Why conversion measurement is important

Analytics, like all measurement, should be based on a goal to make the measurement meaningful. In network analytics, the goal should be the conversion event that needs to be measured.

• The purpose of conversion measurement is to measure the achievement of the website and marketing objectives, i.e. the end result.
• The role of the other figures in the website analytics and advertising and media tools is to explain what caused the result.

The function of the readings

1. Conversions - measure the achievement of your website's objectives - the end result
2. Other figures - explaining why or how the result came about

Conversion events are at the heart of the measurement. Other analytics data may also provide important observations and findings that can be used to improve things. However, without measuring the end result, many figures are very often nice-to-have figures, especially on their own.

Generic metrics such as the number of visitors, clicks or pages browsed can be interesting information in themselves, but they alone do not necessarily reflect the quality of the visit, the visitor or the site.

What is a conversion measurement?

Conversion measurement refers to the measurement of the target transactions of a website.

Conversion should be defined as things that show that the website or advertising has achieved its goal. Instead of passively browsing, the visitor has been persuaded to take an active role, thus demonstrating that a) they belong to our target audience and b) we have got them to do the things we want them to do.

Typical measurable conversions include

1. Sending the contact form
2. To book an appointment
   Enrolment, e.g. for an online course
3. Clicking on an email link
4. Click on a phone link
5. Newsletter subscription
6. Online ordering
7. Sending a chat message
8. Downloading a file - e.g. brochure, technical description
9. Watch the video

How is conversion measurement used?

Once the reasons for the conversion results have been identified, the marketing and website can be developed and the impact of the measures can be tested.

The conversion measurement will be used to develop:

• Website
  • quality of content - communication
  • Availability
  • technical functionality
  • the ability to direct the visitor to the goal
• Visitor traffic - findability, visibility
• Communication and marketing:
  • media choices
  • choices of advertising formats
  • steering and benchmarking campaigns
  • comparing the effectiveness of messages
  • developing targeting
  • the effect of time on the results

Conversion measurement also provides a lot of important information about the impact of trends, phenomena, current affairs, economic situation on operations, marketing, website, etc.

How do I get started with the conversion measurement?

1. Conversion measurement is put in place and it is ensured that conversion events are reported correctly to analytics.
2. Once the conversion measurement is done, you can start collecting data
3. Measuring and reacting to results ➔ Measuring and reacting ➔ Measuring and reacting ➔ etc.

Things to consider when measuring conversion

1. Installing a monitoring tool is not enough
   Every website almost always has target events that visitor tracking cannot collect information about without additional work or tools. Make sure that all functionality and target events are measured.
2. The target event must be defined for visitor tracking
   Once the target event data is collected, it still needs to be defined as a goal in the visitor tracking tool in order to be reported as a conversion.
3. Choose the right conversions
   Conversion is the end result - the ultimate goal. Before that, there may be many milestones that should not be confused with the conversion measurement. For example, looking at contact details or product pages is not yet the end result, as a visit to a page may not have resulted in an action. Conversion results may also be used to optimise machine learning marketing, so conversion results may also affect the effectiveness of advertising.
4. Interpretation of results
   The conversion rate is the result. The main goal of analytics is to identify ways to do things better and achieve even better results. Interpreting the results should involve understanding the needs and motivations of target audiences, as well as how people behave online in general - how this is influenced and the role of different traffic sources and media in driving traffic. In addition, it should be known what to look for in terms of visitor tracking and where to find the additional information needed. When you start to unpack the reasons for the outcome, you need to take all of this into account.
5. Measurement must lead to action
   The results only change if you change something.