Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete the desired action, usually a purchase, calculated as conversions divided by sessions over the same period, then multiplied by 100; it is the central measure of how well a store turns traffic into outcomes.
Conversion rate is the metric most ecommerce decisions route through, because every other lever (ad spend, SEO, email) only pays off if the resulting traffic actually converts. A small absolute move matters more than it looks: lifting from 2.0 percent to 2.4 percent is a 20 percent revenue increase on the same traffic, with no extra acquisition cost.
Typical storefront rates often sit somewhere in the low single digits, and they vary widely by category, price point, traffic source, and device, so treat any benchmark as context rather than a target. Define the action precisely before you compare anything: a checkout-completion rate, an add-to-cart rate, and an account-signup rate are all "conversion rates" and are not interchangeable.
Trust is one of the most reliable ways to move it. Visitors who can see honest reviews, ratings, and answers to their hesitations convert at higher rates than those left to guess, which is why product-page review coverage tends to track with conversion. Read it alongside average order value and cart abandonment rate, since a tactic that lifts conversion can quietly lower the others.