How to Improve Conversion Rates: Expert Guide for Max ROI (2024)

A good conversion rate is 2%-3% for ecommerce and 5%-8% for lead generation. Learn how our award-winning agency sees conversion rates as high as 15%.

While a decent conversion rate can indicate how well your online content drives conversions, you can maximize results with strategic optimization tactics.

To improve conversion rates, you’ll need a data-backed marketing strategy.

We tapped into the expertise of HawkSEM’s conversion trio: CEO Sam Yagedar, associate director of SEM, Rachel Corak, and lead strategist, Yara Askar.

We’ll cover average conversion rates, 15 tried and trusted optimization tips, common faux pas, and additional insights to maximize your campaign ROI, so keep reading.

What’s a good conversion rate?

A good conversion rate generally falls between 2-8% and varies across different industries. However, a more specialized niche often means higher conversion potential.

The tech industry, for example, tends to have higher conversion rates than broader sectors like retail or real estate.

LocaliQ’s 2024 benchmark report analyzed roughly 18,000 U.S.-based search ad campaigns that ran between April 2023 through March 2024.

Across all industries, the average conversion rate was nearly 7%.

Let’s break this down a bit more so you can get a clear idea of what to expect from your industry.

Conversion rate by industry:

• Animals and Pets: 12.03%
• Apparel / Fashion and Jewelry: 3.33%
• Arts and Entertainment: 4.22%
• Attorneys and Legal Services: 5.64%
• Automotive (For Sale): 6.49%
• Automotive (Repair, Service, and Parts): 12.96%
• Beauty and Personal Care: 8.01%
• Business Services: 5.78%
• Career and Employment: 5.63%
• Dentists and Dental Services: 8.36%
• Education and Instruction: 7.91%
• Finance and Insurance: 2.78%
• Furniture: 2.53%
• Health and Fitness: 7.40%
• Home and Home Improvement: 8.62%
• Industrial and Commercial: 6.84%
• Personal Services: 8.83%
• Physicians and Surgeons: 11.08%
• Real Estate: 2.91%
• Restaurants and Food: 8.72%
• Shopping, Collectibles, and Gifts: 3.49%
• Sports and Recreation: 5.35%
• Travel: 5.36%

What’s a good PPC conversion rate? It depends on who you ask.

Some agencies consider anything around 7% a win. Here at HawkSEM, we like to set our sights higher, aiming for 9%-15%. However, it’s crucial to acknowledge that seasonal businesses bring more fluctuations:

“We can see swings up to 30%,” says Yadegar. “But for non-seasonal businesses, you want to work toward continuously improving conversion rates over time.”

A solid conversion rate shows that a brand is truly dialed into its target audience:

“The higher it is, the more they really understand the searcher’s pain point and offer a solution that customers love,” explains Yadegar.

“Also, it means that their targeting, keywords, and landing pages are watertight.”

And if a conversion rate falls below the industry average, he warns that could signal a brand’s keyword research, audience targeting, or landing pages need improvement.

Benchmark targets in place? Check. Now, let’s look at how you’ll get there.

15 tips to boost conversion rates

Whatever the cause, a flawed conversion funnel means missed opportunities and lost revenue.

If your website visitors aren’t converting, take it as a red flag to examine your approach and make adjustments.

Here are 15 proven tips to help you improve conversion rates:

1. Define your conversion goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)
2. Review targeting criteria
3. Research and analyze the competition
4. Eliminate friction and hesitation
5. Revamp your website copy
6. Create remarketing campaigns
7. Welcome audience communication and feedback
8. Track related metrics
9. Optimize your product pages
10. Tailor your landing pages
11. Send abandoned cart emails
12. Make returns hassle-free
13. Localize your content
14. Set up conversion tracking and attribution
15. Pivot your approach based on trends, testing, and data

1. Define your conversion goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)

Remember: to calculate conversion rates, you need to determine exactly what you want your website visitors to do. So, if you haven’t already defined your conversion goals, now’s the time.

If you’re an ecommerce business, conversion actions might be a:

• Purchase or transaction
• Account creation
• Add to cart

For service-based businesses, your goals might revolve around lead generation. These conversions can include:

• Contact form submission
• Quote request
• Consultation request

Keep in mind that conversions aren’t limited to just sales or leads. They can also include micro-conversions, like:

• Resource downloads (like an ebook or whitepaper)
• Newsletter signups
• Demo downloads

With your goals in sight, you can assign metrics (or KPIs) .

These quantify your progress, facilitate data-driven decisions, and guide you toward higher conversion rates.

For example, an ecommerce store might set a KPI to reduce abandoned carts by 15% through a simplified checkout page or enticing discounts.

A SaaS company, on the other hand, might want to boost free trial users who convert to paying customers by 8%.

Think of these targets as your conversion rate optimization (CRO) roadmap. Monitor them, adjust as you go, and you’ll be on your way to driving continuous growth.

2. Review targeting criteria

A killer landing page with high-quality visuals, striking copy, and a strong call-to-action (CTA) is only as good as the audience it gets. And if these folks aren’t converting, you might be drawing the wrong crowd.

With audience targeting, you guarantee your message reaches the right people at the right time, on the right day, through the right marketing channel, and even in the right location.

Take our client 686. Their winter gear ecommerce site hit a snag with conversions. After a comprehensive audit, we discovered a flaw in their audience targeting. The issue? They weren’t getting qualified leads because the locations and timing were all wrong.

For instance, they were showing ads for snowboarding gear to people in Florida — not really their ideal customer base.

This led us to fine-tune their PPC campaigns, zero in on relevant geographic locations, and re-engage potential customers who’d previously interacted with their brand.

The results were undeniable: cart abandonment dropped, checkouts soared, and 686’s website conversion rate skyrocketed by 186%, all while slashing their cost per conversion by 67%.

3. Research and analyze the competition

When you understand your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, and strategies, you can identify opportunities to differentiate yourself, refine your approach, and ultimately win over more customers.

That’s why we kick off every HawkSEM partnership with a thorough competitive analysis to answer questions like:

• Who are your main competitors?
• Where do they excel? Fall short?
• What’s their market share? SEO rank?
• What are their marketing strategies? Pricing strategies?
• How do customers perceive them?
• What trends have emerged in your industry?
• What are the potential threats or gaps you can fill?

It’s vital to answer these questions in your competitor analysis because there’s no direct way to track your rivals’ conversions, as they usually keep that intel under wraps.

Here’s how to start:

1. Pinpoint your direct and indirect competitors
2. Analyze their website’s, design and layout, messaging, CTA placements, and friction points (which we’ll get to in a minute)
3. Dissect their marketing strategies (e.g., content, social media, email, and paid ads)
4. Use competitive analysis tools like Moz,Semrush, and/or SpyFu
5. Look for gaps and opportunities to capitalize on, like niche market focus or untapped features
6. Adjust your approach and put your findings into action

Stay on top of your competitors, and your CRO strategy will always stay a step ahead.

4. Eliminate friction and hesitation

An easy, breezy customer experience is crucial for conversions. But sometimes they land on friction points.

These are any element on your site that creates obstacles for browsers, causing them to hesitate instead of completing a desired action (like making a purchase or filling out a form).

No surprises here: If there’s friction, you could see a lower CVR.

Friction points can be subtle or more obvious and can occur at any stage of the customer journey, from the initial landing page to the final checkout process. Some common examples include:

• Slow load times
• Confusing navigation
• Messy or cluttered design
• Long, difficult forms
• Distracting pop-ups or links
• Hidden or unexpected costs
• Poor optimization for mobile devices
• Lack of trust signals

Every obstacle or moment of doubt can send potential customers bouncing.

That’s why Corak’s approach is to eliminate hesitation before audiences even land on your site. Frictionless ad copy has been a game-changer in her clients’ PPC campaigns:

“In one example, the objective was to increase phone call conversions,” she explains.

“To do this, we tested a version of ad copy that focused less on the generic ‘Call Now’ copy, but instead focused on the simplicity of the phone call to help eliminate resistance.”

For instance, instead of just urging audiences to call, you could highlight how quick and hassle-free it is to speak to an expert (e.g. “Get a free consultation in under 5 minutes!” or “Speak to an expert now, no wait!”).

The results of this simple, effective shift?

“We increased the conversion rate from 4.11% to 5.25% and resulted in a 32% decrease in CPA.”

Speaking of copy…

5. Revamp your website copy

Your website’s design might catch the eye, but it’s the persuasive power of your words that truly converts.

When you have compelling headlines, clear CTAs, and persuasive product descriptions, you entice them toward action.

Most experts split website copy into two categories: headlines and body content.

Headlines, headings, and subheadings

Headlines are your audience’s first impression of your webpage. If it doesn’t capture their attention, why would they stick around to read more?

To craft headlines for maximum impact:

• Ensure your headline accurately reflects and aligns with the body content that follows
• Clearly communicate the value proposition or the problem you help them solve
• Use numbers and data for specificity
• Spark curiosity with intriguing questions or phrases
• Keep it short and sweet since audiences skim first, then read deeper
• Create a sense of urgency or excitement with words related to time, speed, or scarcity
• Include keywords for SEO
• Address your target audience directly

Body content

While your headlines hook your audience, your body content reels them in and converts them.

This is where you deliver on the promise in the headline and answer the burning question, ‘What’s in it for me?’

For body copy that’s primed for conversions:

• Tailor it to your target audience’s pain points, desires, and language.
• Focus on benefits (like outcomes and solutions), not just features (like technical specs).
• Use clear, simple language and avoid confusing industry jargon.
• Flex your brand’s unique personality.
• Use strong verbs, vivid imagery, and storytelling to evoke an emotional response.
• Highlight your value propositions and how it distinguishes you from competitors.
• Include customer reviews, testimonials, case studies, and stats to build trust and credibility.
• Break up walls of text with subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs to make your content easier to scan and digest.
• Enhance readability with legible font size and style, sufficient white space, and relevant visuals.
• Guide readers toward your desired conversion actions with strategically placed CTAs.

Once you’ve polished your web copy for visitors, create a seamless path for them to connect.

6. Create remarketing campaigns

Remarketing campaigns are ads that re-engage target customers who previously interacted with your brand.

Those interactions might look like views on product pages, visits to certain sections, or content engagement.

Rather than nudging these audiences to check out, remarketing nurtures them further down the sales funnel (regardless of whether they abandoned a cart or not).

You’ll typically see a higher conversion rate with remarketing than other campaigns because it’s easier to retarget those already familiar with your products or services.

How much easier? Try 147% more conversions than regular campaigns.

As for how to kick off your first Google Ads remarketing campaign:

• Open up Google Ads and set up your Google remarketing tag
• Segment your remarketing audience based on user behavior
• Set up new campaign displays
• Create new ads and ad groups

While remarketing might sound simple in theory, the devil’s in the details. For a step-by-step walkthrough, check out our =comprehensive guide on how to set up Google Ads remarketing.

7. Welcome audience communication and feedback

Data is a valuable tool, but it only tells part of the story. Successful marketers know the best insights often come from direct conversations with customers.

Your website is where potential and existing customers seek answers, support, and solutions. When you make it easy for them to get in touch, you reduce yet another friction point and encourage connection with your audience.

Sure, displaying your phone number, email, and social media handles on your homepage is a start but you shouldn’t stop there:

“Conduct surveys and interviews, and gather any user research on your target audience if possible,” Askar says.

“This data is crucial to understand user motivations, preferences, and pain points. It’ll be the driving factor to identify your goals/objectives in order to build hypotheses and tests.”

You can even implement live chat, a feature that 62% of shoppers say makes them more likely to buy. This is because it allows you to instantly answer their questions. Better yet, you can use this touchpoint to gauge even more feedback.

Let’s say you notice a visitor on your latest blog post. You can use live chat to chime in and ask what topics they’d like to see you cover. Or, if someone’s watching a live demo or webinar, you can ask them about their initial impressions.

These personal audience insights reveal the motivations, preferences, and pain points that drive user behavior. With it, you can create a site experience that truly speaks to their needs (which, in turn, drives conversions).

8. Track related metrics

Unsurprisingly, Corak emphasizes that conversion rate is the most crucial metric for CRO analysis. But it’s not the only metric that matters.

For instance, maybe you scored a 15% conversion rate on your latest campaign. Great! But what did it cost to get there? If it’s more than your revenue, you’re not in a great spot.

It’s also important to consider whether those conversions translate into loyal customers or one-hit wonders.

Yadegar suggests additional metrics for the complete picture:

• Time to conversion: the average time it takes for a lead to become a paying customer
• Cost per conversion: how much your company has to spend to get a conversion (the total cost of a campaign divided by the number of conversions)
• Customer lifetime value (CLV): how much revenue your business will garner from one particular customer
• Cost per acquisition (CPA): how much money your brand spends to acquire leads or potential customers
• Return on ad spend (ROAS): compares your overall revenue with overall ad spend for a particular campaign
• Average order value (AOV): the average amount customers spend per transaction
• Churn rate: the rate at which customers cancel or don’t renew their subscriptions
• Clickthrough rate (CTR): how many people click on your ads after they see it

A finger on the pulse of these metrics empowers you to make data-driven decisions that pave the way to higher conversions.

9. Optimize your product pages

Product pages are the heart and soul of ecommerce sites. It’s where customers learn about your offerings, make purchasing decisions, and ultimately contribute to your bottom line.

Given that 85% of shoppers rely heavily on product info and visuals, even the slightest misstep on your product page can derail a potential sale.

So, how do you create product pages that turn potential customers into paying ones? Here are a few tips:

• Don’t just add nice images; take it to the next level with zoom capability and 360-degree views.
• Craft compelling product descriptions that are benefits-focused, clear, concise, scannable, and SEO-friendly.
• Build trust with elements like social proof and customer reviews, security badges, and satisfaction guarantees.
• Use strong verbs like “Buy Now” or “Add to Cart” in your CTA.
• Display transparent and flexible pricing, along with different payment options (including major credit cards and digital wallets).
• Make your CTA buttons visually prominent above the fold and throughout the page.
• Facilitate a seamless user experience (UX) with easy navigation, fast load times, and mobile responsiveness.

Once your product page is up to par, shift your focus to your landing page.

10. Tailor your landing pages

Sometimes, landing pages get the short end of the stick. You’ve created an amazing PPC ad, but then what?

It’s a common mistake: brands invest heavily in keyword research, compelling copy, and eye-catching visuals, yet their landing pages feel like an afterthought.

The reality? Landing pages are one of the most important facets of a conversion strategy. It’s your last shot to impress your web visitors and entice that oh-so-sweet conversion action.

Take our SaaS client Datadog, who struggled with low-conversion landing pages. Their old design was working against them, so we gave it a sleek, user-friendly makeover with a laser focus on conversion optimization.

After revamping CTAs to address customers’ pain points, we saw immediate results:

• CTR increased from 1% to 3%
• CPA reduced by 40%
• Sales demo (an important conversion type) increased by 75%

Want similar results? Here’s a quick checklist to boost conversions on your landing pages:

• Ensure cohesive design and messaging
• Add an eye-catching hero image

• Highlight your brand’s unique selling points (USPs)
• Keep form fields short and straightforward
• Address customer pain points with your solutions
• Make navigation as smooth as possible
• Add high-contrast CTA buttons
• Optimize load times for desktop and mobile
• Include a lead form and brief FAQ section
• Leverage social proof like reviews and testimonials

Need more guidance on high-conversion landing pages? Dive deeper in our step-by-step guide.

11. Send abandoned cart emails

The average cart abandonment rate hovers at around 70%, representing a significant loss of potential revenue for businesses just like yours.

There are countless reasons for it, ranging from sticker shock at checkout and confusing return policies to those who are merely window shopping.

The upside? Abandoned carts offer a second chance to win over these potential customers. After all, they’ve already shown interest in your products. A well-timed nudge might be all that’s needed to complete the sale.

Through cart abandonment emails, you can retarget customers who almost converted.

Here are a few best practices to get it right:

• Instill urgency and a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out)
• Dish out incentives like exclusive discounts or free shipping
• Keep it personalized, with 88% of recipients more likely to respond favorably
• Master the 3-email sequence (send one ASAP, another 24 hours later, and a third after 72 hours)
• Give a final push with an irresistible CTA
• Use tools like MailChimp,OptiMonk, orKlaviyo to streamline cart recovery emails

One of those email marketing tools even says you could recoup up to 14% of lost conversions. Imagine the impact this could have on your revenue when applied to thousands of abandoned carts over a year.

12. Make returns hassle-free

Let’s face it: online shopping relies on people buying something they can’t see or touch.

A flexible return policy gives potential customers peace of mind, which removes hesitation and makes them more likely to convert. A less-than-stellar policy, on the other hand, can be a dealbreaker for up to 12% of shoppers.

So, how can you encourage more conversions with minimal risk? You can offer:

• A money-back guarantee
• Free returns or exchanges
• Pre-paid return labels
• Online portal to streamline returns
• Various options, like in-store returns (if applicable), mail-in returns, or even pick-up services
• Quick and efficient refunds
• Proactive communication throughout the return process
• Opportunities to gather feedback about returns or exchanges

Dedicate a webpage on your site that clearly explains your return policy and link to it from every product page for easy reference.

13. Localize your content

Localized content shows your customers you care by speaking their language and creating content that resonates with them personally.

And it works: just ask the84% of businesses that owe their revenue growth to localized content efforts.

According to HubSpot, localized content matches your target market’s cultural expectations.

It goes beyond simple translation and considers the unique characteristics of your potential customers.

This can include:

• Local language or dialects, slang, and idiomatic expressions
• References to local customs, holidays, traditions, or pop culture
• Visuals of local landmarks, people, or foods
• Writing tone or style that aligns with local norms or preferences
• Pricing in the local currency and units of measurement (e.g., miles vs. kilometers)
• Compliance with local laws and regulations

14. Set up conversion tracking and attribution

Spotting a conversion is one thing, identifying where it came from is another. This is where proper conversion tracking and attribution are essential.

Syncing everything up gives you eyes on every possible traffic and conversion source.

Google Optimize and similar tools can be instrumental to A/B test and refining landing pages for maximum conversions. By studying user behavior and making data-driven changes, you’ll make improvements that turn clicks into revenue.

To set up attribution accurately and precisely, HawkSEM experts:

• Import offline conversions
• Connect customer relationship management software (CRM)
• Examine the entire sales funnel

According to Yadegar, ConversionIQ is his secret weapon to extract specific data from the customer journey:

“We view conversion rates as an ongoing practice that can and should continuously get better,” he explains.

“ConversionIQ allows us to dig deeper into each conversion, extract data, and use that data to continue to improve conversions, the conversion rate — and ultimately, ROAS.”

15. Pivot your approach based on trends, testing, and data

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: digital marketing is an ongoing effort. This landscape, your customers, and professional industries are constantly evolving. Your CRO strategy has to evolve right alongside them.

To stay ahead, keep a close eye on your data, competitors, and the latest trends. This vigilance lets Corak anticipate industry shifts, like the move away from traditional tracking demands:

“When our capabilities to optimize based on audience targeting is taken away, we must adapt and lean into levers that we can more strongly rely upon,” she says. “For website owners and marketers, one way we achieve this is by utilizing CRO and our access to first-party data.”

Now that’s a strategic pivot.

And if you’re uncertain about a certain tweak, that’s your cue to test and learn.

Corak’s approach looks something like this:

1. Identify your objectives and priorities
2. Craft a hypothesis
3. Build a roadmap to prioritize initiatives
4. Assess the impact
5. Eliminate excessive variables by avoiding too many tests in flight
6. Ensure proper sample sizes
7. Maintain awareness of cognitive bias as you analyze data
8. Ensure proper data and tracking is enabled
9. Employ multiple tools for data analysis

At HawkSEM, we’re big fans of A/B testing (or split testing) to determine what resonates best with audiences.

You can do this with landing page elements, keywords, ad copy, web design, and pretty much any other digital attribute for your marketing campaigns.

In fact, we conducted a few simple A/B tests for our computer application client AppDynamics, and the insights helped us double targeted traffic and increase their conversion rate by a whopping 20%.

How do you calculate conversion rates?

With the right metrics and insights, you can calculate conversion rates across your entire marketing strategy.

Here are the steps we take to measure conversion rates for our clients:

1. Define your conversion

High-value conversions should focus on revenue. They could include transactions, demo requests, and consultation requests.

You might also include newsletter signups and consultation requests, but Yadegar recommends staying away from vanity metrics like social media likes or video views.

Remember, conversion rates might differ depending on the type you measure.

For instance, you might see lower conversion rates for email signups than for PPC ad conversions. However, if those conversions bring customers closer to a purchase, those are the ones you want to pay attention to.

2. Track all clicks (website visitors and ad interactions) on Google Analytics

Let’s say you’re working with a PPC conversion rate. You’ll first need to pinpoint how many people clicked your ad and ended up on your landing page or website.

At this stage, don’t worry so much about who converted. For now, you want eyes on everyone and anyone who’s interacted with your ad.

An easy way to determine your number of visitors?

Peep your Google Analytics. This free tool provides a wealth of information about your visitors, including their demographics, interests, and behavior on your site.

3. Track conversions

Once you have your site traffic down pat, it’s time to hone in on the visitors who take your desired action after their initial engagement.

These are your conversions, and Google Analytics conveniently shows you how many people convert post-click.

Brands can get the basics of conversion tracking with Google Analytics. The only problem?

Yadegar says conversion quality is just as important as the number itself, and this is where Google Analytics falls short.

That’s why HawkSEM combines Google Analytics insights with those from our proprietary tech, ConversionIQ.

The perfect blend of talent and tech, HawkSEM’s process with this exclusive system gives our clients real-time data on conversion rates and the caliber of conversions, among other vital metrics.

We gauge insights like account anomalies, trend performance indicators, and growth signals to deliver the most actionable advice for transforming your ROI.

Ready to crunch numbers?

4. Calculate the conversion rate

If math isn’t your strong suit, don’t worry. It’s easier to calculate conversion rates than you think.

The formula is:

Conversion rate = 100 X (Total conversions/Total visits)

Plug in your figures, do the math, and voila — you have your conversion rate.

Here’s an example:

Imagine your PPC ad garnered 400 visitors to your landing page. Of those 400 visitors, five purchased your product.

In this case, your PPC conversion rate would be calculated as follows:

• 100 X (5/400)
• 100 X 0.0125

1.25% is your conversion rate

Want to shoot higher? Good. Let’s talk about how to improve conversion rates and unleash your strategy’s full potential.

Once you know your current conversion rate, you can advance to optimizing to really move the needle.

Common CRO mistakes to avoid

Even seasoned marketers can fall prey to common CRO blunders.

Corak and Askar share some of the most common mistakes businesses make when trying to improve conversion rates:

• Making too many changes at once, which becomes harder to determine which tweaks yielded your desired results
• Rushing to conclusions based on incomplete data
• Singular focus on conversion rate and ignoring other critical data (like CAC or CLTV) for sustainable success
• Inability to identify priorities and wasting resources on ineffective changes, resulting in scattered efforts, missed potential, and slow progress
• Overlooking CRO tools like Google Analytics, heat maps, click-tracking, and scroll-tracking help you assess performance
• Lack of clear goals and target audience insights

Factors that influence Google Ads conversion rates

There are several factors that impact conversions for display ads and search ads i. The four most critical are:

• Unique value propositions (UVPs): UVPs are the benefits your offerings offer and how they meet customers’ pain points. Make these clear and compelling, or risk missing potential conversions.
• Ad relevance: Misaligned messaging and landing pages can hurt both your conversions and Quality Score, prompting lower rankings and potentially higher costs.
• Load time: Slow speeds increase bounce rates and decrease conversions, which directly impacts ad campaign ROI. Even a 1-second delay can mean 7% fewer conversions.
• Mobile responsiveness: A site that’s hard to use on mobile devices can result in more bounce rates, lost conversions, and even a negative impact on your ad rank in Google’s mobile-first indexing.

The takeaway

Conversion rate optimization can feel like an untamable beast. But with the right strategies and optimization efforts, you can exceed your industry benchmarks and achieve remarkable results.

And while a 7% conversion rate might seem solid, why settle?

As an award-winning CRO agency, HawkSEM has a track record of smashing conversion goals and skyrocketing conversions to over 15%.

With decades of SEO and PPC experience, as well as laser-sharp insights from ConversionIQ, we consistently deliver an average of 4.5X ROI for clients across various sectors, such as finance, travel, retail, SaaS, education, and more.

Ready to turn your website into a money-making machine? Get in touch to make it happen.

This post has been updated and was originally published in February 2024.