Lead Generation and Conversion Rate Benchmarks for Web Site Marketing

In this week’s More Business Marketing Newsletter I explained how to measure your web site’s performance by evaluating your conversion rate. In addition I added a web site conversion calculator for you to use to calculate the numbers you need to assess your site’s performance.

Now that you have your conversion rates for your site, what are the norms? How well could you be doing? What are the industry benchmarks? Remember these represent the average of companies doing it right and wrong. They are a baseline and you should be able to do even better.

According to information from Fireclick’s Web analytics and e-consultancy, average conversion rates are:

Lead Generation
2-3% of visitors sign up for a free registration process
10-12% of visitors sign up when the benefits are promoted
50% of visitors sign up when incentives are used

Conversion of Free Subscribers to Paid Subscribers
1-7% will convert

Conversion of Browsers to Buyers
.5 – 8% depending on your target market, what you’re selling, your site and how you phrase your offer.

How do your numbers compare?
Are you above or below the industry averages?
More importanly what can you do to improve your conversion rates?

The easiest way to lift your conversion rates is to clarify the marketing copy you use on your site, and your page design. In a word, simplify.

Want help increasing your web site conversion rates? Find out how with Creating Web Sites that Sell or contact Charlie to get help from a web marketing expert.
– Charlie Cook