Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017
Conversion Optimization
Benchmark Report
What’s a good conversion rate?
Is my landing page converting high enough?
What conversion goals should I set for my ads?
These questions are asked by most businesses engaged in any type of on-
line marketing involving content. That’s why we’ve compiled the average
conversion rates for the most important marketing channels:
• Landing Pages
• Website Forms
• In-Content CTAs
• Paid Traffic – Google AdWords
• Paid Traffic – Facebook
• Email Marketing
We’ve also included conversion benchmark data by industry, which is highly
valuable because it gives you more accurate numbers, seeing as each indus-
try has unique conversion rates.
Let’s dive in!
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 2
13.28%
- The average conversion
rate for B2B landing pages
Landing Pages
Landing pages are used by marketers to generate leads. Here are some
common examples of lead generation landing pages: According to LeadPages, a
• Opt-in pages good opt-in page can convert
• Webinar registration form
• Quote/Estimate request up to 20-25% while a good
• Event signup webinar registration page
• Service call/email back (real estate leads, free SaaS demonstration, etc.)
• Reservations can convert at 30%.
• Waiting lists
The first set of conversion rates for lead-generating landing pages are Good opt-in page
categorized into B2B and B2C.
25%
Wishpond analyzed the conversion rates of 144 landing pages
(64 B2B; 80 B2C) and found the following results:
Landing pages
Average conversion rate
B2B B2C
(business-to-business) (business-to-consumer) Good webinar page
13.28% 9.87% 30%
• Source
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 3
Average Landing Page Lead Conversion
Rates By Industry
To compare conversion rates more accurately, review conversion rate
data from your industry. This will give you a better idea of how you are
comparing with businesses similar to yours.
Unbounce analyzed the behavior of 74,551,421 visitors to 64,284 lead
generation landing pages created on its platform in 10 top industries.
The data below shows the results of Unbounce’s analysis and lists the
median conversion rate as well as the top rates in each industry.
Industry Median Top
Travel 5.0% 25.1%
Real Estate 2.8% 11.2%
Business Consulting 5.0% 27.4%
Business Services 3.4% 15.7%
Credit & Lending 5.5% 24.3%
Health 2.8% 12.3%
Higher Education 2.6% 11.5%
Home Improvement 3.3% 14.9%
Legal 3.2% 15.4%
Vocational Studies & Job Training 6.0% 25.0%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
• Source
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 4
Traffic coming from paid search such as Google AdWords
will convert at a far lower rate than an organic call to
action for a webinar on your website.
How should you interpret this data?
To start off, you can set the median conversion rate for Note that the channel driving traffic to these landing pages will
your landing page as your first goal. This number should be have a big impact on your conversion rates.
your goal at a minimum. Once you reach that goal, strive
to reach the top conversion rate and even higher by testing For example, traffic coming from paid search such as Google
and tweaking. There is no limit to how high you can go but AdWords will convert at a far lower rate than something like an
you can use these numbers as a starting point to see how organic call to action for a webinar on your website.
well you compare to others in your industry. For example, if
you are in the business consulting industry and your average Organic traffic like this will convert at a higher rate because the
conversion rate is at 3%, you know you have some work to user may already be digesting your content on your website and
do as the median rate is 5%. engaged with your brand so the conversion is a much easier
decision. In contrast, when a user is searching on Google and
If you do not see your industry in the data above, choose sees a flurry of ads and competitive sites, there is much more
one that is closely related to yours. For example, if you are content vying for a user’s attention.
in the food services industry, you are providing experiences
for people. This could be related to travel as this industry can
also provide experiences. If none of the industries closely
relate, match your conversion rates to the B2C/B2B rates
listed above.
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 5
16%
The average conversion rate
for website forms
Website Forms
Businesses use website forms to gather data and convert users into leads. Formstack noted that surveys
Website forms may be used for webinar and event registrations, contact
forms, surveys, contests and any other type of lead generation. decreased in conversions
Formstack analyzed 650,000 mobile-responsive forms and found the
following results: 7% from the previous year,
Form Type Avg. conversion rate suggesting that the length
Lead Gen 11%
of the forms may have been
(webinar registration and
gated downloads) the culprit. Longer forms
Contest 35%
tend to perform worse than
Event registration 11% shorter forms.
Order/Payment 9%
Survey 14%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
• Source
3.13%
The average conversion
In-Content CTAs
rate for Media Shower’s
At Media Shower, we use calls to action (CTAs)
in our content to generate leads for our content
in-content CTAs
platform. Each CTA also comes with its own
tracking code, so we can gauge the success of
each article we create. We analyzed the data for
5,757 published articles that saw conversions
and found that 3.13% of the people who read
those articles converted.
If your in-content CTAs are
converting at a 3% clip or better,
you’ve got a reason to smile!
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 6
The average conversion
2.7% rate across all industries
for Google AdWords
Google AdWords Advertising
The following data displays conversion rates generated from companies
advertising on Google’s AdWords platform.
The conversion rates below may be either lead-based or sales-based.
The data comes from MarketingSherpa and it analyzed the advertising
conversion rates from 10 industries and listed the averages:
Industry Average conversion rate
Professional / Financial Services 10%
Media / Publishing 10%
Other 8%
Education / Healthcare 8%
Software / SaaS 7%
Technology Equipment / Hardware 5%
Manufacturing / Packaged Goods 4%
Travel / Hospitality 4%
Retail / Ecommerce 3%
Non-profit 2%
0 2 4 6 8 10
• Source
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 7
The data range is wide because, as already discussed, the data does not list whether or not the conversion is a lead or a sale.
But, from looking at the numbers, you can deduce that:
• The retail / ecommerce industry conversion rate is most Wordstream analyzed conversion rates across many industries
likely sales-focused, which is why it is so low. Sales and separated them into averages for search ads vs. display
conversion rates are typically lower than lead conversion ads (Google Display Network or GDN).
rates. The same for the non-profit category which may
involve collecting donations. Search ads are pay-per-click ads found on Google’s search
engine pages. They show up when a user searches for a
• An industry such as software / SaaS typically does not related keyword. Display ads, also known as banner ads, are
run advertising to generate sales. They use advertising to image ads shown to users wherever they are surfing online,
generate leads and then bring people through a sales cycle even if they are not searching for your company or product.
where they nurture them into purchasing. The same may be
said for professional or financial services.
0.89%
The average conversion rate for display ads
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 8
Below are the average conversion rates for various industries for search and display ads.
Industry Average Conversion Rate Industry Average CVR (Search)
Advocacy 0.37% 4.61%
Auto 0.79% 2.27%
B2B 0.96% 2.58%
Consumer Services 0.96% 5.00%
Dating & Personals 0.41% 2.75%
E-Commerce 0.96% 1.91%
Education 0.50% 4.13%
Employment Services 1.28% 3.97%
Finance & Insurance 1.75% 7.19%
Health & Medical 0.77% 2.51%
Home Goods 0.77% 3.68%
Industrial Services 0.88% 2.58%
Legal 0.98% 4.35%
Real Estate 1.49% 4.40%
Technology 1.04% 2.55%
Travel & Hospitality 0.53% 2.57%
Average 0.89% 2.7%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Source
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 9
Facebook Advertising
The data below represents conversions of all types generated from Facebook ads.
Industry Average Conversion Rate
Apparel 4.11%
Auto 5.11%
B2B 10.63%
Beauty 7.10%
Consumer Services 9.96%
Education 13.58%
Employment & Job Training 11.73%
Finance & Insurance 9.09%
Fitness 14.29%
Home Improvement 6.56%
Healthcare 11.00%
Industrial Services 0.71% 9.21%
Legal 5.60% The average
Real Estate 10.68% conversion rate
for Facebook
Retail 3.26%
advertising
Technology 2.31%
across all
Travel & Hospitality 2.82% industries
Average 9.21%
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
• Source
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 10
MailChimp analyzed its customers’ data and reported the average unique open rates and
Email Marketing average unique click rates for emails sent from varying industries:
Industry Click Open
Email conversion rates vary Agriculture and Food Services 2.98% 24.71%
depending on what metrics you Architecture and Construction 2.90% 24.78%
Arts and Artists 2.85% 27.23%
are analyzing. Here you will find
Beauty and Personal Care 1.96% 18.48%
average conversion rates for the
Business and Finance 2.73% 20.97%
following metrics:
Computers and Electronics 2.16% 20.87%
Construction 1.95% 22.10%
• Opens – percentage of people Consulting 2.26% 19.54%
who open an email Creative Services/Agency 2.61% 22.41%
Daily Deals/E-Coupons 2.39% 15.22%
• Clicks – percentage of people E-commerce 2.32% 16.75%
who click on a link in an email Education and Training 2.63% 22.00%
Entertainment and Events 2.33% 21.21%
Gambling 3.35% 18.75%
Games 3.33% 20.82%
Government 3.62% 26.33%
Health and Fitness 2.57% 21.93%
Hobbies 5.13% 28.46%
Home and Garden 3.47% 23.82%
Insurance 2.11% 21.56%
Legal 2.99% 22.49%
Manufacturing 2.33% 21.74%
Marketing and Advertising 1.92% 17.81%
Media and Publishing 4.70% 22.14%
Medical, Dental, and Healthcare 2.42% 22.43%
Mobile 2.10% 19.43%
Music and Musicians 2.84% 22.86%
Non-Profit 2.76% 24.98%
Other 2.81% 23.06%
Pharmaceuticals 2.51% 20.02%
Photo and Video 3.49% 25.36%
Politics 2.17% 22.23%
Professional Services 2.47% 20.89%
Public Relations 1.64% 20.12%
Real Estate 1.91% 20.84%
Recruitment and Staffing 2.18% 20.73%
Religion 3.11% 26.46%
Restaurant 1.25% 21.17%
Restaurant and Venue 1.33% 21.71%
Retail 2.50% 20.96%
Social Networks and Online Communities 3.33% 21.71%
Software and Web App 2.29% 20.95%
Sports 3.19% 25.41%
Telecommunications 2.43% 21.57%
Travel and Transportation 2.17% 20.69%
Vitamin Supplements 1.80% 17.26%
• Source 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Conversion Optimization Benchmark Report August 2017 11
Remarkety analyzed open rates, click rates, and conversion rates for various emails across many Ecommerce platforms. The
conversion rates illustrate the percentage of people who placed an order within three days of opening or clicking an email.
Email Type
23.4% Open
Click
Newsletter (Email blasts) 17.8%
Conversion
1.0%
46.1%
Order Follow-up 16.7%
5.0%
38.9%
Inactive customer 19.5%
2.6%
46.6%
Abandoned cart 28.7%
5.0%
39.2%
Member follow up
(new user registration or welcome) 22.4%
2.7%
• Source 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Conclusion
The numbers don’t lie. Your conversion rate results may vary from these averages, but
you’re now a step ahead of the game, armed with valuable information gleaned from respected
industries. Use it to measure your success!
Good luck.
