Conversion
A conversion is the moment a visitor takes an action you have set as a goal, such as requesting a quote, calling or booking an appointment.
- 3 min read
What is a conversion?
A conversion is a visitor who turns into an opportunity. Someone comes to your website, reads what you do and requests a quote. At that moment an anonymous visitor has become a potential customer. That moment is called a conversion.
What you count as a conversion is up to you. A webshop counts orders. A roofer, contractor or installer mainly counts quote requests, phone calls from the website, WhatsApp messages and scheduled appointments. There are also smaller actions, such as downloading a brochure or viewing your projects page. Those are called micro-conversions: they say something about interest, but they are not yet an enquiry.
Why conversions matter for your business
Visitors do not pay your bills. Enquiries do, and ultimately signed jobs. By measuring conversions, you see which channels, campaigns and pages really bring in work and which only bring traffic.
Conversions are also the fuel for advertising platforms. Google Ads and Meta learn from the conversions you pass on. If you pass on the right actions, the system looks for more people who resemble your best customers. If you pass on the wrong ones, the system optimises neatly for something that brings you nothing.
How a conversion works
Technically, a conversion is a signal your website sends when someone completes an action. For example when the form is submitted, when someone taps your phone number or when a thank-you page loads. Through Google Tag Manager you send that signal to Google Analytics, Google Ads and possibly Meta.
An example. Say an air conditioning installation company measures every visit to the contact page as a conversion. The account shows eighty conversions a month and the campaigns seem to be running fine. But only twelve enquiries come into the mailbox. The company adjusts the measurement: only a submitted form and a call lasting longer than half a minute still count. The number drops to fifteen, but now those are real opportunities. Google Ads starts optimising on that, and within a few weeks the number of real enquiries goes up.
Also pay attention to the value you give a conversion. Not every enquiry is worth the same. An enquiry for a complete air conditioning installation in an office building brings in more than a question about maintenance on a single unit. By giving each type of enquiry a value, Google Ads can distinguish between big and small opportunities.
The next step is to look beyond the enquiry. With Offline conversions you pass on which enquiries became customers. The ad platform then no longer steers on enquiries, but on signed jobs.
Common mistakes with conversions
Counting too much. Setting clicks on an email address, page visits and videos as the main conversion makes your figures look better than reality. Limit your primary conversions to real enquiries.
Counting twice. A thank-you page that reloads or a form that sends a signal twice doubles your conversions. Check your measurement with a test enquiry.
Not measuring phone calls. Many customers in construction prefer to call. If you only measure forms, you miss a large part of the enquiries and underestimate your best campaigns.
Not maintaining the measurement. A new website, a different form or a plugin update can break your measurement without you noticing. Weeks later you notice that no conversions are coming in any more, while your campaigns have been running blind all that time.
Not taking consent into account. Because of cookie notices, not every conversion is measured. Without consent mode and a proper set-up, your measurement leaks and you make decisions on half the figures.
How to approach conversions
First decide what a real conversion is for you. For most trade businesses that is a submitted quote form, a phone call and possibly a WhatsApp message. Everything else is at most a secondary signal.
Then set up the measurement properly. With conversion tracking you measure every enquiry once, with the source, and you pass on the right signals to your advertising platforms. After every change to your website, test whether the measurement still works.
Next, work on more conversions from the same traffic. Your conversion rates shows how many visitors convert. Improve the pages with the most visits: a clear heading, proof of earlier work, a prominent call-to-action and a short form.
Finally, link your CRM, so you can see which conversions bring in work. Only then do you steer on what really counts: signed jobs.
Frequently asked questions
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What counts as a conversion for a trade business?
Usually a submitted quote request, a phone call via the website or a scheduled appointment. You can measure smaller actions, such as downloading a brochure, as secondary conversions. Steer your ads only on the actions that really lead to work.
What is the difference between a conversion and a lead?
A conversion is the action you measure, such as submitting a form. A lead is the person or enquiry that comes out of it. For a trade business they often coincide, but not every conversion is a usable lead.
Why do I see more conversions in Google Ads than enquiries in my mailbox?
Often the account counts actions that are not enquiries, such as page visits or clicks on a button. Double measurements are also common. Check which conversion actions are set as primary and do a test enquiry.
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