What is a website conversion and how to calculate it correctly
The conversion rate of a website is the percentage of users who performed a targeted action: they left a request, placed an order, subscribed to the newsletter, and signed up for the service. Without understanding the current conversion rate and its structure, it is impossible to manage sales through a website.
The basic conversion formula:
Conversion rate (%) = (Number of targeted actions / Number of visitors) × 100
It is important to count not only the total conversion, but also conversions by funnel stages.:
- Viewing a key page (product card, service)
- Proceed to placing an order / filling out the form
- Sending the form / completing the payment
This way you will see exactly where users are "flowing out" and which areas should be targeted to increase conversion.
Why the conversion rate is low: typical problems
Before improving anything, you need to honestly fix the initial situation. In 90% of cases, low conversion is the result of not one problem, but a combination of problems.:
- Unclear or weak offer (the user does not understand what you are offering and how you are better)
- Complex website structure and confusing navigation
- Long page loading, especially on mobile devices
- Lack of trust: there are no reviews, cases, guarantees, or legal information
- Complex application forms: many fields, incomprehensible errors, no hints
- A design that distracts from the target action and does not lead to conversion
Our studio always starts work on increasing conversions with analytics: usability audits, heat maps, user path analysis, download speed and mobile version estimation. This allows you not to "shoot blindly", but to make accurate decisions.
Step 1. Specify the value proposition and the key offer
The conversion rate directly depends on how quickly and clearly the user understands what they will receive and why it is beneficial for you. The main screen (hero section) is a critical area.
Check if there is on the first screen:
- Clear title: who are you and what are you doing
- Subtitle: key benefit or difference
- Clear call to action (CTA): the button "Submit a request", "Receive payment", "Order"
- Visual confirming the offer (cases, product, interface, sample result)
Example: instead of the abstract "We create modern websites" — "We will increase the conversion rate of your site by 30-70% in 2-3 months due to UX audits, A/B tests and improvements without loss of traffic."
In our studio, we often see that replacing vague formulations with specific benefits results in a 10-25% increase in conversion without any technical improvements.
Step 2. Simplify the user's path and website structure
The user is not required to understand your logic. The structure and navigation should be intuitive: a maximum of 2-3 clicks to the target action.
What to pay attention to:
- Menu: logical groups, clear names, priority sections — in a prominent place
- "Bread crumbs" and clear page titles: the user always understands where he is
- A minimum of distracting elements on key goals (landing page, shopping cart, application form)
- A clear scenario: from the traffic source to the target action without unnecessary steps
A case study from the studio's practice: the client has an online store with good traffic, but low order conversion. We have shortened the path from the product card to the payment from 5 steps to 3, and removed unnecessary fields and secondary blocks. The checkout conversion rate increased by 41% in the first month, without additional investment in advertising.
Step 3. Build trust: Social Proof and Transparency
Trust is a key factor, especially in highly competitive niches. Even perfectly configured traffic will not be converted if the site looks unreliable.
What enhances trust and influences conversion:
- Real customer reviews with names, positions, company logos
- Cases with numbers: "increased conversion from 1.2% to 3.4% in 2 months"
- Certificates, awards, participation in ratings
- Full contacts: address, phone number, banking details, card
- Transparent conditions: prices, terms, warranty obligations
At the studio, we always include trust blocks in prototypes: cases, portfolios, customer logos, and responses to objections. In B2B, this often results in a 1.5–2 fold increase in the number of applications.
Step 4. Optimize the forms and the basket: less friction — more requests
The shapes and the basket are the most sensitive points. Any friction (an extra field, an incomprehensible error, mandatory registration) hits the conversion rate.
Optimization recommendations:
- Leave only those fields that are really necessary for processing the application
- Add hints and input examples, highlight errors correctly
- Allow you to place an order without mandatory registration
- Show the progress (step 1 of 3) if the process is multi-step
- Clearly indicate what will happen after submitting the form: "The manager will contact you within 15 minutes"
An example of refactoring the form: we removed the required fields "Company", "Website", "City" from the application form, leaving only the name, phone number and e‑mail. The remaining questions were transferred to the manager's communication stage. The number of form submissions increased by 62%.
Step 5. Speed up your website and adapt it to mobile devices
Download speed and mobile version are not only an SEO factor, but also a direct conversion driver. According to industry data, a download delay of just 1 second can reduce conversion by 7-10%.
Key actions:
- Image compression and the use of modern formats (WebP, AVIF)
- Optimizing scripts and styles, removing unnecessary widgets
- Using caching and CDN, if relevant
- Responsive design, large buttons and convenient input fields on mobile devices
In the technical optimization of customer sites, we see that conversion gains after acceleration and improvement of the mobile version often amount to 15-30%, especially in e‑commerce and services with active mobile traffic.
Step 6. Use strong calls to action (CTAs) and logical layout
Even if the offer is strong, the user must understand exactly what to do next. The CTA should be visible, specific, and logical in the context.
Practice shows that appeals work better.:
- "Get cost calculation" instead of "Send"
- "Make an appointment for a consultation" instead of "Leave a request"
- "Download commercial offer" instead of "Learn more"
Place your key CTAs:
- On the first screen
- After the benefits block
- After the cases / reviews
- At the end of the page
When developing landing pages and corporate websites, our studio always studies the CTA map: where, which buttons, and in what order lead the user through the funnel. This results in predictable conversion growth without "aggressive" techniques.
Step 7. A/B tests and analytics: not to guess, but to check
Intuition and "it seems to me" are dangerous when working with conversion. Any changes should be checked using A/B tests and end‑to-end analytics.
What makes sense to test:
- Headings and subheadings on the first screen
- CTA formulations and the number of fields in the forms
- The order of the blocks (about the company, advantages, cases, tariffs)
- Case presentation format (numbers vs stories)
Example: for one of the clients, our studio tested two versions of the first screen: a general marketing slogan vs a specific offer with numbers. The option with numbers gave +34% to the applications. Without the A/B test, we would not have known this and would have fixed a less effective option.
Step 8. Content that sells: texts, benefits, responses to objections
Conversion is not only about design and UX, but also about content. Strong text helps the user make a decision, removes doubts and leads to action.
The structure of the selling content on the page:
- The client's problem and its consequences (why change anything at all)
- Your decision: what exactly are you doing and how does it help
- Advantages over competitors (experience, timing, technology, warranty)
- Social evidence: reviews, cases, figures
- Responses to frequent objections (expensive, long, not sure of the result)
- Clear Next step (CTA)
Step 9. How our studio helps to systematically increase website conversion
Increasing conversion is not a one—time "text edit" or just a redesign. This is a systematic work at the intersection of marketing, analytics, design and development.
A typical studio approach to increasing conversions:
- Comprehensive audit: analysis of current conversions, funnels, usability, technical condition and SEO
- Hypotheses and prioritization: we are forming a list of improvements with a forecast of the effect and labor costs
- Prototyping and UX design: we design pages, forms, scenarios based on the target action
- Development and implementation: careful improvements without loss of positions in search and traffic
- Testing and analytics: A/B tests, fine‑tuning goals, tracking the real effect
Advantages of working with a studio:
- Experience of projects in different niches: from small landing pages to complex online stores and services
- Focus on business results: we are interested in the growth of applications and sales, not just a "beautiful website"
- Transparent analytics: you can see which changes have increased the conversion rate and by how much
- Preservation and growth of organic traffic: we take into account the requirements of SEO in any improvements
Conclusion: how to start conversion growth now
To increase the conversion rate of a website means to earn more from the same traffic. This is one of the most cost-effective growth tools, especially if you are already investing in SEO and advertising.A short plan of action:
- Measure the current conversion rate and bottlenecks (forms, shopping cart, first screen)
- Refine the value proposition and rewrite the key blocks of the text
- Simplify the user's path and the application form, remove unnecessary fields
- Add trust blocks: cases, reviews, guarantees, contacts
- Speed up the website and check the mobile version
- Run A/B tests for at least one critical element (header, CTA)
If you don't need "cosmetics", but a predictable increase in conversions and applications, our studio team can take over the full cycle: from auditing and prototyping to implementing and configuring analytics.
Submit a request for a conversion audit of your site right now. We will show you for free where you are losing customers and which changes will have the fastest effect.