Benchmarks for Commercial Sites (Stores, SaaS, Lead-Gen)
A commercial website is successful when it persuades visitors to take a desired action: buy a product, sign up, or leave their contact details. Every metric should be viewed in light of this goal—the conversion.
Bounce Rate is Critical Here!
Unlike a blog, a bounce on a commercial site almost always means a lost customer or lead. Optimizing this metric is therefore a high priority.
Bounce Rate
| Value | Interpretation |
|---|
| > 60% | Alarming: Your site is losing the majority of potential customers immediately. Urgent action is needed. |
| 40% - 60% | Needs Improvement: A common, but not ideal, range. Analyze your entry pages. |
| < 40% | Good to Excellent: Your site is relevant and encourages visitors to proceed. |
Conversion Rate (measured as an event)
This is the most important metric. It is highly dependent on industry and price point, but there are general guidelines.
| Value | Interpretation |
|---|
| < 1% | Needs Improvement: There are significant hurdles in the purchase or sign-up process. |
| 1% - 3% | Average: A typical range for many e-commerce stores. |
| > 3% | Good to Excellent: Your offer and user experience are very compelling. |
User Flows (User Journeys)
There are no hard numbers here, but rather patterns to watch out for:
- Good Path:
Homepage -> Category -> Product Page -> Cart -> Checkout (few, logical steps).
- Bad Path:
Product Page -> Homepage -> Search -> Product Page. This suggests confusion or missing information.
- Watch for drop-offs: In the User Flow graph, analyze at which step most users exit. Is it the shipping cost page? The forced registration?
What to do if your metrics are off?
- High Bounce Rate?
- Clear Value Proposition: Is it clear within 3 seconds what you offer and why it’s great?
- Trust Signals: Display customer reviews, security seals, and well-known payment providers.
- Low Conversion Rate?
- Simplify forms: Only ask for the most essential information.
- Call-to-Action (CTA): Is your ‘Buy’ or ‘Sign Up’ button clearly visible and understandable?
- Mobile Optimization: Over 50
