# Ecommerce conversion rate optimization guide

> What ecommerce conversion rate optimization is, how to calculate conversion rate, where online stores lose buyers, and a CRO process that proves what works.

A practical CRO guide for online stores covering the formula, the funnel leaks, and a testing process that holds up

Ecommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the work of turning more of your existing visitors into buyers. You find the steps where shoppers give up, change the pages and journeys that lose them, and test each change against a control so you know it raised revenue per session. Because it works on traffic you already pay for, CRO is usually the cheapest growth lever an online store has.

This guide covers how to calculate conversion rate, where ecommerce stores typically lose buyers, how CRO relates to wider website optimization, a six-step process you can run every month, and the role personalization plays in lifting conversion.

## How to calculate ecommerce conversion rate

Conversion rate = (orders ÷ sessions) × 100

## Where online stores lose buyers

The cart is where the numbers are largest. The Baymard Institute's running average across dozens of studies puts cart abandonment at around 70%, which is why recovery flows sit in almost every CRO plan. Our abandoned cart email playbook covers the recovery side in detail.

## CRO and website optimization: How they fit together

Website optimization covers everything that makes a site work better. CRO is the part of it measured by purchases. The two overlap, and it helps to know which goal a change serves before you decide how to measure it.

## A six-step CRO process for ecommerce

Map the funnel from landing page to order and find the step with the steepest drop, per device. That is where the first test goes.

## Personalization as a CRO lever

Most conversion leaks come back to relevance. The shopper did not find the right product fast enough. Personalization tackles that directly by ranking products for each shopper based on what they do on the site. Accenture (2018) found that 48% of consumers had left a website and bought elsewhere because the experience was poorly curated. For more of the research, see our ecommerce personalization statistics.

## Common CRO mistakes in ecommerce

## See where your store is losing buyers

Book a demo and we will walk through search, recommendations and triggered emails on your own catalog.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is ecommerce conversion rate optimization?

Ecommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the practice of increasing the share of store visitors who complete a purchase. It combines research into where shoppers drop off, changes to the pages and journeys that lose them, and controlled tests that prove which changes actually raise revenue per session.

### How do you calculate ecommerce conversion rate?

Divide orders by sessions and multiply by 100. A store with 40,000 sessions and 800 orders in a month has a conversion rate of 2%. Track it per device, per traffic source and per landing page type, because a single blended number hides where the problem is.

### What is the difference between CRO and website optimization?

Website optimization is the broad umbrella. It covers page speed, technical health, accessibility, search visibility and usability. CRO is the part of it judged by one outcome, more completed purchases from the traffic you already have. Speed and usability fixes often lift conversion, but CRO measures them against revenue rather than against a technical score.

### Where should an online store start with CRO?

Start where the most shoppers leave. Look at the funnel from landing page to category, product page, cart and checkout, find the step with the steepest drop, and fix that first. For most stores this points to product discovery (search and navigation) and to the cart, where roughly 70% of carts are abandoned according to the Baymard Institute.

### How does personalization help conversion rate optimization?

Personalization raises conversion by showing each shopper the products they are most likely to want, in search results, in recommendation placements and in triggered emails. Accenture (2018) found that 48% of consumers had left a website and bought elsewhere because the experience was poorly curated, which is exactly the leak personalization targets.

### How long should a CRO test run?

Run a test for full weeks, usually at least two and often four or more, until each variant has enough orders for a statistically reliable read. Stopping the moment a variant pulls ahead is the most common way stores ship changes that later turn out to be noise.

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For the full interactive experience, visit [helloretail.com/en/learn/ecommerce-conversion-rate-optimization](https://helloretail.com/en/learn/ecommerce-conversion-rate-optimization)

## About Hello Retail

Hello Retail is an AI-powered ecommerce personalization platform based in Copenhagen, Denmark. We help online retailers improve search, recommendations, merchandising, email, and retail media through our proprietary Product Intelligence engine.

- **Website**: [helloretail.com](https://helloretail.com)
- **Demo**: [Book a Demo](https://helloretail.com/en/demo/)
- **AI information**: [helloretail.com/en/ai-info](https://helloretail.com/en/ai-info)

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