A List of Online Conversion Benchmarks for December 2008

Here’s a list of online conversion metric averages for December of 2008. I’m often asked what “the average” is – a lot – for a ton of online metrics. Here’s a great article from Bryan Eisenberg’s FutureNow and some data he pulled from Coremetrics December Benchmark Study. This report is US centric. They’ve also created a download specific to the UK. (photo by kevindooley)

So, the next time you want to know how your site compared to the big-boys of online retail during Christmas, here’s the data. Or, the next time your boss asks for the average, whatever – your a rock star. Here’s an excerpt of Eisenberg’s post:

According to Coremetrics Benchmark, the percentage of website visits that ended up with product orders increased by 23% from November to December and fell by 2.4% compared to December, 2007. The average number of items per order and average order value fell by 19% and 11% compared to November and by 2% and 3% compared to last year.

• Page Views Per Session 12.01
• Product Page Views Per Session 2.99
• Average Time on Site (in seconds) 503.01
• Average Items/Order 4.76
• Average Order Value $124.48
• Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 38.16%
• Shopping Cart Abandonment 61.84%
• New Visitor Conversion Rate 2.69%
• On-site Search Session 18.97%

If your wondering how your site compares, and how slight improvement in any of these metrics or areas can translate into some serious cash, read my previous posts on the subject here:

• 4 ½ Conversion Metrics No One Ever Talks About
• How To Translate Conversion Ratio Opportunities Into Real Cash
• Conversion Funnel Calculator Download