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
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.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% of purchases happen on mobile. Test the entire process on a smartphone.