You are what you measure. Landing page analytics for beginners.

You check how your diet is going by measuring calories and your waist. You check with a tracker how much faster did you run this time compared to your last. 
Data informs if you are making progress. You need to know your starting point to make progress.

What is conversion 

Conversion is the percentage of people that visited your website and then performed an action you wanted. Buy, Download, Subscribe, or others. That’s it. 
There’s also a fancy formula if that’s your thing: 

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Conversion Rate = Number of conversions / Number of visitors X 100 

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This online magazine is all about teaching you how to increase the conversion rate. In a sustainable and practical way. How a UX designer would approach this task. If analytics is the "what", user research is the "why”. Let's talk about the "what".

First step to increase your conversion rate

Start measuring your current conversion. As simple as it sounds you need to have a baseline of your current conversion rate. 
The sooner you enable tracking, the bigger the sample size of visitors you’ll have. This will give you more confidence in data. Achieve statistical significance.

The good news is that you probably have Google Analytics tracking enabled. This has everything you need for the time being. Let me tell you how to read the data.

Conversion rate using Google Analytics

If you have Google Analytics enabled on your website. And a "thank you" or "confirmation"page . You can already check your conversion rate.

You can do that by accessing: 
Behavior (Main Left Navigation) > Site Content > Landing Pages.
On top of the table click on the "Secondary dimension" button and search for "Second Page" option. 
Now, you will see all the secondary pages with respective conversion rates. Find your "thank you" or “confirmation” one.

I recommend using in the beginning dedicated pages. It will make your life easier with Google Analytics. 
Later, once you get more comfortable, you can get into Google Tag Manager for advanced event tracking for buttons. 

Conversion Goals with Google Analytics

You might have noticed that there's a section called "Conversions" in Google Analytics. It will be your best friend during your journey to improve your landing page. You need to set it up first. 
Unfortunately, Google Analytics is not famous for its ease of use. I will recommend a free alternative below.

Define a goal

Go to Admin (Main Left Navigation), choose Goals (third column), and select "New Goal".
Choose Custom > Under Goal Description name it and under Type select Destination. In Goal Details: Add the link to your "thank you" or confirmation page.

Tip: Use a relative link instead of absolute. 
Now you can see your conversion rate under Conversion > Goals > Overview

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A simpler tool

I recently discovered Splitbee as an alternative to Google Analytics. I think it was made by a solo indie-hacker. 
The user experience and graphs are simple and to the point. It's also free.

Conversion rate is defined and visualized under Funnels. Add the steps you assume the visitor will take and see the percentages. Dead simple

What is a good conversion rate?

It depends on the industry and what are you asking your visitors to do. Give you an email or buy something. On average if you have a conversion rate above 5% you have a solid baseline. 
Unbounce has a nice breakdown of different conversions based on various industries. 

🐟 Just give me the fish

Add Google Analytics tracking as soon as possible. Define a thank you or confirmation page as the end of the conversion funnel. 
Define the goal in Google Analytics or funnel in Splitbee. Start refining your website based on the tips I give you in my articles. Increase your conversion.

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If you’re looking for a tool to build your website. Use Webflow.
It’s the best and has no constraints on design. Iterate for conversion.

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— Oleg

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