The Ultimate Guide to Measuring Conversions Using Google Analytics 2023

Welcome to my Ultimate Guide to Measuring Conversions Using Google Analytics 2023″! I’m a marketing professional with a strong belief in using data to drive business growth and prosperity.

If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re looking to use Google Analytics to measure conversions on your website. And you’re in luck – Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can help you understand how your visitors interact with your site and identify opportunities for optimisation and more importantly saving money.

But before we dive into the nitty-gritty of conversion tracking, let’s start by explaining what we mean by “conversions.” In the world of wild world of online marketing, a conversion is put simply any desired action taken by a person on your website. This could be anything from making a purchase to filling out a form to downloading a pdf. Essentially, a conversion is any time a visitor takes an action that aligns with your business goals.

It’s important to note that conversions can be either “macro” or “micro.” Macro conversions are high value actions that directly contribute to the overall success of your business, such as making a purchase or signing up for that ebook or newsletter. Micro conversions, on the other hand, are smaller actions that may not have as much direct value, but can still be important indicators of engagement and interest, such as watching a video or clicking on a link that you might deem to be an important indicator of intent.

So, how do you go about tracking conversions using Google Analytics? The first step is to set up conversion tracking on your website. Google provides a variety of tools and plugins to help you do this including the Google Analytics Tracking Code, the Google Tag Manager, and various integrations with popular website builders like WordPress and Shopify.

To set up conversion tracking using the Google Analytics Tracking Code, you’ll need to add a small snippet of code to your website’s code. This code will allow Google to track when a visitor takes a specific action on your site, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.

If you’re not comfortable adding code to your website manually, you can use the Google Tag Manager to set up conversion tracking. The Google Tag Manager is a free tool that allows you to add tracking code to your website without requiring any prior coding skills at all. Simply create an account, add the Tag Manager code to your website, and then use the Tag Manager interface to add and manage your tracking tags.

Adding to these options, there are also various integrations with popular website builders that can help you set up conversion tracking. For example, if you use WordPress for your website, you can install the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin to easily add tracking code to your site. Similarly, if you use Shopify to power your e-commerce store, you can use the Google Analytics Shopify app to set up conversion tracking.

Once you have conversion tracking set up, and you’re eating to get going.. you’ll be able to see how many conversions your website is generating, as well as which pages and channels are driving the most conversions.

To view your conversion data in Google Analytics, go to the “Conversions” section of the left-hand menu and select Overview. This will show you a summary of all of your conversion data, including the total number of conversions, the conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who take a specific action), and the value of those conversions.

Along with tracking the number of conversions, it’s also important to keep an eye on “assisted conversions.” These are conversions that were influenced by multiple channels – for example, a customer may have first learned about your business through a social media ad, but ultimately made a purchase after visiting your website from an organic search or search ad. Understanding assisted conversions can help you better understand the customer journey and fine tune your marketing.

For example in your google ads panel a keyword might have shown 0 conversions for 2 months and money spent. To anybody that would look like a no brainer to turn off. But if it assisted in 5 conversions, those sales would have likely never happened.

To view assisted conversions in Google Analytics, go to the “Conversions” section of the left-hand menu and select “Multi-Channel Funnels.” From here, you can view assisted conversions data in the “Assisted Conversions” report. This report will show you how many conversions were influenced by each marketing channel, as well as the value of those conversions if set.

In addition to tracking conversions and assisted conversions, it’s also important to understand the different types of conversion sources that you can track using Google Analytics.

Conversion sources refer to the different channels that drive traffic to your website, such as organic search, paid search, social media, referral traffic, and more. By understanding the performance of each of these, you can make informed decisions about where to further allocate your marketing budget and time.

To view conversion data by source, go to the “Acquisition” section of the left-hand menu and select “All Traffic.” From here, you can view a breakdown of your traffic sources in the “Channels” report. This report will show you the number of conversions and the conversion rate for each respective channel.

There are also a number of third-party tools and plugins that can help you set up and measure conversions using Google Analytics. Some popular tools and plugin options include Crazy Egg, OptinMonster, and SumoMe. These tools offer a variety of features, such as heat mapping, A/B testing, and lead generation forms, that can help you optimize your site.

To conclude… measuring conversions using Google Analytics is a crucial step in understanding the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and identifying opportunities for optimisation, thereby both saving money and gaining more leads or sales. By setting up conversion tracking, understanding assisted conversions, and utilizing a variety of conversion sources and tools, you can make data-driven decisions that will help you to grow your business or the businesses you are marketing for.

Thanks for reading!