Engagement. Impressions. Completed Views. In advertising and site evaluation
these are important metrics – but ultimately, the one metric that matters, in a
world of which sales equate to success is conversions. Businesses have to find
ways to influence consumer behavior and convert.
To note, not all conversions have to be sales – it’s not a one KPI
kind of metric – conversion simply means that the consumer took a desired
action that furthers them down the path-to-purchase.
Looking at conversions as a part of the equation is what leads to
the conversion rate – the percentage of users who take the desired action.
As with any metric, conversion rates shouldn’t be the end all be
all as there are too many implications as to what causes the ebb and flow as
well as to what is determined as successful.
With this in mind, there are ways to use conversion rates in more
meaningful ways. Barker, from Smart Insights, provides the following into
breaking through conversion rate limitations and making conversion an incredibility
powerful tool.
Always take other numbers into
account alongside overall conversion rates. Conversion rate is an excellent metric for us to ask, “Why?” Why has
the rate increased? Why has it gone down?
Use it for very specific tasks. Landing pages built around a specific conversion tend to have
a very high success rate. Email is another channel that has a strong influence
on the path-to-purchase.
Break your conversion rate down by
channel. Barker has two recommendations for
channel breakdown:
- Acquisition channels like non-brand PPC will convert at a lower rate than a site average – these should be looked at individually rather than as an overall conversion.
- Channels should be separated so optimization strategies can be developed and implemented channel specific rather than an overall optimization strategy that may not see the same effect cross platform.
Break conversion rate down by visitor
type. New and returning visitors have
different motivations – just as we would approach the strategy to communicate
to them and influence behavior, we should treat their conversions as too different
metrics.
Focus on microconversions. Any problem has a solution but sometimes we look at the
final goal and skip the smaller conversions that have to happen in order for
the final conversion. It is important to look at the desired conversion in
smaller chunks and make sure that you are optimizing and pulling triggers to
hit each of those touchpoints. The small moments matter.
When I think of microconversions I relate this idea to
consideration. In order to get a consumer to our final conversion we first have
to peak their interest and secondly, we have to be in their considered set. Without
consideration, we aren’t going to move the needle on any users
path-to-purchase.
Google Analytics pinpoints 4 separate microconversions that should
be measured and applied to success metrics – used to inform strategy and drive
to the larger conversion metric.
- Email Signup
- Created Account
- Browsed Site Extensively
- PDF Downloads
Each of these actions are types of engagement users prior to
purchasing. These microconversions are happening all the time, but not
necessarily recognized as a key piece to the puzzle – when in reality, they are
the puzzle.
Web analytics are a complex word, but when we put all the pieces
together they help to inform larger decisions. We will continue to evaluate web
analytics, the metrics and how it all comes together to improve strategy and
influence behavior.
