When it comes to analyzing a website’s visitors, numbers are not that important. Having a high number of visitors doesn’t mean that they are performing actions we want them to. For example, having a website with 100 visitors per day with one making a purchase is more valuable than a website that gets 100,000 visitors and only five buyers. What is important is following the percentage of visitors who achieve the website’s desired goals.

Main company goals present the reason for having the website and these goals are measured in the form of macro conversions. These goals differ from website to website, but they usually include the number of sales or leads achieved.

Macro conversions are completed by approximately two to five percent of visitors. However, this doesn’t mean that the visitors who do not complete the macro conversion are not important. There is potential value in each of them. The realization of their value is followed by micro conversions. Micro conversions measure user engagement, brand awareness, content interaction and customer loyalty. In some cases, they are more important than macro conversions. A visitor who regularly comes to read blog content, for example, may have more value than a visitor who came only once to perform a transaction, never to be back again. Engaged visitors help to spread the brand, increase brand awareness, create buzz, or put a good word in to their friends about the site. They are indicators of a connection with your brand.

It is important to look at micro conversions as future macro conversions, because they will definitely pay off in the long run. Newsletter subscribers might decide one day that they want to buy your product, refer you to friends, or give a good recommendation or review of the site. Some visitors will come to the website a couple of times to read specifications, reviews and product information before they decide to buy. For all these reasons, it is extremely important to follow micro conversions.

Identify relevant micro conversions

The first step in dealing with conversions is the identification of relevant micro conversions. They depend on the website, but they may include product video views, whitepaper downloads, the number of tweets and likes, checking the pricing page, and more. They depend on the overall marketing strategy and are different for every company. The more a company works on increasing engagement, the more opportunities there are for identifying micro conversions. Overall, they include actions of interest in your products and interactions with your website – the checkout process, for example.

Measure

Following micro conversions without giving them a number value will not lead anywhere. This is not an easy thing to do, but is extremely important. You need to identify which micro conversions are likely to turn into macro conversions. For example, newsletter subscribers might be more prone to buy a product than people who retweet your articles. Looking at numbers allows us to focus on priorities.

Optimize

After identifying priorities, the next needed process is optimization. Every conversion consists of multiple steps. Analyzing each step helps you to identify obstacles and remove them. You might want to try to make a call to action more visible or you might want to check to see why so many visitors are leaving on the third step of the checkout process, for example. Ultimately, this leads not only to more revenue, but a better and more simplified user experience.

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