Conversion Rate
Synonyms: CVR، Close Rate، Lead-to-Deal Ratio
Last updated: 2026-09-25
Short Definition
Conversion rate is the percentage of people who completed a target action out of all who had the opportunity — such as visitors who sent an enquiry, enquirers who attended a viewing, or viewings that ended in a contract.
Overview
Legal Basis
No text defines conversion rate, but the tools for measuring and improving it are regulated. Article 8 of the Regulation on Real Estate Marketing and Advertising (1 May 2026) requires property platforms not to change an ad's content after publication or allow users to change it, and to populate ad data from information retrieved from REGA's systems, while Article 7 prohibits publishing fictitious data to collect recipients' information. The Personal Data Protection Law (M/19 dated 9/2/1443H, as amended) governs processing of visitors' and enquirers' data; its definition of personal data includes contact numbers, it requires consent (Art. 5) and it restricts processing for marketing purposes (Art. 26).
Practical Example
An office managing 20 rental listings in Jeddah measures one full month: 12,000 ad views, 240 enquiries (2% conversion), 60 viewings (25% of enquiries) and 9 leases documented on Ejar (15% of viewings) — an overall view-to-lease conversion of 0.075%. The average annual rent is SAR 40,000, so the commission is 2.5% = SAR 1,000 per lease, or SAR 9,000 for the month before VAT. The office notices that half of enquiries are answered after more than 24 hours, so it assigns a staff member to reply within an hour. The following month, with similar views and enquiries, viewings rise to 84 (35%) and leases to 13 — without changing the published ads.
Common Mistakes
- ✗Tracking a single number (such as views) instead of conversion at each funnel stage.
- ✗Comparing conversion rates across channels or periods without a consistent definition of "conversion".
- ✗Editing a published platform ad to test a new price or description — the regulation prohibits changing an ad's content after publication.
- ✗Boosting enquiries with fictitious listings or prices — prohibited, and it produces misleading performance figures.
- ✗Running tracking tools that link visitors' behaviour to their identities without notice or consent under the Personal Data Protection Law.
International Differences
Conversion rate is a global metric used in every digital property market, but cross-country comparisons are hard because client journeys differ: markets that rely on open houses, such as the US and Australia, measure different stages from the appointment-based Saudi market. Major markets agree that tracking tools are subject to privacy laws (such as the GDPR in Europe), while Saudi Arabia adds a sector-specific rule for property platforms that prevents editing an ad after publication.
