Once again we're back to the topic of website conversion rates.  There have been two previous posts in this series, both sticking more to the basics when it comes to learning about site conversion rates.  The first post provided the knowledge of what site conversion rates are and why they're important.  The second post was dedicated to different strategies you can use to improve your site conversion rates.  This week we're going to take a look at how to track and report site conversion rates on your website.

Google Analytics

One of the recommended ways to track your website's conversion rates is through Google Analytics.  Google Analytics is a free service offered from Google that generates statistics about the visitors to a website.  It's a program that is aimed towards marketers.  Using this tool you can enter in conversion goal or goals that you have for your website.  For example, say your goal is to have your website's visitors sign up for a monthly newsletter.  Once you set up this goal through Google Analytics, the number of visitors to your website is recorded as well as the number that perform the desired action, thus generating your conversion rate.  How then, are you able to track the conversion rate?  In a previous post we talked about thank-you pages, and that will come into play again here.  On your website, when a user performs the desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter, they will be redirected to a thank-you page.  This triggers Google Analytics to record the statistic of a performed goal - a visitor reaching the thank-you page.

Here's how to set up goal-tracking in Google Analytics:

1.    After logging in to Google Analytics, go to the website profile for your website

2.    Click on the edit button to the right of your website link

3.    After scrolling down you will see an area titled "goals".  Click on the button to the right that says "Add Goal"

4.    Name your goal.  This could be "subscribers" if you want people to subscribe to your newsletter.

5.    Under Goal Type select "URL destination".  This is where you will enter the URL to your thank-you page.  Select the option "exact match" under Match Type and enter the destination after the initial website URL

               a.    For example, if the whole URL is www.website.com/thank-you/, you will only enter  /thank-you/

Alternative Tracking Methods

If you're not comfortable with using Google Analytics, or feel like you'd want to try a different method, there are some offline conversion tracking methods.  These methods can vary depending on if your business relies solely on e-commerce, or has a mixture of both online and walk-in business.

One of the ways to track conversion rates, which is aimed more towards businesses that are exclusively e-commerce, is through the telephone.  This is done by having a unique 800 number on your website which users can call, and then track the number of calls that come in at that number.  These calls can also be separated again into users who are simply calling for more information, and those who want to make a purchase over the phone.  This is a trickier way to track conversion rate, but can still be effective. 

There are also methods that can be used when you have both a brick-and-mortar store, and an online business presence.  One of these is offering on your website a coupon for a small gift or percentage off a purchase that can be used in the store.  Each time a coupon is brought into the store is counted as a conversion. 

Reporting Your Data

When using Google Analytics your conversion rates are all automatically reported.  To see the reports of your goals simply go to the "All Traffic" reports and click on the "Goal" tab.  A report will pop up that looks very similar to data kept in an Excel document.  This helps you see the overall performance of your website, and if there are any lasting improvements in changes made.  A more effective marketing strategy for your website is to analyze and monitor the conversion rate of each traffic source for each goal.  This puts you in a better position than if you would analyze and monitor the overall conversion rate of the website. Having this information, you can make the necessary tweaks in specific marketing niches, depending on the traffic source. Now, Google Analytics only creates for you a standard report.  To get a better sense of how your website conversion rates are being affected, you should create a custom report.

Here's how to create a custom report from a standard report:

1.    Open Google Analytics, click the "Audience" tab, and then expand the "Mobile" link in the left-side navigation bar.  Click the "Overview" link to view the Mobile Overview report.

2.    Click the "Customize" link in the action bar of the report.  This allows you to customize your report for your own needs. 

3.    When you click "Customize" the standard report will be loaded into "report builder".  The initial view will show you the current report mapped out already.  You can tailor the various elements, based on what you want to achieve.

4.    This is where you will be able to customize your metric groups.  For example, you will want to add to your metric groups the various conversion goals that will help you better understand your users.

5.     Under dimension drilldowns, you will only see "Mobile" listed. Adding more dimensions will enable you to drill into each level to find more data.  Other dimensions you can add are locations, such as region and state, or keywords that lead to the site.

6.     You can play around on this feature and see what things to add that best benefit your business and website.  When you're done, you've finished your custom report.  Remember to hit the "Save" button!

 For more information about website conversion rates relating to your website and marketing, contact a Blue Archer professional.

Michelle Hawley

Digital Content Writer

@BlueArcherPGH