It’s tempting to think that every visitor to your website is ready to whip out their wallet and make a purchase. But here’s the reality: only about 2% of visitors are primed to buy. The other 98%? They’re still figuring things out, looking for more information, or just exploring their options.
When we talk about conversion rates, we’re looking at the percentage of visitors who take a specific action you want them to take. In our example, 2 out of every 100 visitors are ready to convert, giving you a conversion rate of 2%.
But don’t just focus on those big-ticket sales. It’s just as important to keep an eye on different types of website conversions—because each one tells a part of the story.
There are two main types of conversions: “macro conversions” (the big wins ) and “micro conversions” (the smaller steps that lead up to the big wins).
Macro Conversions (The Big Wins):
- Enquiry-based conversions: Like when someone fills out a contact form or gives you a call directly from your site.
- Revenue-based conversions: The bread and butter—think completing an online order or signing up for a paid subscription.
- Lead acquisition-based conversions: This could be someone requesting a demo, signing up for a free account, or completing an application form.
Micro Conversions (The Small Steps):
- Engagement-based conversions: Maybe they’re spending more than a minute on your site or checking out multiple pages in one go.
- Navigation-based conversions: This includes visitors landing on key pages like your product, landing, or pricing pages, or reaching the checkout but not completing the purchase.
- Action-based conversions: Signing up for your newsletter, downloading a brochure, or adding a product to their cart all fall under this.
Tracking both macro and micro conversions is key to truly understanding how well your website is performing.
Macro conversions are the stars of the show, but don’t underestimate those micro conversions—they’re often the stepping stones leading up to the big goal.
Imagine this: a visitor spends three minutes on your site (engagement conversion), checks out a product page (navigation conversion), adds something to their cart (action conversion), and then heads to checkout (navigation conversion). All these steps are crucial, and tracking them gives you a fuller picture of what’s working and what might need tweaking.
Every website should have at least one primary macro conversion goal. So, what’s yours? What’s the main action you want visitors to take?
Here’s a quick tip: browse your website like a customer would. Think about the actions they might take and which ones matter most to you. That’s where your macro and micro conversion goals lie.
Once you’ve got a list of these goals, you can track, manage, and optimise them to make sure your website is doing exactly what you need it to do.
