What's a realistic landing page conversion rate for PPC traffic?

There's no universal benchmark

You'll find claims that "average conversion rate is 2%" or "e-commerce lands at 3%." These are mostly meaningless. Your conversion rate depends entirely on your industry, offer, audience intent, and page quality. Don't compare yourself to an invented average.

What actually determines your rate

High-intent, low-friction offers (signing up for a webinar, downloading a guide) commonly convert at 10-40%. Low-intent offers (a free trial requiring credit card) or commoditized purchases (generic e-commerce) often convert below 3%. Subscription software trials typically fall between 5-15%.

Your baseline is your industry

Instead of chasing an industry average, track your own baseline: what does your current page convert at? Then test incrementally. If your page converts at 2%, improving it to 2.5% is solid progress worth celebrating.

More important than the rate

Focus on cost per acquisition (CPA) instead of conversion rate percentage. A 1% conversion rate from cheap traffic might produce a lower CPA than a 5% conversion rate from expensive traffic. A 2% conversion rate on a page that loses money isn't useful.

The path forward

Establish your current conversion rate, then test to improve it by 10-20% increments, which is realistic and meaningful.