Overture Conversion Counter - anybody use it?

[heini]

As per title - anybody has positive/negative experience with this tool?

[dmorison]

I don't think coversion rate is information we should be too readily sharing with publishers - especially those with whom you only have a "casual" relationship.

Conversion rate is the one single statistic that leaks volumes about your setup and the viability of your business plan - it would be pure gold in the hands of a potential competitor.

Sorry that's not an answer to your post but it's something to keep in mind!

[heini]

Good point, thanks. I was asked to state my opinion about this new OV feature in comparison to third party tools, but am reluctant to sign up to try it out.

[canuck]

Speaking of Conversion Counter - the last few days I've seen my conversion % increase dramatically from the previous 2-3 weeks I've used it.

I thought my conversion was lower than expected previously, but now it seems quite high. Perhaps "Overture's cookie became a little loose" and is adding some of my Adword conversions or something...

Anyone else notice this?

[lachtzu]

I'm new to the tool, but it looks to me that it can only measure overall campaign conversion, as opposed to on a per-keyword basis. Is this correct? If so then that's my problem with it.

[seth_wilde]

"Is this correct?"

Nope, it can track on a keyword basis if you set it up correctly (you need to use their spreadsheet to create unique tracking URLs for the different phrases)

[hooloovoo22]

speaking of loose cookies...

My account ran out yesterday and I did not replenish until today. During that time that I had no impressions or clicks from overture but did had even more conversions than in previous days.

Seems a little suspicious.

[index]

that's because you have users who didn't convert when they clicked. They got some information and came back another day

[webdiversity]

We use another tracking method and notice that two to eight weeks after visits we are getting conversions, I am sure that we will get even longer periods than eight weeks but that is just the highest for now.

It's not suspicious, it's just life. 30 day cookies are not long enough in some sectors.

[cayenne]

I started using Conversion Counter this week and discovered that our cost per conversion is 6x what we see with Adwords.

Reason: the obvious - irrelevance breeds competition = more revenue for OV.

-c

[WebStart]

In answer to sharing this data with the search engine providing the coversion counter: first, FindWhat also provides a similar tool, and they claim it counts only FindWhat coversions, not others, but I have found the data provided from it, since I started using it 6 months ago or so, suspicious. Second, you can buy/rent/license your own tool from independent providers. I think most are reasonable in what they charge, and some quite good in the data they provide, and detailed reports they offer.

[dirkz]

Sorry if this is obvious, I don't use Overture: How can a third party track YOUR conversion rate?

[WebStart]

<Sorry if this is obvious, I don't use Overture: How can a third party track YOUR conversion rate?>

Same way any tracker does, if you use one, outside your own host's logs (like extreme tracker) and how your own host website logs track (or should track): they know where the clicks come from, which is the entry page, what pages they go to (path) and where they exit. The third party tracker I was talking about just adds some more code to calculate all that plus the value of the sale; and you put it on your shopping cart and actual "buy" page.

[dirkz]

what pages they go to (path) and where they exit

Ok, this is obvious, but how do you tell them when a sale happened? Do they just use the exit of the order form (which btw does not indicate that much)?

[index]

hi dirkz
For a simplified system like Overture's, you insert the tag on the order confirmation page or the thank you page, whatever page appears at the end of a transaction

(nb a transaction isn't necessarily a product being bought, it can be a sign-up to a newsletter, the acknowledgement of some information...)

For something like extreme tracker, you tag every page and the software shows you the user behaviour on your site.

Difference is: Overture will be able to track how many of your Overture clicks converted as well as which keywords converted, and extreme will be able to tell you the proportion of your TOTAL clicks that converted

But if you want to track ROAS (return on ad spend) then you have to give the 3rd party the transaction details which is a whole new story...

[dirkz]

Thanks index. To insert a tag At the end of a transaction is the point which I overlooked completely.

And welcome to WW!