In our last blog, 6 Valuable Types of Conversions, we discussed various types of conversions that your business can accrue and how each one is valuable to your company. Now that you understand why keeping track of various types of online conversions is important, it’s time to learn how to set them up properly! It’s amazing how many businesses know they should be tracking forms, phone calls and so on, but don’t know how to do it.

Setting Up Goal Tracking Through Web Analytics

The most popular web analytics tool is Google Analytics. If your website doesn’t have some form of web analytics installed, that should be an immediate priority! Google Analytics provides a veritable treasure trove of information about your website’s performance that can be used to improve all of your digital marketing.

Make Sure Web Analytics is Installed Properly

It’s essential to make sure your web analytics is properly installed (the tracking code provided must be integrated on every page of your site that you want to track) to ensure that you receive accurate data. If you aren’t familiar with coding, enlist the help of your web development company. Any website developer worth their salt should know how to install and test that your site’s web analytics is tracking correctly.

Create a Unique ‘Thank You’ Page For Every Form

Most forms (such as ‘Contact Us’ or subscription forms) can be tracked using your website’s web analytics. The key to tracking every form’s performance is to have a unique ‘Thank You’ page for your visitors to land on after they fill out and submit a form on your site. ‘Thank You’ pages acknowledge the user for filling out the form (hence the name!) and relay any additional information you want customers to know. Since the only way to land on a thank you page is by filling out the form preceding it, tracking the number of people who land on a thank you page (via web analytics), shows how many people filled out and submitted the form.

Set Up Conversion Tracking in Web Analytics

In order to properly track form conversions in your website’s analytics, you must set them up as “Goals.” This allows you to track a unique URL (or webpage address), usually your thank you page. You can also assign goals a dollar value, to help keep track of your website’s return on investment (ROI). You can create multiple thank you pages, and goals, to track various forms on your site. When goal tracking is set up properly in Analytics, you are able to easily see how many people filled out what forms on your site, and as you dig deeper, analytics can show you the traffic sources or referring websites that drove those conversions to your site. Setting up goal funnels on Google Analytics can also provide you with information on where visitors are dropping off in the conversion funnel. This is some of the most valuable information a business owner can have about their website performance.

Event Tracking Setup

Event tracking is a slightly different type of conversion tracking available through your web analytics. While form tracking relies on users landing on a unique URL, event tracking allows you to measure other types of engagement on your website that may not involve a visitor landing on a specific (thank you page) URL. Event tracking will provide information on a “click” action taken on your website. Events are often micro-actions that happen within a page. This can include things such as clicking to watch a video, clicking on a specific CTA button, clicking on an email address to send an email, etc.

Adding the event tracking code to your website

In order to track an event, you’ll need to add a snippet of code to the webpage where your event is happening. Unless you’re skilled with code, it will likely require the help of your web development team. Once the code is inserted, all your events will be tracked in Google Analytics as ‘events’ under the Behaviour tab.

Chat Tracking Setup

You’ve probably seen one of those chat boxes that pop up in the corner of a website, offering assistance after you’ve been on the website for a few moments. There’s a way to track leads and inquiries generated via these chat boxes. These are especially important to track, as they are often hot leads, or customers who are seeking immediate answers before they finalize a transaction with your business. Having online chat on your site can help transform a wavering lead into an official customer.

Sync your chat provider with your web analytics

Most popular website chat providers allow you to sync your chat with Google Analytics. Check the settings in your account, or speak with your provider for more information on the specifics. You may be required to install a plug-in on your website, or upload some code, so make sure your website development team is on standby.

Setting Up Phone Tracking

Phone tracking is one of the more complex methods of conversion tracking available to your business. However, it can also be one of the most worthwhile forms of conversion tracking. Customers who take the time to call your business are likely on the precipice of doing business with you, making them hot leads that just need a small nudge or some immediate customer care before they give you their credit card! Call tracking enables you to pinpoint the original sources that lead visitors to your site before they called. All calls are tracked and recorded so you can review the quality of leads as well as how those calls were handled by your business, thus helping you improve your phone service, leading to better sales and growth.

Unlike the other types of conversions we’ve discussed, phone tracking requires more than Google Analytics and a knowledgeable programmer. To implement phone tracking, you’ll need to hire a call tracking company that specializes in this service. Many call tracking services have popped up over the years, so you’ll have plenty of options to choose from. If it sounds too confusing to manage your own call tracking, you can also hire a web agency, like Eden, to help you set up, manage and report on your call tracking results.

To learn more about call tracking, we have a handy phone tracking article that provides all the information you need to get started.

Having a great website to drive more business is the first key to success these days. But without setting up proper conversion tracking, you’re kind of working in the dark and making a lot of assumptions about where and how you get your leads. By setting up proper conversion tracking, you will gain an invaluable amount of data about what’s working within your marketing strategy, and what’s not. You may also learn new things that will help you revise your marketing strategy to maximize your marketing potential.

If you need help setting up conversion tracking for your website, Eden Advertising can help. As an experienced web development and interactive agency, we’re experts at setting up conversions properly, ensuring you receive accurate data that truly reflects your website’s performance. Consult with us today to learn more.