Track Your Conversion Rate with Google Analytics

Now that we have Google Analytics up and running again let’s put some of its features to use. Measuring your conversion rate is a simple way to gauge your site’s performance.

To get it setup login to your Google Analytics (GA) account and click Edit in the settings column.

On the next page you will see “Conversion Goals and Funnel.” Click edit next to G1 (you can configure up to 4 goals). You should see a page like this:

The Goal URL is: /Store/Account/OrderConfirm.aspx.

Next, assign a Goal name and make sure it is active. If you want you may define a funnel to track your visitor’s path to checkout.

Finally make sure the Case sensitive checkbox is not checked and that Match Type is “Head Match.” Hit Save Changes and you are ready to start tracking your conversion rate.

Remember as with all business metrics you must take each with a grain of salt. You conversion rate isn’t the only thing to watch. Your traffic counters, pages per visit and time on site are also important metrics. Our industry is notorious for horrible conversion rates. I’ve been working with automotive websites a long time and have never seen anything much higher than 1.00%. Typically customers are going to check you out online, call with some questions, think about it for 3 days, check with the wife or parents then put in their order. Unfortunately it’s not as cut and dry as a book from Amazon.

Let me know if you have any questions and be sure to swing by for live support this Thursday. We’ll have a ton to talk about this week.