Conversion
In marketing, a conversion is a person completing a target action: an action the organization has defined as valuable, such as a purchase, a request, a sign-up or a download. The Web Analytics Association words it as "a visitor completing a target action". It is the observable outcome used to judge whether a marketing effort works. The notion holds across businesses; what counts depends on each of them.
Definition and how it works
What counts changes with the activity. A shop counts a completed order, an industrial supplier a quote request, a publisher a subscription, a public service a procedure completed online. Each organization therefore writes its own list, in precise and observable terms: "engaging visitors" names no measurable action, whereas "submitting the quote request form" does. Target conversions, the completion of a goal, are distinguished from the intermediate steps that lead to them, sometimes called micro conversions, such as a visit to a key page or the start of a checkout. Both can be tracked, and they are best read separately.
In Jahia jExperience, conversions are measured through goals: each one names an action the marketing team wants to follow on the site, chosen in line with its business objectives. jExperience offers seven goal types: click on a link, download, form submission, funnel, landing page, page visit and video. A goal relies on two interactions, a start event that selects the visitors counted and a target event that marks the goal as reached; some goal types have no start event, in which case all visits count. A goal counts the visits that begin after it is created. In the Academy documentation, the success rate of a goal is what is called a conversion. Whether a visitor has reached a goal can also serve as a condition to build a segment or to personalize content. The team chooses the goal that matches its business, and jExperience counts it.
Sources: Web Analytics Association, Web Analytics Definitions, version 4.0, 2007 ; Jahia Academy, creating and viewing goals in jExperience ; Jahia Academy, glossary.
Related terms: Conversion Rate · Goal · Event (jExperience) · A/B Test
Conversion vs conversion rate: the differences
A conversion is easily confused with the rule that measures it and with the raw interactions collected. Telling them apart keeps every click from being counted as a success.
| Term | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Conversion rate | The rate relates the number of conversions to the number of visitors or sessions concerned. The action on one side, a proportion on the other. |
| Goal | In jExperience, a goal is the rule that follows an action: a start event and a target event. The Academy documentation calls its success rate a conversion. |
| Event (jExperience) | An event is an interaction collected and attached to a visitor profile: page view, click, login. Only certain events, chosen as targets, are counted. |
Conversion in practice
Two organizations, two definitions. An online shop declares a page visit goal on its order confirmation page: the action it follows is a completed purchase. A software vendor publishes a white paper and creates two goals in jExperience, a download goal on the document and a funnel goal that starts on the white paper page and ends on the confirmation page of a meeting request. The first shows whether the content attracts interest, the second whether it moves people forward.
The figures are tracked side by side rather than added up, because a download and a meeting request say different things about a visitor’s interest.
Frequently asked questions
Does a conversion mean the same thing in every business?
No. The notion is constant: an action a person carries out that the organization considers valuable. The action itself changes with the business: a purchase for a shop, a quote request for an industrial supplier, a subscription for a publisher, a procedure completed online for a public service. Each organization writes its own list, in precise and observable terms.
Is every interaction a conversion?
Not necessarily. A page view, a click or a video play records an interaction. It becomes a conversion only if the organization has decided that this action matters for its objectives. For one business, a visit to the pricing page is an intermediate step; for another, it may be the expected action. What matters is to decide it beforehand and keep the definition stable, so that periods stay comparable.
What can count as a conversion in jExperience?
Any action that fits one of the goal types and that the marketing team declares as a goal. jExperience offers seven goal types: click on a link, download, form submission, funnel, landing page, page visit and video. The team picks the type that matches its own objective, and jExperience then counts the visits that reach the target. Which action deserves a goal remains a business decision.
Does a conversion feed segments and personalization in jExperience?
Yes. According to the Academy, a visitor having reached a goal, or not, works as a condition when building a segment, and goals can drive a personalization that pushes relevant content to the visitor. The goal has to name a precise action. Otherwise, the segments built on it group visitors who have little in common.