depends on your business goals — it could be a purchase, a signup, a form submission, a download, or any other action you define.

Conversion rates vary widely by industry, traffic source, and what you're measuring. E-commerce purchase rates typically range from 1–3%, while email signup rates on a well-targeted landing page might be 10–20%. Comparing your conversion rate to industry benchmarks gives useful context, but improving your own rate over time matters more than matching someone else's.

To improve conversion rates, start by identifying where visitors drop off using funnel analysis, then test changes to those specific steps. Small improvements at high-traffic steps often have a larger impact than dramatic changes to low-traffic pages.