What is conversion?

If you're looking for results in the digital world, one term you'll come across frequently is conversion. This article will explain what conversion is, along with some concepts and common uses in digital marketing strategies.

“If content is king, conversion is queen. - John Munsell”

So, what is conversion?

In the digital world, conversion is what everyone hopes to achieve at the final stage of their funnel, regardless of the strategy: a sale. However, to understand whether our strategy is working, measuring the conversion rate is crucial. It helps us assess whether the results are meeting our goals and make adjustments to ensure acceptable rates for the strategy and, ultimately, the business.

What else can be considered a conversion?

Besides an actual sale, other user actions can also be considered conversions, such as:

• Signing up with an email address to receive a newsletter;
• Filling out a form to download an e-book;
• Requesting a quote;
• And more...

This breaks an overall conversion down into “micro” conversions, making it possible to measure progress at each stage of the sales funnel and fine-tune the strategy more effectively, since adjustments can be made with each stage in mind.

Types of conversion

In general, we can define two types of conversion:

• Direct conversion: When the final result of a visitor's action is a purchase. It happens immediately. Typically, the result is an actual sale, a quote request, a reservation, a subscription, etc.
• Indirect conversion: When the final result of an action involves the user providing certain personal information in exchange for something. Although it does not produce immediate results, it allows the brand to get to know its users better and reach them with information that will increase their purchase readiness and move them through the stages of the sales funnel.