What is the formula for conversion rate?

Conversion rate = (conversions ÷ visitors or sessions) × 100, expressed as a percentage. The formula is simple; the important decision is which denominator — visitors, sessions, or pageviews — you use.

Should I calculate conversion rate using visitors or sessions?

Either is valid, but they produce different numbers because one visitor can generate multiple sessions. Pick one denominator, state it clearly in your reporting, and use it consistently so the number is comparable over time.

What's a good conversion rate?

It varies enormously by industry, traffic source, and which denominator you're using — there's no single universal benchmark. Compare your own site's rate over time, using a consistent denominator, rather than chasing an external average.

Is conversion rate the same as click-through rate?

No. Click-through rate measures clicks against impressions (how many people who saw something clicked it). Conversion rate measures conversions against visitors or sessions (how many people who arrived did the thing you wanted). See the [click-through rate formula](/glossary/click-through-rate-formula) for the distinction.

Conversion Rate Formula: How to Calculate It

Conversion rate = (conversions ÷ visitors) × 100. That's the formula in its most common form, but the honest answer has a catch: "visitors" isn't the only denominator people use. Some divide by sessions, some by pageviews, and each choice produces a different number from the same raw conversion count. Pick one denominator, define it clearly wherever you report the number, and stay consistent — the formula only misleads people when the denominator is left unstated.

The formula

Conversion rate = (number of conversions ÷ number of visitors or sessions) × 100, expressed as a percentage. If 40 people bought something out of 2,000 who visited, that's 40 ÷ 2,000 × 100 = 2%.

The math is trivial. The part that actually causes confusion — and causes two people looking at the "same" conversion rate to mean different things — is what goes in the denominator.

Visitors vs. sessions vs. pageviews: pick one and stay consistent

Visitors (or users) counts unique people. If someone visits three times in a week and converts once, that's 1 conversion out of 1 user — a 100% conversion rate for that user, even though it took three visits to get there. This denominator tends to produce the highest conversion rate of the three, since one person's multiple visits collapse into one.

Sessions counts visits, not people — the same visitor's three separate trips to your site count as three sessions in the denominator, not one. See what a session is in Google Analytics for how GA4 defines the boundary between one session and the next. Dividing by sessions produces a lower conversion rate than dividing by visitors, because the denominator is bigger for the same number of conversions.

Pageviews is the least common denominator for a site-wide conversion rate, but it shows up for single-page metrics — like the conversion rate of one landing page's views. Because a single session often includes several pageviews, dividing by pageviews produces the lowest rate of the three, and it's really answering a different question ("per page load" rather than "per visit" or "per person").

None of the three is "more correct." The mistake is switching between them without saying so — a marketing report that quotes a 2% conversion rate calculated on sessions one month and on visitors the next will show a swing that has nothing to do with actual performance. Pick one, label it, and keep using it.

Worked examples

Ecommerce example, by session: 150 purchases from 5,000 sessions in a month → (150 ÷ 5,000) × 100 = 3% conversion rate.

Lead-gen example, by visitor: 80 form submissions from 4,000 unique visitors → (80 ÷ 4,000) × 100 = 2% conversion rate. If some of those 80 submissions came from repeat visitors converting on a second visit, the session-based rate for the same period would come out lower, since the visitor count is smaller than the session count.

Landing-page example, by pageview: 25 signups from 1,000 views of one specific page → (25 ÷ 1,000) × 100 = 2.5%. This is useful for A/B testing one page, but it's not the same metric as a site-wide conversion rate and shouldn't be compared against one directly.

Skip the manual math

You don't need a spreadsheet for this. The free conversion rate calculator does the division for you and makes the denominator choice explicit instead of hiding it in a cell formula. If you're working backward from a target — "what conversion rate do I need to hit a given cost per acquisition" — the CPA calculator covers that side of the math.

Calculate your conversion rate Calculate cost per acquisition

FAQ

What is the formula for conversion rate?: Conversion rate = (conversions ÷ visitors or sessions) × 100, expressed as a percentage. The formula is simple; the important decision is which denominator — visitors, sessions, or pageviews — you use.
Should I calculate conversion rate using visitors or sessions?: Either is valid, but they produce different numbers because one visitor can generate multiple sessions. Pick one denominator, state it clearly in your reporting, and use it consistently so the number is comparable over time.
What's a good conversion rate?: It varies enormously by industry, traffic source, and which denominator you're using — there's no single universal benchmark. Compare your own site's rate over time, using a consistent denominator, rather than chasing an external average.
Is conversion rate the same as click-through rate?: No. Click-through rate measures clicks against impressions (how many people who saw something clicked it). Conversion rate measures conversions against visitors or sessions (how many people who arrived did the thing you wanted). See the click-through rate formula for the distinction.

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