New Chart: Conversions are a “User-Defined Event” for Search Marketers

Primary Conversion Events Used in Search Marketing

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One of the most common mistakes made when dealing with conversion rates is confusing the use of different types. In analytics, a conversion event is referred to as a "user-defined event." In other words, it can be anything you want it to be.

PPC search marketing is able to maintain the accountability and a results-driven approach that makes it so effective by embracing conversion metrics other than the immediate sale of a product. By tying bidding to performance and performance to actionable mid-funnel metrics, search marketers have neatly side-stepped the argument all together. On the other hand, some tactics like online banner advertising are still going through a strategic identify crisis (is it branding or is it direct response?) which continues to hinder accountability.

The harder a conversion metric is to define and collect, the less data you will be left with to make a marketing decision. Ideally, an organization will collect multiple conversion metrics in order to gauge the effectiveness of search marketing throughout the purchase funnel, not just at the end.