About this tool
Conversion uplift, explained
See what a better conversion rate is worth to an online store, per month or per year. Enter your visitors, conversion rate and average order value, choose an uplift, and get the extra revenue, the extra gross profit and the return on the work it takes.
How to use it
- 1Choose Show: Per month or Per year, or start from a preset: Small store, Growing brand or Large retailer.
- 2Set your Monthly visitors, current Conversion rate and Average order value.
- 3Choose a Relative uplift, then under Profit set your Gross margin and the Monthly cost of the work.
- 4Read the Extra revenue, the new conversion rate, the extra orders and gross profit, and the Return on the work.
How it works
How the extra revenue is calculated
Current revenue is visitors times conversion rate times average order value, over one month or twelve depending on what you show.
The uplift is relative, not a number of points: 10% on a 2.1% conversion rate takes it to 2.31%, not to 12.1%. The extra orders are the visitors times the gain in conversion rate, times the average order value for the extra revenue, so a 10% uplift adds 10% to revenue.
Extra gross profit is the extra revenue times your gross margin. Return on the work divides that profit by the monthly cost of the work over the same period: above 1× the work pays for itself.
With the starting figures, 80,000 monthly visitors at 2.1% and a $70 order, current revenue is $1,411,200 a year. A 10% uplift adds 2,016 orders and $141,120 of revenue, $56,448 of it gross profit, about 1.9× a $2,500 monthly cost. The table shows the same figures at +5%, +10%, +20% and +30%.
Traffic and average order value stay constant, so the gain comes from conversion alone. If a change also lifts order value or traffic, the effect would be larger.
Extra revenue = Visitors × Conversion rate × Relative uplift × Average order value × months. Return on the work = Extra revenue × Margin / (Monthly cost × months)
When to use it
Ways people use it
Prioritizing optimization work
Put a yearly figure on a modest uplift before deciding whether a checkout redesign or a testing program is worth the effort.
Comparing with buying traffic
Compare the extra revenue from converting more of your visitors with what the same revenue would cost in additional ad spend.
Setting a budget for a CRO project
Enter the monthly cost of an agency or a tool and find the uplift where the return passes 1×. Download CSV keeps the uplift table for the proposal.
FAQ
Questions people ask
How do you calculate conversion rate?
Divide the number of orders, or other conversions, by the number of visitors or sessions over the same period, then multiply by 100. 200 orders from 10,000 visitors is a 2% conversion rate.
What is the difference between a relative and an absolute uplift?
An absolute uplift is measured in percentage points: 2% to 3% is one point. A relative uplift is measured against the starting rate: 2% to 3% is a 50% relative uplift. This calculator uses relative uplift.
What is a good e-commerce conversion rate?
It varies widely with the product, price, traffic source and device. The most useful benchmark is your own rate over time, measured the same way, and the rate of each traffic source separately.
Is it better to increase traffic or conversion rate?
Both raise revenue in proportion, but a higher conversion rate also makes every future visitor more valuable, including the ones you pay for. That is why improving conversion often comes before scaling paid traffic.