Conversion Rate Formula: The Complete
Ecommerce Conversion Guide
Master the conversion rate formula with step-by-step examples, industry benchmarks, and proven optimization strategies.
The Conversion Rate Formula
Result is expressed as a percentage
The number of completed desired actions—typically purchases for ecommerce stores.
Total sessions or unique visitors during the measurement period. Be consistent with your choice.
A percentage showing what portion of visitors complete the desired action.
Quick Example
Your store had 10,000 sessions last month and 250 orders.
Conversion Rate = (250 ÷ 10,000) × 100 = 2.5%
2.5% of your visitors converted into paying customers.
Track Conversion Rates Automatically
StoreRadar calculates conversion rates across your entire funnel—from product views to purchases—for every traffic source.
Conversion Rate Formula Variations
Different ways to measure conversion across your funnel
The standard formula. Use total sessions or unique visitors consistently.
Healthy stores see 8-15% add-to-cart rates. Low rates indicate product or pricing issues.
Shows how many cart additions become purchases. Target 30-50%+.
How many checkout starters complete purchase. Below 60% suggests checkout friction.
Identifies best and worst converting products in your catalog.
Compare performance across paid, organic, direct, social, and email traffic.
Worked Examples
Step-by-step conversion rate calculations
Basic Store Conversion Rate
Your WooCommerce store had 12,500 sessions last month and 312 orders were placed.
- 1 Identify total visitors/sessions: 12,500
- 2 Identify total conversions (orders): 312
- 3 Apply the formula: (312 ÷ 12,500) × 100
- 4 Conversion Rate = 2.50%
Your store converts 2.5% of visitors into customers.
This is close to the industry average of 2-3%. There's room for improvement through CRO efforts.
Funnel Stage Conversion Rates
Last week: 8,000 visitors, 640 added to cart, 280 started checkout, 196 completed purchase.
- 1 Add-to-Cart Rate: (640 ÷ 8,000) × 100 = 8.0%
- 2 Cart-to-Checkout Rate: (280 ÷ 640) × 100 = 43.8%
- 3 Checkout Completion Rate: (196 ÷ 280) × 100 = 70.0%
- 4 Overall Conversion Rate: (196 ÷ 8,000) × 100 = 2.45%
You lose 57% of carts before checkout, and 30% during checkout.
The biggest drop-off is cart abandonment. Focus on cart recovery emails and reducing checkout friction.
Conversion Rate by Traffic Source
Compare conversion rates across your main traffic channels.
- 1 Google Organic: 85 orders ÷ 4,000 sessions = 2.13%
- 2 Google Ads: 120 orders ÷ 3,000 sessions = 4.00%
- 3 Facebook Ads: 45 orders ÷ 2,500 sessions = 1.80%
- 4 Direct: 62 orders ÷ 3,000 sessions = 2.07%
Google Ads converts at 4%, more than double Facebook Ads at 1.8%.
Google Ads traffic has higher purchase intent. Consider reallocating budget or improving Facebook landing pages.
Product-Level Conversion Rate
Compare two products to identify optimization opportunities.
- 1 Product A: 2,400 views, 84 purchases → (84 ÷ 2,400) × 100 = 3.5%
- 2 Product B: 1,800 views, 27 purchases → (27 ÷ 1,800) × 100 = 1.5%
- 3 Store average: 2.5%
- 4 Product A is 40% above average; Product B is 40% below
Product A converts at 3.5% vs Product B at 1.5%.
Investigate why Product B underperforms: pricing, images, reviews, description. Consider A/B testing improvements.
Conversion Rate Benchmarks
How does your conversion rate compare?
Industry Averages
| Segment | Conversion Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| All Ecommerce | 2.0% - 3.0% | Global average across all stores |
| Fashion & Apparel | 1.5% - 2.5% | Lower due to sizing concerns |
| Health & Beauty | 2.5% - 3.5% | Higher repeat purchase rate |
| Electronics | 1.0% - 2.0% | Higher research, lower impulse |
| Food & Beverage | 3.0% - 5.0% | Consumables convert well |
| Home & Garden | 2.0% - 3.0% | Varies by price point |
By Traffic Source
| Segment | Conversion Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 4.0% - 6.0% | Highest intent, warm audience | |
| Direct | 2.5% - 4.0% | Returning customers, brand aware |
| Organic Search | 2.0% - 3.0% | High intent searchers |
| Paid Search | 2.5% - 4.5% | Targeted keywords |
| Social Organic | 0.5% - 2.0% | Discovery traffic, lower intent |
| Social Paid | 1.0% - 2.5% | Interruption-based |
By Device
| Segment | Conversion Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop | 3.0% - 4.5% | Easier checkout experience |
| Tablet | 2.5% - 3.5% | Between desktop and mobile |
| Mobile | 1.5% - 2.5% | Friction, but growing share |
Note: Benchmarks are industry estimates and vary by region, product type, and target audience.
How to Improve Your Conversion Rate
Proven strategies to convert more visitors into customers
Optimize Product Pages
High-quality images, detailed descriptions, social proof (reviews), and clear CTAs. Product pages are where most buying decisions happen.
Simplify Checkout
Reduce form fields, offer guest checkout, show progress indicators, and display trust badges. Every extra step loses customers.
Improve Site Speed
Every 1-second delay reduces conversions by ~7%. Optimize images, use CDN, minimize scripts.
Add Social Proof
Reviews, testimonials, trust badges, and 'X people bought this' indicators reduce purchase anxiety.
Implement Cart Recovery
Abandoned cart emails recover 5-15% of lost sales. Send within 1 hour for best results.
Offer Free Shipping
Shipping costs are the #1 reason for cart abandonment. Consider building shipping into product prices.
Common Conversion Rate Mistakes
Errors that lead to misleading metrics
Comparing Apples to Oranges
Comparing your conversion rate to unrelated industries or different business models leads to wrong conclusions.
Compare against your own historical data, direct competitors, and industry-specific benchmarks.
Ignoring Traffic Quality
A 5% conversion rate on 100 visitors is very different from 5% on 10,000 visitors. Low-volume rates are statistically unreliable.
Ensure sufficient sample size before drawing conclusions. Use confidence intervals for small samples.
Not Segmenting Data
Overall conversion rate hides important patterns. Desktop might be 4% while mobile is 1.5%.
Always segment by device, traffic source, new vs returning, and product category.
Chasing Rate Over Revenue
Optimizing for conversion rate alone might attract low-value customers or discount-dependent buyers.
Track revenue per visitor (RPV) alongside conversion rate. Balance rate with order value.
Wrong Denominator
Using pageviews instead of sessions, or mixing unique users with sessions inconsistently.
Standardize on sessions (most common) and apply consistently across all calculations.
Ignoring Seasonality
Comparing December conversion rates to January without accounting for seasonal shopping patterns.
Compare year-over-year for the same period, or use rolling averages to smooth fluctuations.
How to Track Conversion Rate in WooCommerce
Three ways to monitor conversion rates for your WooCommerce store
Option 1: WooCommerce Reports
WooCommerce's built-in reports show basic conversion data but lack funnel analysis and traffic source breakdowns.
- Built into WooCommerce
- No additional cost
- No funnel stages
- No source attribution
- Limited insights
Option 2: Google Analytics
GA4 provides conversion tracking with funnel visualization. Requires proper Enhanced Ecommerce setup and ongoing maintenance.
- Free to use
- Funnel visualization
- Traffic source data
- Complex setup
- Data sampling
- Privacy restrictions
Option 3: StoreRadar
Get conversion rates calculated automatically at every funnel stage—from product views to checkout to purchase—segmented by traffic source, device, and customer type.
- Automatic calculation
- Full funnel tracking
- Source attribution
- AI insights
- Monthly subscription
Related Ecommerce Formulas
Other metrics that work alongside conversion rate
| Formula | Calculation | Relationship to Conversion Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Cart Abandonment Rate | (Abandoned Carts ÷ Created Carts) × 100 | Inverse of cart-to-purchase conversion; identifies checkout friction |
| Revenue Per Visitor (RPV) | Total Revenue ÷ Total Visitors | Combines conversion rate and AOV into one efficiency metric |
| Average Order Value (AOV) | Total Revenue ÷ Number of Orders | Conversion rate × AOV = Revenue per visitor |
| Bounce Rate | (Single-Page Sessions ÷ Total Sessions) × 100 | High bounce rates reduce conversion opportunities |
| Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) | AOV × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan | Conversion is first step; LTV measures long-term value |
Explore more ecommerce formulas and calculators
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about conversion rate
The conversion rate formula is: Conversion Rate = (Number of Conversions ÷ Total Visitors) × 100. For example, if 50 out of 2,000 visitors make a purchase, your conversion rate is (50 ÷ 2,000) × 100 = 2.5%.
The average ecommerce conversion rate is 2-3%. A 'good' rate is 3-5%, while top-performing stores achieve 5%+. However, rates vary significantly by industry, traffic source, and product type. Compare against your own historical performance and industry benchmarks.
A conversion is any desired action. In ecommerce, it's typically a completed purchase. However, you can track micro-conversions like add-to-cart, email signups, or account creation. Define your conversion based on your specific goals.
Use the same formula but segment by source: Source Conversion Rate = (Conversions from Source ÷ Visitors from Source) × 100. This reveals which channels bring the highest-quality traffic. Paid traffic often converts differently than organic or direct traffic.
Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (like purchasing). Click-through rate (CTR) measures the percentage of people who click on a link or ad. CTR happens before the visit; conversion rate happens after.
Both are valid but measure different things. Session-based conversion rate (conversions ÷ sessions) accounts for return visits. User-based conversion rate (conversions ÷ unique users) measures what percentage of people convert. Session-based is more common in ecommerce.
Track Conversion Rates Automatically
StoreRadar calculates conversion rates across your entire funnel—from product views to purchases—so you can identify exactly where you're losing customers.
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