+12 votes
by (1.3k points)
What's the best way to track conversions for a website that people go on and book right away. I have an Eyelash extension client and people go on the site and click the book button right away so the bounce rate is high. Should I put a tag manager on the button? or use the button url to count as a conversion? Thanks for any suggestions.  
What's the best way to track conversions for a website that people go on and book right away.

7 Answers

+5 votes
by (1.2k points)
You could consider something like HotJar to see how people are using the page. You can also see screen recordings manually so you may be able to identify an issue people are running into.  
+9 votes
by (4.8k points)
Yes Google Tag manager every time. You can install Hotjar through it too and it allows you to track Events which is much more versatile than the presets in GA
by (1.3k points)
@nila17365 great thanks. I always wanted to try hotjar. I guess if someone clicks the book now button and they are taken to the booking site there’s no way of actually knowing if they completed the booking. Correct?  
by (4.8k points)
You can set up cross domain tracking but it's a PITA. Easiest way is to set up booking thank you page that users return to once booked.  
by (1.3k points)
@nila17365 not sure how to do that but I’ll research it. Not sure if I can set up a thank you page since booking is done with a booking software.  
by (4.8k points)
What's the booking software called?  
by (1.3k points)
@nila17365 Vagaro
by (230 points)
@nila17365 Yandex Metrica, check it out
by (4.8k points)
@synagogue Advantages over Hotjar?  
by (230 points)
@nila17365 it’s free ‍♂️
+2 votes
by (4.2k points)
Depends on how it works. What happens when the user clicks the button? Are they taken off site? That shouldn't register as a bounce to begin with. Does the button pop an modal window with a booking form? If so, have the booking form go to a thank you landing page, again eliminating the bounce. In general, I would recommend tracking both the button clicks and the completed bookings. That will tell you how many people abandon the booking and give you a baseline for improving that process.  
by (1.3k points)
@deathly customers are take to a booking site. So that wouldn’t creat a high bounce rate if people are on the site for a couple seconds?  
by (4.2k points)
Nope. A bounce is very specifically when a user's first action is clicking the back button. Clicking a link, on site or off site, is not a bounce. You still need to measure button clicks against bookings.  
by (1.3k points)
@deathly probably a high bounce rate because she doesn’t have much content so people are not stay on the sight long.  
by (4.2k points)
@lamar that sounds a lot more likely. Get the tracking installed to figure out exactly what's going on with the users on the page.  
by (14.2k points)
@deathly "A bounce is very specifically when a user's first action is clicking the back button. Clicking a link, on site or off site, is not a bounce. " Yeah. that's not true. Clicking on a link that takes them offsite would be a bounce.  
by (4.2k points)
@boatload I stand corrected. I guess more accurately a bounce is a single session user where only one request is sent to the analytics server. So the users clicking the booking link are causing bounces.  
by (14.2k points)
@deathly Yep. Which really is not a big deal. Bounces are an indicator that there could be a problem, but in a case like this if that is where a lot of bounces are coming from, that is perfectly acceptable.  
by (4.2k points)
@boatload exactly. Yet another case when a high bounce rate could indicate that the page is working exactly as intended. All the more reason that Google does not consider bounce rate as a ranks and signal.  
by (14.2k points)
@deathly I wish more people understood that.  
+11 votes
by (2.2k points)
Redirect to thank you page after booking appointment. Install tracking on people that land on the thank you page
by (3k points)
This for sure for sure. Tracking button clicks can be used as a nother stage of the funnel.  
+8 votes
by (1.5k points)
Forget Hotjar, it's not necessary. Tag Manager. Have an event sent to Analytics on all button clicks, sending the unique id of the buttons as the label, all sharing the same category and action. Make sure you have cross domain tracking turned on if your 3rd party system is able to send conversion data back.  
+4 votes
by (5.9k points)
Check out smartlook as an alternative to hotjar.  
+4 votes
by (14.2k points)
Tag Manager will allow you to easily track button clicks, however if they are taken to a 3rd party site to then book an appointment, unless that 3rd party site provides analytics data, you won't know what happens after that. Not much you can do in that case though. You can only track what you can track. And I wouldn't worry about the bounce rate if it is just people clicking on the button to book an appointment. That's what you want to happen, so the bounce rate is pretty meaningless.  
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