To calculate conversion rate, divide the number of people who took the action you wanted by the number of people who visited, then multiply by 100. The formula is conversion rate = conversions ÷ visitors × 100. If 25 people filled in your enquiry form and 1,000 people visited your site, your conversion rate is 2.5%.
A "conversion" is simply a visitor doing something valuable to your business, such as sending an enquiry, booking a class, phoning you or buying a product. Your conversion rate tells you how good your website is at turning visitors into those actions.
It sounds technical, but the maths is gentle and the answer is useful. Below I'll walk through worked examples, what counts as a conversion for different kinds of business, how to find your numbers in Google Analytics 4 (GA4, Google's free website reporting tool), and how to improve the figure once you know it.
The conversion rate formula
Here it is again, written out in full:
Conversion rate (%) = (number of conversions ÷ number of visitors) × 100
You need just two numbers from the same time period: how many people visited, and how many of them converted. Always compare like with like, for example the last 30 days against the last 30 days.
A worked example
Imagine a local plumber whose website had 800 visits last month. During that time, 24 people sent an enquiry through the contact form.
- Divide conversions by visits: 24 ÷ 800 = 0.03
- Multiply by 100: 0.03 × 100 = 3
The website conversion rate is 3%. In other words, roughly 3 in every 100 visits ended in an enquiry.
This is only an example, not a target. A good conversion rate depends on your business, your prices, your traffic sources and what you count as a conversion, so the most useful comparison is always your own figure month to month.
What counts as a conversion?
This is where many small businesses go wrong. If you count the wrong thing, the percentage looks impressive but tells you nothing. Choose the action that is closest to money coming in. Here are some common examples:
- Online shop: a completed purchase. You might also track "add to basket" as a smaller step along the way.
- Gym, studio or martial arts club: a trial booking, a membership enquiry or a form submission on your Join Us page.
- Beauty or aesthetics clinic: a consultation booking or an enquiry form.
- Tradesperson: a quote request, a phone call from the website or a WhatsApp message.
- Restaurant or venue: a table booking or ticket purchase.
- Service business: a contact form, a call booked through an online diary or a click on your phone number.
You can track more than one conversion, but I'd suggest keeping a main one and calculating each separately rather than lumping them together. A newsletter sign-up and a £2,000 order are not worth the same, so they shouldn't be blended into one percentage.
Sessions or users: which should you divide by?
In GA4, you will see both sessions and users:
- A session is one visit to your site. If someone visits on Monday and again on Thursday, that is two sessions.
- A user is one person (or more precisely, one browser or device). That same visitor counts as one user.
Say your site had 800 sessions from 600 users, and 24 enquiries. Your session conversion rate is 24 ÷ 800 × 100 = 3%. Your user conversion rate is 24 ÷ 600 × 100 = 4%.
Neither is wrong. What matters is that you pick one and stick with it, so your month-to-month comparisons are fair. Most small businesses find session-based rates easiest, because GA4 reports them in the standard traffic tables.
Page-level and channel-level conversion rates
Your overall rate is a useful starting point, but the real insights come from splitting it up.
Channel-level conversion rate
A channel is where your visitors came from: Google search results, Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram, email, direct visits and so on. Using the plumber example again, imagine the 800 sessions broke down like this:
- Google Ads: 300 sessions, 15 enquiries, so 5%
- Organic search (unpaid Google results): 400 sessions, 8 enquiries, so 2%
- Facebook and Instagram: 100 sessions, 1 enquiry, so 1%
The overall 3% hides quite different performances. That doesn't automatically mean you should drop the 1% channel, because some channels introduce people who convert later through another route. But it gives you a sensible question to ask. If you run paid advertising, it also pairs nicely with working out your cost per lead and your ROAS (return on ad spend, meaning how much revenue you get back for each £1 spent on ads).
Page-level conversion rate
You can also work out the rate for individual pages. If 500 people landed on your Botox page and 20 enquired, that page converts at 4%. If 500 landed on your general services page and only 5 enquired, that page converts at 1%. A big gap tells you which page needs attention first, or which page is worth sending more traffic to.
Lead-to-customer conversion rate
Website conversion rate stops at the enquiry. But an enquiry is not a customer. The next step is your lead-to-customer conversion rate: of the people who enquired, how many actually bought or joined?
The formula is the same: customers ÷ leads × 100.
Two real examples from my work with Halo Gym in Tunbridge Wells:
- In their Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) 50% off campaign, 100 membership enquiries led to 49 new paying members. That is 49 ÷ 100 × 100 = a 49% lead-to-member conversion rate. You can read the full story in the Halo Gym Meta Ads case study.
- In the Group PT launch, 40 leads led to 15 sign-ups. That is 15 ÷ 40 × 100 = a 37.5% lead-to-sign-up rate. See the Group PT launch case study for how it came together.
This number matters because it shows what happens after the website has done its job. If lots of people enquire but few buy, the issue might be your follow-up speed, your pricing conversation or the quality of the leads, rather than your website. Knowing both rates helps you fix the right problem. Results like these vary from business to business and campaign to campaign, so treat them as real examples, not promises.
How to find your numbers in GA4
The menus in GA4 change from time to time, but the steps are broadly these:
- Set up your conversion actions. GA4 calls these "key events" (they used to be called conversions). Your form submissions, bookings or purchases need to be marked as key events, otherwise GA4 can't count them. If you aren't sure whether this is set up, it is worth checking before you trust any figure.
- Open the traffic report. Go to Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. This shows sessions by channel, alongside key events.
- Check the rate columns. GA4 can show a session key event rate for you. You can also work it out by hand with the formula above, which is a good way to double-check.
- Look at pages. Under Reports, then Engagement, then Pages and screens, you can add key events to see which pages sit alongside the most conversions. For deeper page-level analysis, the Explore section lets you build your own report.
- Set the date range. Use the same period for every figure, and avoid very short windows if you only get a few enquiries.
If your numbers look odd, such as zero conversions or far more than you actually received, tracking is probably set up incorrectly. This is common, and it is exactly the sort of thing covered by my analytics, tracking and conversion rate optimisation service. (CRO, or conversion rate optimisation, just means making small, evidence-based changes to get more visitors to take action.)
How to improve your conversion rate
Once you have a figure, small improvements add up. Because the percentage compares conversions with visitors, you can lift it without needing a single extra visitor. Here are practical places to start:
- Make the next step obvious. One clear button such as "Book a free trial" beats five competing options.
- Shorten your forms. Ask only for what you need to follow up, such as name, phone number and a short message.
- Make it work on a phone. Most small business traffic is mobile, so check that buttons are easy to tap and pages load quickly.
- Match the page to the promise. If an ad says "50% off", the page people land on should say it too, straight away.
- Show proof. Genuine reviews, photos and clear pricing help people feel confident about contacting you.
- Reply quickly. This helps your lead-to-customer rate, not just your website rate.
For a longer list, see my guide to ways to turn website visitors into customers. If your rate is low and you don't know why, 20 reasons customers leave your website and why isn't my website generating enquiries are good places to look. Change one thing at a time where you can, and give it a few weeks, so you know what actually made the difference.
Frequently asked questions
What is the formula for conversion rate?
Conversion rate = conversions ÷ visitors × 100. For example, 12 enquiries from 600 visits is 12 ÷ 600 × 100 = 2%.
What is a good conversion rate?
It depends on your industry, your prices, the traffic source and what you count as a conversion, so I wouldn't chase a generic number. A better goal is to beat your own figure from last month or last quarter, and to understand the difference between your channels and pages.
Should I use sessions or users to calculate conversion rate?
Either works, as long as you stay consistent. Sessions count every visit, while users count each person once. Most small businesses use sessions because they appear in GA4's standard reports.
What is the difference between conversion rate and lead-to-customer rate?
Conversion rate usually measures visitors who become leads, such as enquiries. Lead-to-customer rate measures leads who then become paying customers. For example, 49 members from 100 enquiries is a 49% lead-to-member rate.
Why is my conversion rate showing as zero in GA4?
Most often, your conversion actions haven't been set up as key events, or the tracking on your form or booking button isn't firing. A tracking check will usually find the cause.
Want help working out your numbers?
If you would like a second pair of eyes on your conversion rate, I'm happy to help. Whether your tracking needs fixing or you simply want to know where enquiries are being lost, you can work with me directly, with no account managers in between.
Request a free digital audit or get in touch and we'll look at your figures together. If we grow you, we grow together.
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