You ran a campaign. The creator posted. You got clicks. Some of those clicks turned into purchases. Now you're staring at a number — say, 2.3% — and you have no idea whether that's good or terrible.
This is the question every brand asks after their first few influencer deals, and the honest answer is: it depends. But "it depends" isn't useful, so here are actual numbers to compare against.
The baseline most brands see
For a cold audience seeing your product for the first time through an influencer post, a conversion rate between 1% and 3% is normal. That's click-to-purchase, not impression-to-purchase. The distinction matters because most of the drop-off happens before the click.
If 50,000 people see a post and 500 click your link, that's a 1% click-through rate. If 10 of those 500 buy, that's a 2% conversion rate on clicks. Your overall impression-to-purchase rate is 0.02%, which sounds awful but is actually fine for cold traffic.
The numbers shift depending on platform, product type, price point, and whether the audience has seen you before.
Platform differences
Instagram. Conversion rates from Instagram influencer campaigns tend to sit between 1% and 3% for most consumer products. Instagram's main limitation is the link placement — stories with swipe-up links convert better than "link in bio" because there are fewer steps between interest and action. Reels don't support direct links at all, so everything routes through the bio, which adds friction.
TikTok. TikTok can swing wildly. A viral video might send thousands of clicks but convert at under 1% because the audience is browsing, not shopping. A smaller creator with a genuinely engaged audience might convert at 4-5%. TikTok audiences tend to be younger and more impulse-driven, which helps cheap products but hurts anything requiring deliberation.
YouTube. YouTube generally produces the highest conversion rates for influencer campaigns — often 3% to 5% on clicks. The reason is simple: YouTube viewers have already committed time to watching a longer video. By the time they click a link in the description, they've heard a full pitch. They're further along in their decision than someone who saw a 15-second story.
Podcasts. Hard to measure precisely because listeners often buy hours or days later, but brands with good tracking typically see 1% to 2% conversion on attributed clicks. The delay makes podcasts look worse in short-term reporting than they actually are.
Product type matters more than you'd think
A £5 impulse buy converts differently from a £200 subscription. This is obvious when you think about it, but plenty of brands compare their conversion rates against benchmarks from completely different product categories.
Low-price impulse products (under £15): expect 3-5% conversion on clicks from warm audiences, 1-3% from cold.
Mid-range products (£15-£50): 1-3% is typical. Buyers need slightly more convincing.
High-ticket items (£50+): anything above 1% on cold traffic is good. These products usually need multiple touchpoints before someone buys.
Apps with in-app purchases: conversion from click to install is one number; conversion from install to purchase is another. A 30% click-to-install rate with a 5% install-to-purchase rate gives you an overall 1.5% click-to-purchase rate. Both steps matter.
When your conversion rate is too low
Below 0.5% on clicks usually means something is broken. The audience clicked — they were interested enough for that — but something between the click and the purchase lost them.
Common reasons:
The landing page doesn't match the pitch. The creator talked about one thing, the landing page shows something else. Or the page loads slowly. Or it's confusing. The transition from content to commerce needs to feel seamless.
The price is a surprise. If the creator didn't mention pricing and the audience lands on a £49 product when they expected something cheap, they leave. Make sure the creator sets expectations.
Too many steps to purchase. Every additional click, form field, or account creation requirement between landing and buying costs you conversions. Mobile checkout especially — if someone has to type their card details on a phone, you'll lose a chunk of them.
Wrong audience. The creator's followers might love their content without being buyers. An entertainment account with 500k followers will drive lots of clicks but few purchases because the audience is there to be entertained, not to shop.
When your conversion rate is suspiciously high
Above 8-10% on cold traffic should make you curious. It's not impossible — some niche creators with highly targeted audiences genuinely convert that well — but check a few things.
Are the purchases coming from the tracked link, or could they be organic sales that happened to coincide with the campaign? If you're running other marketing at the same time, some purchases might be incorrectly attributed.
Is the creator's audience actually cold, or have they promoted your product before? Repeat exposure converts much better than first exposure.
Is the sample size meaningful? Five clicks and one purchase is technically a 20% conversion rate, but it tells you nothing.
How to actually measure this properly
You need a tracked link per creator. Without one, you're guessing. You might see a sales bump after the post goes live and attribute it to the campaign, but you can't know for sure.
LinkOwl gives each creator a unique link that tracks clicks through to purchases via your payment provider. You see the real numbers — clicks, purchases, conversion rate, revenue — per creator, per campaign.
The maths is simple once you have the data:
- Click-through rate = clicks ÷ impressions (ask the creator for their post stats)
- Conversion rate = purchases ÷ clicks
- Cost per acquisition = amount paid to creator ÷ purchases
- Return on investment = (revenue from attributed purchases - creator fee) ÷ creator fee
What to do with the numbers
A single campaign's conversion rate is interesting but not actionable on its own. You need at least three data points — three different creators, or three campaigns with the same creator — before patterns start to emerge.
If Creator A converts at 3% and Creator B converts at 0.8%, that's a signal. Run Creator A again. If Creator A converts at 3% on their first post and 4.5% on their second, the audience is warming up — keep going.
The brands that get the best results from influencer marketing aren't the ones who find one magic creator. They're the ones who test methodically, track everything, and double down on what the data shows is working.
Your conversion rate isn't a grade. It's a compass. It tells you where to go next.