Landing Page Conversion Rates

[kchandler]

I had a client claiming his industry (replacement home windows) conversion rate was around 15% based on his research. In my research i could find nothing of the sort, and really couldn't find a single place that provided this type of information. Anyone out there have some advice on where to research industry conversion rates (averages) or tools/thought processes to explore?

Thanks!

(these stats would primarily be used for goal setting and competitive analysis)

[scanlin]

Depends on what you consider a 'conversion'. Is entering an email address to sign up for a free newsletter a 'conversion'? Or does it have to be a revenue producing event? The first will have a much higher rate than the 2nd, obviously.

One thing I can tell you (since I have seen the numbers for a dozen different companies that do this) is the conversion rate from a 2-week or 30-day free trial to a paying user of the service averages around 50%. ie half the people who take a free trial of a service will end up paying for that service. The numbers range from 40% to 60%. It'll be higher if you ask for more info up front (because you end up filtering out the lookyloos who aren't serious if you ask for more info at the start of the free trial).

What I do not have great data for is the conversion rate from first-time-visitor to free-trial (or revenue-event). I have anecdotes that tell me it's low single-digits (2% to 5%). If you're talking about a 15% conversion rate from first-time-visitor to revenue-event then that seems high (unless you're selling Lady Gaga concert tickets or something). Those numbers are usually very proprietary and I'd be surprised (and interested in) if you find any solid data on them...

[kchandler]

For this case specifically it was two different sign ups: One for an in home consultation, and the other to download product information. The first one asked for a lot more personal information while the second one only asked for name/email.

[scanlin]

Then I suppose what the query was that brought them to that landing page. If someone searches for "replace my windows" or "I need new windows" and ends up on a page offering a free consultation (and assuming the company looks credible, etc) then I can imagine a pretty high conversion rate. 15% seems believable. Maybe even higher if it's just email address in exchange for product info for products related to the initial query. But again, no one is going to share this kind of data because if it's really good it will attract new competitors and no one wants to invite competition...