Counting Conversions and Assists

Posted by Melanie Phung on Sunday, August 6, 2006 at 12:51 pm

New research by search marketing firm 360i and paid search provider SearchIgnite examines search behavior leading to conversions. According to their research, 37.3% of transactions were completed with at least one “assist” click prior to the click that resulted in the sale. However, “many marketers are looking at the last click before a conversion and crediting it entirely. Most ‘assists’ are being ignored,” said one of the study’s authors.

The study also shows that searchers were more likely to start with a paid result and convert after a click on a natural result. That scenario accounted for 12.6% of conversions credited to natural search results, more than twice as many as natural-to-paid paths produced,” according to the ClickZ article about this study.