Via Stephanie Diamonds blog I went to the site for a new book on Website Optimisation and downloaded the free chapter on conversion rate optimisation.
One reference there was to Fireclick - a web analytic service which makes available an aggregated benchmark index on this topic. Highlights for me:
Global conversion rates run at 2% more or less
Cart abandonment rates are consistently at 70%
(had an experience with BT the other day where I started to place an order online and abandoned it after 5 screens with no indication of where in the process I was. And having asked for full credit card details on screen 3 before the product/service decision/information had been taken! That is an absolute no no in conversion land)
Conversion rates for keywords, email and affiliates all higher than the global - from 4% to 6%.
Click here for the full index.
keith
UPDATE Dec 2011: My new blog which covers areas like conversion is here.
Are those benchmark figures available outside their full product Keith?
Their site isn't too navigation friendly (when you go looking for this data).
Rgds
Richard
Posted by: Richard Hearne | August 21, 2008 at 12:42
hiya richard
cannot help you with that I am afraid - the linked benchmark page is as far as I got with this.
Agree on the navigation!
keith
Posted by: keith bohanna | August 21, 2008 at 13:00
This is cool reading, useful as some kind of benchmark. For instance we have a software client who had been lagging WAY behind on conversion rates to purchase, down at 0.25%. We haven't had the opportunity yet to pop those up, but indexes like this do give something to aim for.
There is also a further great book for web analytics which I must recommend and absolutely do not have any relationship at all with called Actionable Web Analytics. You can find it at http://www.sybex.com/actionablewebanalytics
Thanks for the blog post and link Keith.
Posted by: Chris Mortimer | August 21, 2008 at 16:25
@chris - glad you found it useful :-)
keith
Posted by: keith bohanna | August 21, 2008 at 20:11