The Importance of Conversion Metrics

Tracking website conversions is quite possibly one of the main purposes (if not the main purpose) of using website analytic tools. Conversions can be simply described as, “the number of times a desired outcome was accomplished.” (Reed College of Media, 2018) Whether you’re in charge of an e-commerce website, non-profit website, or personal blog, you will want to know if all the hard work you are putting into that website is gaining traction and accomplishing your desired end goal.

Marketers in charge of e-commerce websites (for example) would have the desired end goal (or desired conversion) of converting website clicks on their website to purchases of their products being advertised. Marketing professionals in charge of non-profit websites, however, may simply be trying to raise awareness for their cause; driving up the total amount of donations or subscriptions to their monthly newsletter.

To determine exactly how many conversions are occurring, marketers would need to gather and analyze information regarding conversion rates. Conversion rates can be defined as, “outcomes divided by unique visitors (or visits).” (Kaushik, 2010) Although it may be a bit tricky in choosing which denominator to use, Kaushik recommends using unique visitors (instead of visits) to better reflect customer behavior.

The use of conversion rates in your analytic research is extremely important to businesses and non-businesses of all types when it comes to monitoring their website’s traffic.  At some point or another, there was an established goal of why a website was created in the first place. Tracking conversion rates tells you exactly how many unique visitors and visits are occurring and assists marketers in taking the appropriate steps to reach their desired end goal.

According to an article published by Forbes, there are two main ways to improve conversion rates. The first way is to increase online conversion rates. This can be done in five main ways:

1.     Adding social proof

2.     Adding clear contact information

3.     Promoting your credibility

4.     Offering guarantees

5.     Using clearly stated headlines

The second way to improve conversion rates is to focus on increasing outside conversion rates. This can be done by trial closes (offering a better price for a desired product) and getting customers to invest their time instead of making spontaneous purchases. (Lavinsky, 2014)

Big Bang, for example, is the largest consumer electronic retailer in Slovenia. When determining how they could increase their online revenue, they took to Red Orbit, a certified partner of Google Analytics whom is also located in Slovenia. After carefully determining their website objectives and KPI’s, Red Orbit tracked and analyzed conversion rates to generate their reports. Micro-conversions such as articles read, newsletter subscriptions requested, on-site registration, product reviews read, checked product stock and added products to baskets were all taken into consideration. All of these micro-conversions lead to their desired end macro-conversion, which in their case was a sale. (Google Inc., 2015) In total, Big Bang increased their total online revenue by 274% with the guided direction from Red Orbit and their use of web analytics through conversion rate monitoring.

American Cancer Society, however, used conversion metrics for a slightly different purpose. Being a non-profit organization, American Cancer Society would have different desired end goals than a firm such as Big Bang. Donations would be something extremely vital to this organization and need to be properly analyzed and tracked. By creating custom filters in Google Analytics, this organization was able to track conversions rates from information seekers, event participants and donors. (Google Inc., 2015) This information gave marketers the information to create a custom plan to reach their maximum amount of donations. With the help of conversion metrics from Google Analytics, American Cancer Society was able to make a 5.4% increase in their total donations in 2015 alone. (Google Inc., 2015)

The importance of conversion metrics is simply undeniable. Website owners of all kinds will always want to know if their website is driving the type of traffic needed to achieve the desired end-goal. Whether it’s simply the purchase of a t-shirt, a new subscriber, or a donation, conversion rates really do give an unparalleled amount of insight on how well their website is functioning.

References

Google Inc. (2015). Big Bang Boosts Sales by 274% With Help From Red Orbit Case Study. Google Analytics. Retrieved from https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/big-bang-google-analytics.pdf

Google Inc. (2015). Cancer.org Donations Rise 5.4% With Help From Google Analytics Case Study. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/analytics/success-stories/#?modal_active=none

Kaushik, A. (2010, April 19). Web analytics 101: Definitions: Goals, metrics, KPIs, dimensions, targets. Occam’s Razor Blog. Retrieved on January 20, 2018 from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/web-analytics-101-definitions-goals-metrics-kpis-dimensions-targets/.

Lavinsky, D. (2014, March 18). How To Increase Conversion Rates. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2014/03/18/how-to-increase-conversion-rates/#7ab1471b16d4

Reed College of Media. (2018). IMC 642, Lesson 1. Retrieved January 19, 2018 from https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_97081_1&content_id=_4434991_1&framesetWrapped=true