Micro Conversions: What they are and why you need to track them

The customer journey is full of various, small and big, events. From the moment they visit your website, all the way up to the minute they check out with a shopping cart and leave your website. Every single action they take can be registered and then analyzed for various purposes. 

Today, our focus is on those small, seemingly irrelevant, actions, also known as micro conversions.

What are they, why should you track them and what tools can help you? The answers to this and more questions are waiting for you in this article.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Micro conversions - what are they? 🤔

Micro conversions are small, measurable actions taken by your website visitors that indicate engagement and interest, leading up to a macro conversion outcome, also referred to as key conversion (e.g. buying a product). Examples can include monthly newsletter signups, product page views, and video playbacks. Such metrics can be used to track user behavior and inform website optimization efforts.

Micro - conversion: examples 💡

Pretty much anything can be considered a micro conversion, so long as it contributes to the primary conversion, e.g. buying a product or ordering a sample of something. Some of the most popular examples for eCommerce businesses are:

Notice how each of these could, directly or indirectly, contribute to achieving a bigger goal, for example selling a particular product? This is what micro conversions are all about.

📚 Read also:

Measuring and optimizing your SaaS business

Conversions - why do people choose your business?

Increasing product adoption: how?

Why your conversion rate is low

Micro conversion tracking benefits 🔍

It’s vital that you regularly track and monitor your micro conversions. Essentially, they are huge repositories of knowledge on how you can improve your business. 

Below we explain in more detail why paying attention to those little actions can be beneficial for your business development.

#1 Identifying user behavior

Using micro conversions, you can learn how users interact with your website, which pages and elements they engage with, and what actions they take. You can use this information to optimize your website and improve the user experience.

#2 Optimizing sales funnels

Identifying places on your website where users leave, such as dropping carts, will be easier once you start examining the smaller actions on your website. The conversion funnel can be optimized and friction for users can be reduced by using this valuable knowledge.

#3 Measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns

Moreover, you can get data on the effectiveness of different marketing campaigns and see which campaigns are driving the most valuable actions on your website. All thanks to paying attention to aspects like how many people sign up for your newsletter or download that ebook you shared in the latest email newsletter. 

#4 Evaluating the impact of website changes

If you’re looking to determine what website changes improve the user experience and lead to more conversions, and what changes do not have the desired outcome, do look into micro conversions. These secondary actions will let you know what works and what doesn’t.

#5 improving user engagement

Is your user engagement low? Details on all the small actions your users make can let you identify areas of your product where users are struggling, and make adjustments to improve their experience.

#6 increasing conversions

By tracking micro conversions, you can identify which steps in the conversion funnel are causing users to drop off. For example, micro conversions can let you know about some bug on your website which is stopping your customers from finalizing a purchase (the macro, key conversion).

#7 prioritizing features easily

Thanks to tracking micro conversions, you can understand which features are more important to the user, and prioritize the development of those features. As a result, you could save time and money on developing your website. 

📚 Read also:

User experience design - tips on improving it

How do the funnels work?

LiveSession guide: identifying users and adding custom properties

When you should use micro conversions: use cases 🧐

Micro conversions have a long list of use cases. Being able to notice them and take advantage of them can totally take your business to the next level in so many areas. 

Generally speaking, you should use micro conversions when you are trying to:

#1 Apply quick fixes to your strategy

With session recordings tools, such as LiveSession, you can identify bottlenecks on your website. And while this will show you when and where some frictions happen, and maybe even why, this won’t necessarily tell you what to do to combat them. 

That’s the role of micro conversions – small things you can do to make a huge impact.

For example, you might have noticed that people drop off on the checkout site. Everything is fine: they add products to their carts, check delivery options… but they simply don’t convert.

The devil might be in the copy.

If it says “Buy now” ❌, try to add a short line of disclaimer saying “1-click checkout” ✅. This sets an expectation, and shows the users they are really one click away from their purchase. 

Thank us later. 

#2 Polish sales funnels

A very obsolete sales funnel is… a simple cone. Companies STILL expect people to just enter the site and convert straight away. Not any longer could it be found applicable. 

Instead of sales offers, the first pop up you see at MobileMonkey website is one encouraging you to download a special and free guide, upon leaving your contact data:

Why, and why is that a micro conversion? It helps avoid friction. People are usually more willing to first download an educational piece of content (related to what they are looking for) than to dive into checking your offering straight away. 

#3 Optimize touchpoints with your potential audience 

Assuming that everyone is ready to engage with your brand the very first moment they see it is… super wrong. That’s never the case. Micro conversions can help your audience soften the first impression of your brand.

For example, instead of pushing hard for sign ups (although, we won’t be offended if you do it right now), we give our audience a chance to get to know our tool better and show them what LiveSession can help them with. 

(yes, you can book a demo with us here) 

Adding such a simple step can be considered as a micro conversion effort, too. 

#4  Have more interactions with your chatbot 

Your website is open 24/7, but your customer support team isn’t. So if you aren’t there to help somebody out, a chatbot may do it for you. But there’s one problem - your website visitors must first get into an interaction with it. 

There’s more to it than meets the eye. Catching the attention of website visitors can be a hard nut to crack. 

With an attention-grabbing invite to talk to your chatbot, you can do so much more.  And, again, that’s something that micro conversions can help you with.

#5 Get more paid subscription sign ups

Finally, a subscription sign up is (possibly) the dream of every type of software tool company. 

A paid subscription sign up = revenue= happy business. 

But it’s not easy to convince people to sign up. They get demotivated and impatient quickly.

However, a small micro conversion effort in the form of progress bars can totally make these feelings go away in the blink of an eye.

Once again, using this type of techniques helps avoid friction and keep your visitors (future customers?) in the loop. Survicate seems to know a thing or two about it, and now you do too.

You’re welcome.

How can you use LiveSession to nail your micro conversions 

There are various analytics tools that you can use to track your micro conversions. 

The use of web analytics, heat mapping and session recording software like LiveSession can assist in tracking micro conversions by collecting data on user behavior.

Data such as which pages users view, and how often they chat to support, can be used in a beneficial way. Thanks to this type of information, you can identify patterns in user behavior and understand how they interact with your website.

One of these tools is LiveSession - your top software to analyze user behavior, find website errors, increase your conversions and improve user experience. 

There is a free trial and a forever free plan included in this tool, so you can properly test it out at no cost.  With all the rich features and easy implementation, LiveSession will charm you from the first minute of your subscription. 

Increase micro conversions with LiveSession

Tracking micro conversions is fun, especially when you have user-friendly tools to help you with that. Using our analytics software LiveSession, you can easily get data on micro-conversion events, such as:

- how users use your website,

- what your website’s most important elements are,

- what bugs your website has,

- why and where your users drop off,

- what irritates your visitors about your website,

- what features your users take advantage of most often,

and more. 

 

LiveSession is your way to go if you want to get deep insights on the micro conversions. 

Read how Rocketlink got 40% more paid subscriptions thanks to LiveSession here.

So give it a try today (it’s free) and start reaping off the benefits of our solution. 

Other than that, that’s a wrap from our side! We hope you’re now familiar with the idea of micro conversions and know how they work.

If you enjoyed this article, we invite you to check our blog for more, similar pieces. Best of luck to you!

Sign up for a free trial & subscribe to our forever free plan.

📚 Read also:

LiveSession for eCommerce

LiveSession: integrations for eCommerce

LiveSession for SaaS

Micro conversions FAQ

Last but not least, to learn even more about micro conversions, go through our frequently asked section on this exact topic. We hope you like it!

What is a micro conversion?

Micro conversions are small, measurable actions taken by website visitors that indicate engagement and interest. Examples include newsletter signups, product page views, and video playbacks. They can be used to track user behavior and inform website optimization efforts.

How can I track micro conversions on my website?

You can track micro conversions on your website using tools such as Google Analytics, heat mapping software, and A/B testing tools. These tools allow you to set up and track specific actions on your website and gather data on user behavior. You can also use conversion tracking pixels provided by third-party services.

How do micro conversions differ from macro conversions?

Micro conversions are smaller, more granular actions taken by website visitors, such as newsletter signups or video playbacks. Macro conversions are larger, more significant actions, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. 

What are some examples of micro conversions?

Examples of micro conversions include: newsletter signups, account registrations, viewing a specific page, adding a product to cart, starting a free trial, watching a video, downloading a resource, interacting with a chatbot and many more.

How can I optimize my website to increase micro conversions?

You can optimize your website to increase micro conversions in different ways. Examples include keeping your website easy to navigate through, using clear and compelling calls-to-action, optimizing your website for different devices (considering the number of visitors arriving via, e.g., mobile searches) and performing A/B testing. Everything depends on what works and what doesn’t work for your company.

Can micro conversions be used in conjunction with A/B testing?

Yes, micro conversions can be used in conjunction with A/B testing. A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method of comparing two versions of a webpage or element to determine which one performs better. By setting up A/B tests on different elements of your website, you can determine which design, layout, or content changes lead to an increase in micro conversions.

Other frequently asked questions: What are the conversion rates for sales on our website and how can we improve them? How can we increase the chances of conversion for potential customers visiting our website? What are the key process milestones for converting a website visitor into a paying customer?  How can we identify and target potential customers who are most likely to take a desirable action on our website? Are there any tools available for finding email addresses of prospects? What are the incremental steps we can take to guide potential customers through the conversion process? How can we use our email address list to nurture potential customers and increase the chances of conversion? Is there a way to verify email addresses of prospects on our list? How can we track and measure the effectiveness of our conversion strategies for sales? How can we use data and analytics to identify potential customers and understand their behavior on our website? How can we optimize the user experience on our website to increase the chances of conversion for potential customers? How can we use gated content, such as whitepapers or e-books, to drive macro conversions and achieve our business objectives? How can we track the effectiveness of our gated content in terms of driving macro conversions and business return? How can we optimize our blog content to increase the number of macro conversions on our website? How can we use customer ratings and testimonials to increase macro conversions on our website?

Related topics: micro conversion tracking, google tag, conversion optimization, primary conversion goal, conversion funnel, conversion rate optimization, primary goals on website, customer journey through conversions, behavioral analytics tools, analytics softwares, Google Analytics 4, universal analytics tools, measuring customer purchase intention,