What are the 'Average' Conversion Rates?

Markets,

Do you understand why your question is not going to give you any usable information?

You can't assume someone elses conversion rate is going to be even close to yours, good or bad. Why should it be?

You're not in the same market, you're not selling the same product, your traffic didn't come from the same source, your sales copy is different, your sales price is different, your timing is different, your call to action is different, your reputation and credentials are different, and on and on and on.

To compare yourself with anyone else is a huge mistake.

You should only do comparisons by comparing your performance with your performance and one variable changed. Then you have a good idea of why your conversions are different. Any other comparisons lead to false assumptions and they are not in your best interest.

I think you know all this but maybe other newbies can learn something.

Steve

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Sid Hale

9 years ago

I am amazed every time this question gets asked (and it gets asked a lot around here),

Originally Posted by Markets

I know there are tons of different variables that come into play, but I am asking what the average conversion rate is of a sale being made for an informational type site?

You've been given two very good replies in this...

Originally Posted by Steve B

You can't assume someone elses conversion rate is going to be even close to yours, good or bad. Why should it be?

You're not in the same market, you're not selling the same product, your traffic didn't come from the same source, your sales copy is different, your sales price is different, your timing is different, your call to action is different, your reputation and credentials are different, and on and on and on.

and this...

Originally Posted by jasondinner

Different products convert at different rates depending on traffic sources, the frame of the visitor, and how the product is presented.

Anyone who provided their data is useless for the OP because that's your data and his will be far different.

Unfortunately, most of the responders should have been reading the thread and learning from those replies - rather than posting their own drivel.

As pointed out in those replies, an "average" is only meaningful if you also know something about the numbers that were averaged (and it's not just a ratio of click-thrus to sales). I won't repeat the variables that were mentioned in the above replies, but would like to add another - because it is ALWAYS overlooked.

The OP didn't mention if he was interested in the average conversion rate for affiliate promotions, or if he was interested in the conversion rate of the merchant's own promotions.

They can be (in fact, are expected to be) quite different, for all of the reasons given above.

The merchant quite likely promotes to his buyers list separately, in order to get a better understanding of how his sales page is performing. Even if he/she hasn't segregated his list - he knows what percentage of his total list represents previous buyers and can factor that in for his own forecasting of sales potential.

Most affiliates do NOT have the requisite information, and therefore, will find "average conversion rate" to be much less pertinent. Not only can they not measure conversion against a known list of buyers, they don't know 1) what other affiliates have promoted the product, 2) how many promotions those affiliates put out, 3) what those affiliates promotions consisted of (i.e. blind email ads, blog posts, paid/free advertising, etc.) and many other factors.

Affiliates have ZERO understanding of the "average conversion rate" supplied to them by the various affiliate networking platforms, yet try to use that figure as one of their guidelines for selecting products to promote.

Affiliate marketers should re-focus on the product (how useful is it), the vendors sales page (does it convey the benefits of the product), and are there any sales page leaks (different buy buttons, opt-in pop-ups, downsell offer to totally different domain, etc.).

An affiliate needs to consistently identify truly useful products for his audience and do a good job of making his recommendations to that audience. Other people's conversion rate is just a distraction to that effort.

Thanks

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Randall Magwood

9 years ago

Depends. You could have an info-product that sucks, and sell it for $300... and it don't sell anything.

But you could probably sell it for $50 and get sales. 80% of profits will come from backend selling (selling to existing customers).

But *average rates*... if you're direct linking to your sales page, i would say 1/2% - 1%. But starting off with lead generation and email followup... it could be high. Depending on price and offer. But using this model, you can expect to see 2%-5% response - or even more.

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RealCasher

9 years ago

One of the latest products I promote converts at 5% visitor:sale ratio.

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Miguelito203

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Markets

I know there are tons of different variables that come into play, but I am asking what the average conversion rate is of a sale being made for an informational type site?
This can be indirectly, such as they buy after you have them on a list, or even if they simply buy straight from your site.

I hope my question was clear, to sum it all up, what is the average percentage of all your visitors that make a purchase of some sort?

Thanks again.

A while back, I heard the average conversion rate in IM was 1%. If it was less than this, the thought was you were doing something wrong. With that said, conversion rates can vary a great deal for a variety of different reasons. In my experience, I get much better conversion rates (and lower refunds) when promoting stuff outside of IM.

Joey

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jasondinner

9 years ago

Definitely not the best question.

Different products convert at different rates depending on traffic sources, the frame of the visitor, and how the product is presented.

Anyone who provided their data is useless for the OP because that's your data and his will be far different.

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Banned 9 years ago

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hilear 9 years ago

No way to standardize the marketing, the market and the product to be useful information for you.

Start working on some projects, put together some campaigns and always be learning. You will probably start out with 0 conversions, but keep working and keep learning. Little by little all your planets will align, all the pieces will come together, and Boom something happens!

Rejoice!
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BelfastCity

9 years ago

Dont know about information products(not enough data) but in my experience with physical products nearly all clients run at 1-2% conversion from visits.

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PriyankaMehta

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Markets

I know there are tons of different variables that come into play, but I am asking what the average conversion rate is of a sale being made for an informational type site?
This can be indirectly, such as they buy after you have them on a list, or even if they simply buy straight from your site.

I hope my question was clear, to sum it all up, what is the average percentage of all your visitors that make a purchase of some sort?

Thanks again.

Well, it completely depends on your self what kind of products you want to sell and what kind of strategies you are following. Because, marketing is completely a mind game, and if you do better marketing with e better tactics, then definitely you can get 5%-7% average conversion rate.

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selfdisciplineacademy

9 years ago

Internet Marketing Sales Pages usually convert at around 10%

Other niches and offers are lower

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yangyang

9 years ago

That depends on the ingenuity of the niche.

When you are the first ones of a niche, the average conversion rate can be pretty rewarding, as high as 10% or higher.

More competitors join in your niche, your average conversion rate will drop, unless you keep working on staying on the edge of your niche, if you can.

My experience is it takes about 1 year for the conversion rate to drop from 10% to 5% and another 2 - 3 years to 1 - 2%, that's about when you probably have shifted your main marketing power to other niches, or if you have good business acumen, you have abandoned the niche long before others do.

Most of the marketers enjoy a conversion rate of 1 - 2% most of the time.

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selfdisciplineacademy

9 years ago

The following criteria makes a huge difference:

> Traffic Source
> Pricing
> Sales Copy/Video
> Do they know you/your brand?
> Etc

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iVentureBiz

9 years ago

Just like others have said there are a lot of variables...

Niche, traffic source, product, pricing, sales copy... Etc

If you have a list of die hard fans that have bought in the past you could be talking about 12% - 20%. But if your looking for a baseline conversion rate that you are almost guaranteed to get use 0.1% (1sale from 1000 visits). The law of average says that pretty much anything will sell at that rate. As long as your product isn't complete crap and your not buying cheap web hits from China for pennies

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seobro

9 years ago

4% is the industry average. Typically I get 6% conversion. However, with low ticket items such as a $9.99 bottle of beauty shampoo you can get eight or nine even. With more costly items, that is not the case. For riding mowers you are lucky to get even one.

High ticket items don't sell well on the internet because people are afraid they will get a bad item and not be able to get their money back ever. For example, I ordered a $600 lamp over the internet and the item came smashed with all the glass broken. I returned the item and asked the seller for a refund, but they said - that's your problem not mine. I had paid for insurance, but I never got one penny. Basically, my $600 was gone.

This is why I like to sell low ticket items on the internet as consumables to consumers. It is true that I have a low profit margin. However, there is a steady market in selling soap.

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MarkAse

9 years ago

Ecommerce as a whole sits at about 2.1%, give or take, depending on who you ask.

Adjust up and down based on the number of your offerings and especially your price and you'll get some idea about where you should be.

As an example, the gift baskets on my site convert at lower than the ecommerce average, because they're higher than average in price point-