Loading…

Conversion: from click to sale

6 minutes, 8 steps, workout 4 of 6 in this module

Clicks are coming in, the ad platform says the campaign is doing fine, and the shop owner still can't see the sales. Somewhere between the ad and the payment page, people are giving up. If you can't measure the conversion rate and walk the path a buyer takes, you'll keep tweaking the ads when the real problem is a slow form, a surprise shipping cost at the last step or a campaign optimizing for the wrong goal.

What you'll be able to do

By the end of this workout, you'll be able to calculate conversion rate, find the friction between the click and the sale, and pick the right conversion goal for an ad platform.

A first look: Warm-up: What exactly is a conversion?

A conversion is the specific action you want from a campaign. In ecommerce, it's a purchase. For a service business, it's a form or a booking. For a local business, it could be a WhatsApp message or a request for directions. If you don't define the conversion before you launch the campaign, you won't know what you're measuring. In GA4, you mark these actions as “key events” and send that signal to Google Ads and Meta.

Example: For Balance Pilates, the conversion isn't “a like on Instagram.” It's “a first trial class booking.” For Corner Coffee's online store, it's “a completed order.”

What this workout covers

  1. 1Warm-up: What exactly is a conversion?
  2. 2Conversion rate (CVR)
  3. 3Friction: every extra step loses customers
  4. 4Case: Northpack's missing discount
  5. 5Set complete: What happens after the click is up to you

A question from this workout: Northpack's missing discount

Northpack is running an Instagram ad that says “20% off all backpacks.” People who click the ad land on the site's homepage. The homepage shows new-season products and says nothing about a discount. The discounted products are on a subpage buried in the menu.

Spend
$1,500
CTR
2.4% (account average is 1.2%)
Clicks
3,000
Orders
12
CVR (based on clicks)
0.4%

What do you change first?

  1. Make new ad creative. The ad isn't getting enough attention
  2. Send people who click to the discounted backpacks page, with the discount on the first screen
  3. Raise the budget. With 6,000 clicks, orders will double too
  4. Raise the discount to 40%

Pick your answer first, then open the reasoning below.

Show the answer and the reasoning

Answer: B. Send people who click to the discounted backpacks page, with the discount on the first screen

CTR is twice the account average, so the ad is doing its job. The loss happens after the click: people come for the discount, can't find it, and leave. Message match is the cheapest fix. Making new creative is a common mistake, because you'd be replacing the part that works. Raising the budget just means you keep paying $125 for every order.

The other steps work the same way: you decide first, then see why each option is right or wrong.

How you practice here

  • 4 short concept cards
  • 1 multiple-choice question
  • 1 campaign case with real-looking numbers
  • 2 guided calculations