Website conversion rate: formula, calculator and benchmarks

Conversion rate is the share of visits (or visitors) that complete a desired action: place an order, submit a form, call you, sign up. It tells you how well your site turns traffic into results.

Formula

Conversion rate = conversions / visits × 100%

1,000 visits and 25 leads give a 2.5% conversion rate. Try it here:

Session vs user conversion rate

The denominator changes the number:

• Visit (session) conversion rate divides by visits. Someone who comes three times and buys once is three visits and one purchase.
• Visitor (user) conversion rate divides by people. The same person is one visitor and one purchase, so the rate is higher.

Google Analytics 4 reports both, as session key event rate and user key event rate (key events were called conversions before 2024). In LightMetrica, a goal's conversion is the share of visits in which the goal happened at least once — repeating it in the same visit doesn't inflate the rate.

What should count as a conversion

A conversion rate only makes sense once you've decided what success is:

• Online store — a completed order; add-to-cart as a micro-conversion.
• Service business — a lead form, a call, a message.
• Media and blogs — a newsletter sign-up, a download.

LightMetrica tracks several goals automatically: phone and email clicks, messenger links, file downloads and outbound links. A custom goal such as a form submission takes one data-lm-goal attribute.

What's a good conversion rate?

Benchmarks are rough because conversion depends heavily on niche, price and traffic source:

• Ecommerce — typically low single-digit percentages; expensive products convert lower, consumables higher.
• Lead-generation and service pages — usually higher than stores: filling in a form is easier than paying.
• Cold paid traffic converts worse than branded search or emails to your own list.

That's why comparing sources and pages within your own site is more useful than an industry average.

How to improve conversion rate

1. Find the source or page with the worst conversion — fixing it pays off most.
2. Shorten the path: fewer form fields, fewer checkout steps.
3. Offer easy contact options: a messenger button, a tappable phone number.
4. Test on mobile — that's where forms break most often.
5. Watch bounce rate too: it shows where people drop off on the very first step.

FAQ

Should I calculate conversion rate per visit or per visitor? Per visit is handier for day-to-day work: it shows which sources and pages lead to results. Just be consistent.

Can conversion rate exceed 100%? If you divide all conversions by visits and people convert several times per visit, technically yes. Counting visits with at least one conversion keeps the maximum at 100%.

Why does my ad platform report a different conversion rate? Ad platforms attribute a conversion to the click even if the purchase happens days later; analytics counts it in the visit where it happened. Different attribution windows and rules mean the numbers won't match.