We want converts and we want them now

Merriam-Webster defines conversion as the act of changing from one state to another, the process of changing from one belief to another or as an extra two points you can get in football after a touchdown (2014).

For our purposes, let’s focus on the middle definition (although two point conversions are pretty cool).

Now, I’m not referring to the type of conversion that happens when you see the light (although again, this is cool too). Conversion in relation to web analytics is basically the ultimate prize, what all our efforts are supposed to cause.

Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0 and man I will probably reference throughout the course of these posts, says it best by “we are investing in our websites, so we should measure what comes of them” (2010, p. 55).

To put it simply, conversion “the number of times a desired outcome was accomplished” (Tiebohl, 2014).

Conversions are the result of the hard work behind the scenes to optimize the website. To measure, you take the outcomes divided by visits or unique visitors. There is some debate between visits and unique visitors in determining the most important number for the denominator of your equation. At the end of the day, it’s based on individual business goals and whether the unique sessions or unique browsers are more important (Kaushik, 2010, p. 55).

Two of the most common examples of conversions to study are purchases and email newsletter sign ups (Google, 2014). If you’re an e-commerce site, you ultimately want visitors to buy something sold on one of the pages. If you’re an advocacy group or blogger, you want to see people opting in to your electronic mailings.

For me, conversions are all about clients. How many of our visitors do we end up representing? How many submit an inquiry form? Our law firm runs off our clients, so our site needs to connect people to attorneys. My job literally depends on the success of our conversions.

When an inquiry is received, we have access to it in the marketing department. We can see the issue the potential client is having and where they came from on our site (the contact form is conveniently located EVERYWHERE). While they may not become clients, it’s the first step in determining our conversion effectiveness.

Recently, our firm is attempting to begin slowly branching out to include more types of personal injury law, including car accidents. Realizing we weren’t receiving any traffic or inquiries from these pages, we beefed them up a bit. By adding additional content about major fatal auto accident areas with a tie to all the GM recall drama, we’ve seen increased numbers. Today we even received one from the GM page, asking about a possible claim related to the recall (My stories found love!).

Before I entered the professional workforce, I spent my days as a head cashier at Sears, leading the way for a new era of the unfortunate retailer. One of Sears’ goals is to become the world’s greatest integrated retailer. The company streamlined the checkout process and encouraged sales online through store computers. I will say, despite Sears’ flaws, the check out process was fairly efficient.

In this role, it was about converting shoppers to purchasers. So much of Sears’ efforts went online to attract new audiences and exist in a different, less traditional environment for the storied brand. Like Amazon, a marketplace feature is available, selling goods from all over the internet.

Increasing Ecommerce conversions allows Sears to see the effectiveness of the drive to online engagement and shopping.

Foundational metrics serve as the starting point – making sure people are viewing your site and finding something worthwhile. Conversion rates are the end of the game, turning visitors to consumers or interested parties engaged in your company.

Online efforts without measuring conversion is like studying very hard for a final and never knowing if you passed. It’s the conclusion to your hard work, where you can see what went well and learn for the next time where you can improve.

References

Google. (2014). Conversion overview. Google analytics. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1006230?hl=en

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0: The art of online accountability and science of customer centricity. Chapter 3, pp. 55. Wiley Publishing: Indiana.

Merriam-Webster. (2014). Conversion. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conversion

Tiebohl, M. (2014). Lesson 2: Basic web analytics, IMC 642. WVU IMC. Retrieved from https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FdisplayLearningUnit%3Fcourse_id%3D_20666_1%26content_id%3D_1178118_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue