eMarketer reports on an April 2006 survey of 190 U.S. online merchants by the e-tailing group. It’s packed with interesting information about conversion and abandon rates.

The largest group of respondents (21 percent, up from 15 percent last year) enjoyed a 3.0 – 3.9 percent conversion rate, while 41 percent (down from 51 percent in 2005) were under 3.0 percent. Eight percent reported conversions of 10 percent or more; that’s up from five percent last year.

What’s not clear is whether different merchants define a conversion differently. A conversion is typically a sale, but some merchants might consider a catalog request or the capturing of an email address a site conversion.

Also in the report: some interesting information about shopping cart abandon rates. Fourteen percent of sites see a 41 to 50 percent rate, while 13 percent see a 51 to 60 percent rate. Three percent are at 80 percent or above — owtch! What’s most interesting is that a full 30 percent don’t know their abandon rates at all.

Takeaway for marketers: If you don’t know your shopping cart abandon rate, take steps to find out. Then take steps to reduce it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.