Conversion tracking - Definition

Conversion tracking consists of defining and recording the specific actions customers take after viewing your ad. Learn why it's important and take a look at an example.

What it is

The specific actions you want customers to complete after viewing your ad are called goal conversions. You can use Microsoft Advertising' Universal Event Tracking to monitor these conversions and other site activity in order to measure the success of your campaign.

Why it's important

With conversion tracking, you can find out:

  • Which ad campaigns are most effective
  • The keywords that lead to better conversions
  • The ROI of your advertising dollars
  • The audiences that have higher conversions
  • How much time people spend on your website and how they engage with it

An example

Let's assume the goal of your campaign is to drive a sale. Therefore a click on your ad that ultimately results in a click on your website's "Complete purchase" button would be a conversion. Let's see how a user gets there:

  • A search user clicks your ad and arrives at the landing page. On your landing page, she sees a link to "This weekend's specials" page.
  • The user clicks the link and arrives on a page listing several products on sale. She's particularly interested in the brown dress shoes, so clicks on the appropriate link.
  • The user arrives at the detailed page about the dress shoes. Finding a pair she likes, she clicks the "Add to shopping cart" button.
  • The shopping cart summary page appears. The user is very close to buying, but not quite there yet.
  • She clicks the "Complete purchase" button. You gather the credit card information and a Purchase Confirmation page is displayed.

As you can see, the user went from clicking on your ad to clicking on the "Complete purchase" button, resulting in a goal conversion for you. Microsoft Advertising provides you with a Universal Event Tracking tag that you add to the <head> section of your webpage. By doing so, each time a user arrives at the Purchase Confirmation page, the Universal Event Tracking tag is triggered and tells Microsoft Advertising to record that information. You can set up a goals to track each of the steps before the Purchase Confirmation page, or you can set up a goal just to track that final step.

A quick note about conversions: In the example above, we've designated a sale as a conversion. But a conversion can be any end-result you want. For example, signing up for a mailing list could be a conversion. Submitting an entry for a contest could be a conversion. It all depends on what is important for your business.

Get more information

See more videos...