From a landing page perspective, I get it. Trying to convert more people who are in the last stage of the buying cycle makes sense. But for an entire website, I think we might be looking at it the wrong way.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to calculate the conversion rate based on visitors instead of visits? 

Consider the following points:

1. Especially in the B2B space, there is a lot of consideration that needs to happen in order to drive conversion. A CRM software, for example, has to convince businesses to not only buy a several thousand dollar product, but also to take on the massive task of migrating from their old system. That type of conversion process takes time, as it should.
2. Consumers, especially young ones, are tired of being pushed down a sales process in an aggressive way. I was on a well known marketers website the other day and was hit with an email capture pop-up 2x on a single visit. Sure, he maybe got a 100% lift in conversion from 2.5% to 5.0%, but the other 95% (including me) have a negative perception of him now.

In both of these examples, additional visits might strengthen the overall experience for the visitor and lead to more revenue downstream. But the current calculation discourages marketers from looking holistically.

Next time you’re reporting conversion rate to your boss, consider ignoring Google Analytics.

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While this philosophy makes sense in industries with a small set of data points that can all be measured, I don’t think that’s the case for web marketing. The fact of the matter is that there is a lot of missing data on the internet.

Consider this. Does digital PR have value?

There is some data that you can pull for this such as branded search volume or referral traffic, but there is a lot of data missing. Does it have an effect on your credibility, and therefore your conversion rate? Is that a reader’s first touch with your brand? How is that affecting your conversion funnel?

PR is just one example. Social has similar problems, as does your offline marketing efforts that connect online.

I’m in GA and other web analytics tools for a good portion of the day. That being said, I think we have to recognize that there is still a lot that needs to be captured for us to live by the statement above. Google Analytics is making big improvements with their Universal Analytics launch. But as we step back into today, let’s recognize that measurement is important. Doing what’s right is much more important.

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