What Conversion Rate Should You Be Targeting?

Here’s a question – what exactly is a ‘good’ conversion rate?

The answer…well, let’s just say it’s an answer that differs enormously from one business to the next. The reason being that what represents a perfectly acceptable conversion rate for one business could be considered no less than disastrous for another.

Plus, there’s the way in which conversion rates of 100% simply do not exist.  Which in turn means that whatever your current performance in terms of conversion rates, there is always room for improvement. As such, you could say that the only true answer to the question as to what makes for a good conversion rate is…any conversion rate that is better than the one you have now!

Settings Standards

Of course, you could be so much more specific if you really want to be. By taking into account the average amount of traffic you receive over a given period of time, you could probably work out the approximate conversion rate you would need in order to survive. And therefore, what kind of conversion rate would bring profitability at a variety of levels.

In any case, the most important rule to follow when it comes to conversion rates is to avoid passiveness and procrastination. Conversion rates are happening right now and are determining whether and to what extent your business will be successful. Which means that to overlook the importance of conversion rates is to turn a blind eye to whether or not your business will succeed.

Suffice to say, not a good idea.

Perhaps the simplest way of going about things is to assess your current conversion rate, work out what kind of conversion rate you would need to reach X level of profitability and begin setting targets accordingly. Give yourself something to work towards. The thing to remember is that you and only you can determine what represents an unacceptable conversion rate for your website and your business.

Just as soon as you have established these standards and goals, you can then move on to making them happen.

Banish the Bounce

It goes without saying that whatever you do and offer primarily as a business will have the biggest impact on your conversion rates. The quality of your products, services and brand image in general will all determine whether or not you make sales and in what kinds of quantities.

Nevertheless, even the most outstanding products and services mean nothing if the user experience isn’t up to scratch. And when it comes to bothersome bounce rates, site loading times and poor performance are just about as bad as it gets.

If your site and its pages take more than 3 seconds to load, you’re in trouble. If it’s more than 5 seconds, you’re headed for disaster. And if it’s more than 10 seconds, you’re already there! If you are completely confident in what you do as a business, any issues you may be experiencing with conversion and bounce rates mustbe related to technical issues. Which is a good thing, given the way in which technical issues are much easier to address than the fundamentals of your business as a whole.

Improving conversion rates doesn’t have to be difficult – it just isn’t the kind of thing that typically takes care of itself!