We have set two new conversion goals on the Google Analytics view for the Mason core website (www2.gmu.edu):
- Undergraduate application click-throughs
- Graduate application click-throughs
In addition to setting these as conversion goals, I have set a conversion value of $1 for each of these goals. Note that this figure is not intended to represent an actual measurement of real value, but providing some value (rather than a value of 0) unlocks additional useful information in Google Analytics.
We are also planning to add additional conversion goals to track click-throughs to the various college/school websites.
Each college/school would get its own click-through goal, enabling us to track click-throughs to each college/school individually.
Why?
Although we can already see in the reports how many people are clicking-through to outbound links, including the online applications or the college/unit websites, setting these click through actions as conversions allows us to see conversion rates by traffic segment.
Assigning goal values to these conversions allows us to see see ‘page value’, which indicates how well individual pages are working to move users toward completing these goals.
For more information, see the post Goals and Goal Values: Case Study on www2.gmu.edu.