What is a conversion?
A conversion is any action you want a visitor to take that has value to your business, such as making a purchase, submitting a form, booking a call, or starting a free trial. You decide which actions count, then track them.
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Types of conversions
Some conversions are direct revenue events, like purchases. Others are leads, such as a form fill or phone call, which become revenue later after your team follows up.
Smaller steps along the way, like watching a demo or adding an item to a cart, are often tracked as micro-conversions.
Choosing what counts
A conversion should reflect real business value. If you count every click or page view, your numbers will look healthy while sales stay flat.
Many ad platforms use your conversion data to decide whom to show ads to, so a poor definition can steer spending in the wrong direction.
How conversions are tracked
Conversions are usually recorded with a tag, pixel, or server-side connection that fires when the action happens. Analytics tools and ad platforms can each keep their own count, and the totals may not match exactly.
Common questions
What counts as a conversion?
Whatever action you define as valuable. For an online store it's usually a purchase. For a service business it might be a form submission, phone call, or booked appointment.
What is the difference between a conversion and a lead?
A lead is a person who has shown interest and shared contact details. A conversion is the action itself, and a lead form submission is one kind of conversion.
Can there be more than one conversion per visitor?
Yes. A visitor can complete several different actions, or repeat the same one. Platforms let you choose whether to count every occurrence or only one per session or per click.
Why do conversion numbers differ between platforms?
Each platform uses its own attribution rules, time windows, and tracking methods. Compare them knowing the definitions differ, and pick one source of truth for reporting.
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