Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action—filling a form, booking a call, or making a purchase.
Understanding conversion rate
Conversion rate equals conversions divided by total visitors. If 100 people visit your site and 3 fill out your contact form, you have a 3% conversion rate. This metric directly measures how effectively your site turns traffic into business outcomes.
Traffic without conversions is vanity. You can drive thousands of visitors through ads or SEO, but if they don't take action, that traffic generates no revenue. Improving conversion rate by even 1% can double your results.
What counts as a conversion
Define conversions based on your business model. E-commerce sites track purchases. Service businesses track contact form submissions, call bookings, or quote requests. SaaS companies measure trial signups. Choose the action that directly indicates business opportunity.
Micro-conversions—newsletter signups, resource downloads, video plays—can be valuable secondary metrics. But focus primarily on the action that creates actual business value, not engagement proxies.
What influences conversion rate
Clarity: Do visitors immediately understand what you offer and who it's for? Confusion kills conversions. Your hero section should communicate value within seconds.
Proof: Case studies, testimonials, client logos, and specific results build trust. Generic claims without evidence don't convert.
Friction: Every form field, every required click, every moment of uncertainty reduces conversion rate. Remove obstacles between visitors and action. Long forms, confusing navigation, and unclear CTAs all create friction.
Speed: Slow sites haemorrhage conversions. Visitors won't wait. Fast, responsive experiences correlate directly with higher conversion rates.
Improving conversion rate
Use analytics to identify where visitors drop off. High traffic to a landing page with low conversions suggests messaging problems, trust deficits, or unclear value propositions.
Test changes systematically. Stronger headlines, more specific proof, simplified forms, different CTA placement—each improvement compounds. Small gains add up to significant business impact over time.
Why it matters
Understanding “Conversion rate” helps you speak the same language as our design and development team. If you need help applying it to your project, book a Fernside call.