Jan 2010
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cpi
Jan '10

I'm trying to use Google Website Optimizer to test different "buy now" and "add to cart" buttons to see which leads to the most conversions.



The problem is, and please correct me if I'm wrong, there is no way to set everything up with GWO and E-Junkie to allow conversions to be tracked accurately. The closest thing I can think of is what I'm doing right now... which is counting clicks on my "buy now/add to cart" button AS the conversion. More info about that is here: http://www.google.com/support/websiteoptimizer/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93181



The obvious flaw however is that people can click the buy button but still NOT go on to buy the product. And my results so far show this. GWO shows more "conversions" (meaning clicks on my buy now/add to cart button) than there are ACTUAL conversions (meaning sales).



So I guess what I'm wondering here is, is this the best possible way to do what I'm trying to do? Is there something else I'm missing? Some other way to make this work better?



Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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    Jan '10

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E-junkie_GuruWebmaster & Support Guru
Jan '10

The problem using GWO, and other methods that depend on the buyer viewing a post-checkout page where conversion-tracking code would be triggered, is that most checkouts with our system take place on a third-party site (e.g., paypal.com), where we have little-to-no control over the transition from the end of checkout there back to any post-checkout page. See "Notes on Conversion Tracking" here:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.tracking.htm



Also consider the article here for a more detailed understanding:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/faq.tracking-how-why.htm



If you are selling downloads, then the buyer does need to visit your E-junkie thank-you page in order to claim their download, so you could just add the GWO conversion tracking code to your E-junkie thank-you page customization field(s):

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.custom.thankyou-page.htm



If you are not selling downloads, I don't know if GWO can be made to work with Google E-commerce Tracking, but if it can, you could make Google Checkout your sole payment method, which would automatically be able to transmit all checkout data to Google E-commerce Tracking, so all your conversion tracking would be done from Google's end without relying on the buyer proceeding to a conversion page after checkout. You could combine that with Authorize.Net for a card-based direct-payment method, and in that case we can auto-redirect the buyer to your thank-you page after checkout. Checkouts involving PayPal, however, leave the problem where buyers who pay on PayPal's site cannot be auto-redirected to a thank-you page, so unless you're selling downloads (which give the buyer a need to visit that page at some point), conversion tracking with PayPal checkouts would be inherently inconsistent.

cpi
Jan '10
E-junkieGuru

If you are selling downloads, then the buyer does need to visit your E-junkie thank-you page in order to claim their download, so you could just add the GWO conversion tracking code to your E-junkie thank-you page customization field(s):

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.custom.thankyou-page.htm





Thanks for the reply. Regarding the quoted statement, I didn't even think to try this, as I figured the step in the middle (going from my site, to paypal's checkout process, to the e-junkie download/thank you page) would cause the tracking to get thrown off somehow.



I mean, I'd figure a conversion would still register, but would GWO still be able to track how that conversion was reached (like which landing page variation it came from)?



Assuming the answer is yes (in which case, sweet!), what do I put when GWO asks me for a "conversion page url?"



Thanks again.

E-junkie_GuruWebmaster & Support Guru
Jan '10

We're no experts in GWO, but I think as long as you have the tracking code in both your sales page (where the tracking cookie would be set) and the thank-you page (where that cookie would be read), GWO should be able to make the connection as to which buyers started on which page and ended up converting. Really GWO support would be the better source to confirm if this works how I think it does.