metrics
Conversion rate
What is conversion rate?
Conversion rate is the share of people who complete a goal - buy, sign up, subscribe - out of everyone who could have. It's usually quoted end to end, but it's really the product of every step's survival rate along the way.
Also known as: CVR
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The demo
A thousand people land on the shop. Drag each step's survival rate and watch the final conversion rate move - usually far more than you'd expect, because the steps multiply rather than add.
What this demo shows (text version)
A four-step purchase funnel begins with 1,000 visitors. Three sliders set the survival rate at each step: visit to basket, basket to checkout, and checkout to purchase. The bars show how many people remain at each stage, and a headline figure shows the overall conversion rate - the share of the original 1,000 who reach the end.
The point is that the steps multiply. Keeping 80% at each of three steps leaves 0.8 × 0.8 × 0.8 = 51%, not 80%. So a small improvement to the weakest step moves the total far more than polishing a step that already performs well, and a single end-to-end rate hides which step is leaking. Break the rate into its funnel and fix the biggest drop first.
Conversion rate is the share of people who complete a goal out of everyone who could have - and end to end it's the product of every step's survival rate, not the sum. Because the steps multiply, the biggest single drop-off is where a fix pays back most, so hunt for the weakest step rather than shaving a little everywhere.
Nudging one slider, you watched the final rate swing far more than the step you touched - because the steps multiply, they don't add. A funnel that keeps 80% at each of four steps doesn't keep 80%; it keeps about 41%. That compounding is why fixing the worst step usually beats polishing the best one.
A headline conversion rate hides where the money leaks. "2.3%" tells you nothing actionable; the per-step funnel tells you the basket-to-checkout drop is where half your buyers vanish. Always break the rate into its steps - the aggregate is a symptom, the funnel is the diagnosis.
My rule: hunt for the biggest drop, not the lowest rate. A step that holds 95% has little left to give; the step bleeding 60% is where a week's work moves the whole number. And watch for a rate that climbs while revenue falls - it usually means you scared off the browsers, not that you converted more.