Conversion tracking: what it is and how you use it

Conversion tracking is an indispensable tool in digital marketing that allows you to precisely measure and optimise the success of your online campaigns. In this article, you will find out exactly what conversion tracking is, why it is so important and which tools can help you achieve your marketing goals.

Why is conversion tracking important?

Without conversion tracking, you are in the dark when it comes to assessing the success of your marketing activities. It enables you to:

• Increased efficiencyBy recognising which campaigns achieve the most conversions, you can target your budget and adjust or discontinue less effective measures.
• Understanding target groupsYou gain valuable insights into the behaviour of your users and can better tailor your offers to their needs.
• ROI measurementYou can precisely calculate the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing expenditure and thus ensure the economic success of your campaigns.

? Tools for effective conversion tracking

There are numerous tools that can help you with conversion tracking. Here is a selection of the best-known and most effective solutions, including links to the official instructions:

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool that provides you with detailed insights into the behaviour of visitors to your website. You can define conversions, analyse user flows and find out which channels generate the most valuable actions.

Google Ads Conversion Tracking

If you use Google Ads, the integrated conversion tracking is essential. It shows you which ads lead to which actions so that you can optimise your campaigns in a targeted manner.

Google Tag Manager

The Google Tag Manager is a helpful tool for implementing tracking codes on your website without any programming knowledge. It allows you to centrally manage conversion tracking for different platforms.

Facebook Pixel

For social media campaigns on Facebook, the Facebook Pixel a powerful tool. It allows you to track the behaviour of users after they click on your ad and measure the effectiveness of your Facebook ads.

Kissmetrics

Kissmetrics offers detailed analyses of user behaviour and helps you to better understand the customer journey. It is particularly suitable for companies that want deeper insights into their customers' behaviour.

Hotjar

With Hotjar you can visually track the behaviour of users on your website. Heatmaps, session recordings and surveys help you to understand how visitors interact with your site and where there is potential for optimisation.

Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg offers similar functions to Hotjar, with a special focus on A/B testing and heatmaps. It helps you to recognise which areas of your website receive the most attention and where users bounce.

Adobe Analytics

For larger companies Adobe Analytics extensive functions for data analysis and personalisation. It enables in-depth analysis of user behaviour across different channels.

Matomo (formerly Piwik)

Matomo is an open source alternative to Google Analytics that gives you full control over your data. It is particularly suitable for companies that value data protection and want to host their analytics data on their own servers.

? Limits of conversion tracking 

Although conversion tracking is powerful, there are also limits. Not every marketing activity can be measured precisely. Here are a few examples:

? Branding campaigns on social media: If you are active on platforms such as Instagram or TikTok, users may benefit from your content but not immediately interact with your adverts. The influence on future purchasing decisions often remains invisible.

? Offline advertisingBillboard advertising, radio advertising or TV adverts may generate conversions that later take place online - without any direct link to the original measure.

? Word of mouth & personal recommendationsRecommendations from friends or colleagues can play an important role, but are difficult to capture using traditional tracking methods.

➡ TipCombine conversion tracking with other methods such as surveys or individual voucher codes to better understand the impact of marketing measures that are difficult to measure.

Conversion tracking duration limited

The duration for which you can track conversions depends on various factors, such as the settings in the tools and the legal aspects (e.g. data protection laws such as the GDPR). Here are some important points to consider:

1. Cookie duration and retargeting: In most cases, the conversion tracking About cookies performed. These cookies have a lifespan that is often set to 30 days, but you can also adjust the duration depending on how long you want to track user behaviour. In Google Ads and Google Analytics, for example, you can set the Conversion window duration up to 90 days.
   
2. Tracking for campaignsIf it is a specific advertising campaign (e.g. Google Ads or Facebook Ads), then you track conversions during the period in which the campaign is active. If you run the campaign for longer, you can track the conversion data over a longer period of time.
   
3. Processing and storage of dataEven if tracking is set for a specific period of time, there are tools such as Google Analytics that store this data for longer so that you can analyse it later. But here too, there is usually a limit to how long the data is stored.
   
4. Legal restrictionsIf you operate in the EU or other regions with strict data protection laws, you must ensure that you comply with the legal requirements for the retention period of user data. The GDPR requires, for example, that you limit the retention period of data to the necessary period and that you provide users with clear information about this.

E-commerce tracking and conversion tracking

E-commerce tracking is an extended form of conversion tracking. While conversion tracking generally tracks all types of goals on your website (such as sign-ups or clicks on a button), e-commerce tracking goes one step further and delivers Detailed data on transactions and sales figures.

In many cases, both tracking methods work hand in hand. For example, e-commerce tracking is often carried out via Google Analytics or the Google Tag Manager used in conjunction with Google Ads. Here you can measure conversions such as purchases or shopping basket cancellations and use the data obtained in real time to optimise advertising campaigns.

By the way: Did you know that Trackboxx offers a customised e-commerce dashboard? This allows you to keep an eye on the performance of your products in the online shop at all times. You are welcome to use our Google Analytics alternative 30 days Test free of charge or first of all take a look at our Live demo view.