It’s good to know that Benchmark conversion rates can be misleading.
Let’s start by debunking a competitive benchmarking method: comparing your conversion rate to your competitors is irrelevant. Why is this irrelevant? Well, different sites have different traffic sources. Where the traffic comes from and the quality of the traffic makes the difference. Sites also have different traffic volumes, different brand perceptions and different relationships with their target groups. Still, I see there is a lot of comparison going on in the various marketing departments.
Most ecommerce sites compete in some way with the likes of Amazon. Will understanding Amazon’s conversion statistics help you in any way? Amazon Prime members convert at 74%. That is a sign of a strong customer relationship. Non-prime members convert at 13%. Now that you know that, what are you going to do differently? Little.
So competitive benchmarking in terms of conversion rate doesn’t mean much. You run your own race and you are your own benchmark. The conversion rate from other websites should not affect what you do, as it is not something that can affect you.
The only true answer to “what’s a good conversion rate” is this: a good conversion rate is a conversion rate that is better than what you had last month.
So competitive benchmarking in terms of conversion rate doesn’t mean much. You run your own race and you are your own benchmark. The conversion rate from other websites shouldn’t affect what you do, as it’s not something that can affect you. But you do determine your own conversion rate.
That’s not to say that analyzing competitors in tactics and brand positioning is a waste of time. Just knowing where you stand in terms of conversion rate doesn’t mean much. UX benchmarking is therefore only usable and useful on a strategic and tactical level.
Also read: https://uxequity.com/average-ux-improvements-are-shrinking-over-time-what-does-this-mean/
