What is a good click-through rate for your eCommerce store?

As we all know, metrics and KPIs are everything when determining the success of your eCommerce store.

How much your customers spend per transaction. How many customers your individual advertising campaigns are bringing in. How many cups of coffee your marketing manager has to drink to get through the day.

Okay, I might have made the last one up. But it's probably a lot.

One of the questions I'm often asked is what constitutes a good click-through rate, or CTR. For those unaware, CTR measures how often web visitors click on a specific call to action, usually expressed as a percentage.

For example, let's say you send an email to 1,000 people with a link promoting your latest product. Then, 50 people click on the link to find out more.

Your click-through rate would be 50 divided by 1,000, multiplied by 100 to get a percentage – so 5%.

The great thing about CTR is that you can use it to gauge the success of all your marketing efforts, from your Google Ads campaigns to the blog posts on your website.

Let's crunch the numbers and determine what makes for a decent click-through rate for your business.

What the industry experts say about click-through rate

The general consensus is that a respectable click-through rate should be between 2 to 5%. So if your CTR falls between these numbers, go ahead and pat yourself on the back.

However… the optimal click-through rate can vary from industry to industry. For example, businesses in less competitive industries typically have a higher CTR, just as their ads are more likely to stand out.

If you're looking for search advertising benchmarks for specific industries, WordStream offers a constantly updated guide. At the time I published this article, CTR ranged from 2.24% all the way through to 16.29%!

As well as the industry, the type of advertising campaign you use can significantly impact click-through rate. Here are a few examples.

You usually get a higher CTR on Google search ads than display ads. This is because search ads are displayed when users look for a specific keyword, meaning they're actively searching for a particular product or service. In contrast, display ads may be shown at a time when the need to buy is much lower.

You may find that paid social advertising results in a lower click-through rate than Google Ads. The reason? People generally use social media to connect and chat with friends, rather than to shop.

Personalised emails often have an incredibly high CTR. This is because the information you send customers is extremely targeted, increasing their odds of clicking.

The best way to get a handle on your CTR

It can be hard to pinpoint the perfect click-through rate for your industry and marketing campaign. With this in mind, the best business to benchmark against?

Yourself.

Yes, it sounds incredibly cheesy, but one of the best ways to monitor CTR is to review your own metrics over time and establish a baseline.

That way, you can see which marketing channels are most effective and if you need to take action to turn a plummeting click-through rate around.

A high click-through rate isn't necessarily a good thing

Many people think that the higher the CTR, the more successful the campaign. And while this is generally true, this isn't always the case.

Take search ads on Google Ads. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and goes through to your website. However, if people aren't converting when they're on your site, you could find that your CTR is nice and high, but you've got nothing to show for it.

(Apart from a massive Google Ads bill of course.)

It's always good to pair CTR with another marketing metric, for example, cost per acquisition (CPA). That way, you can see how much it costs to get the click, versus how much it costs to get the conversion. If your CTR and CPA are both high, it may mean you're attracting the wrong type of traffic.

Xigen: your guide to the world of marketing metrics

I hope you found this guide to click-through rate useful. It's one of those metrics that is easy to analyse and action; however it's essential to not entirely take it at face value.

You could have a low CTR and be thriving, or have a high CTR and be struggling. It's always best to look at a variety of metrics to measure the success of your eCommerce store.

If you're looking for ways to boost your metrics and supercharge your website, the team at Xigen are here to help. We'll analyse your eCommerce website, look at your competitors, and implement changes that mean more organic traffic, more sales, and happier shoppers.

Drop me a DM to find out more.