How many clicks is too many?

insight into how much conversion drops

[joetest]

I was wondering if anyone has any sources for statitics on how much the conversion rate drops on a site as you add click steps between hitting the site and hitting the buy button. I am assuming that there is information out there somewhere that talks about threshold.

Thanks

[lorax]

Many years ago we used to think that 3 clicks was too many. The latest research (I can't lay my hands on the source) seems to suggest that as long as the user feels like they're getting somewhere, they'll keep clicking. My general rule of thumb is to keep it below 5 if I can.