Conversion Tracking Problems

Posted: November 15, 2004

There are a few times when strict tracking of pay per click accounts will not result in accurate numbers.

The first is Value of a Lifetime Customer. If a customer buys from your site multiple times, yet only the first visit came from a pay per click search engine, then the ppc account will only be credited with the first purchase, and not the repeat purchases which are directly attributed to this method of advertising.

If you take orders over the phone, then while pay per click advertising might have gotten the customer to your website, your ROI tracking will not show this customer as having purchased from you. Some companies use special 800 numbers specifically for their website compared to other marketing to track total sales from their website as compared to other advertising venues.

If a visitor comes back at a later date directly to your website to make a purchase after finding your website through a pay per click search engine, they might not be properly tracked. Most cookie tracking methods have a set time limit, and if the conversion does not take place in that time period, the conversion will not be counted as a pay per click conversion. Other java script and pixel tracking are for that one visit only, so a conversion at a later date means the purchase will not be attributed to the pay per click advertising at all.

The Tracking Code Problems

Tracking visitors requires that the user have specific browser settings enabled, depending on how you track visitors.

The two most common tracking methods are cookies, java script and 1×1 invisible images.

If the user does not have java script enabled, then they will not be properly tracked.

If the user does not have pictures enabled, then the invisible images will not track the visitors.

If the user does not have cookies enabled, the conversion will not be counted.

If the page does not load quickly enough, or does not fully load the code to the browser, again, the tracking will be lost.

Software Blocking Issues

Some firewalls and privacy software block referrer strings and other pieces of information from being carried from one website to another. In these cases, the visitor will not be properly tracked.

This is becoming more of a common problem as many firewalls come with certain ad blocking and script blocking software enabled by default. The end user may have no idea that they are blocking such information from taking place.

Blocked Conversion Percentages

The percentage of visitors in most sectors that have either software blocking issues, or tracking code problems which do not allow you to properly track conversions is still relatively small. The latest statistics showed around 2% of the population did not accept cookies. Only around 1% did not have java enabled. We estimate that at the high end, 5%-10% of conversions will not be properly tracked. For many websites, this number is significantly lower. Rarely should it be higher.

The number of conversion not tracked because of lifetime customers, phone conversions, and delayed purchasing can vary by a wide amount depending on your website’s products and services. Generally, the more expensive the purchase, the longer period of time that occurs between finding your website and purchase completion.

Remember to keep in mind your overall Internet Visibility when determining your pay per click ROI and advertising effectiveness.

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