Adwords Conversions – Difference Between “1-per-click” and “many-per-click”?

OK. I am getting quite a few  questions of late from people who seem a little confused by Google’s new conversion reporting in AdWords.  More specifically, they want to know:  “Which one do I use?”

The answer to that is, “It depends!”

Let me tell you a little story and break it down a bit…

It’s June,  a guy (let’s call him Bill) heads off to the pub on a Friday with two of his friends.

While there, they buy two rounds of drinks each, so 6 drinks per person (are you with me?).
So over the course of an hour they’ve consumed a total of 18 drinks between them and they head off home (in a taxi – they’re responsible).

Enter Google Conversion Tracking…  Here’s how this would all break down:

Conversions (1-per-click)  =  3
Conversions (many-per-click) = 6

Confused?

Ok well you see, Bill and his mates each brought two rounds in that session, so there are 3 converting “users/clicks” (i.e. ‘1-per-click’),  however in that session each converting user made 2 purchases (of 3 drinks) so there were actually 2 sales conversions per user (many-per-click).  Equaling 6 ‘many-per-click’  conversions.

Pheww!

OK Easy right? Well the thing is, over the next 30 days (cookie expiration period) after that initial visit to the pub, Bill and his friends came back 3 more times and drank the exact same amount.

On the 3 visit they also filled in a form with their email address to go in the draw to win an extra large stuffed donkey!

So, what do the Google AdWords conversions look like now???

Conversions (1-per-click)         =     3
Conversions (many-per-click)    =    24

See where we’re going? 3 ‘users’ bought 24 drink rounds over the 30 day period!

- 3 Converting users  (‘1-per-click conversions’).

- 24 Sales  (‘many-per-click’ conversions).

But… What about the competition ‘sign-up’?

Sign-up Conv. (many-per-click)    =    3

As there were 3 ‘sign-up’ events on the final visit, but still only 3 ‘1-per-click’ conversions over the 30 day period.

What Google’s new conversion tracking does not tell you is the number of actual products sold. i.e the fact that Bill and his friends drank 72 drinks over 4 sessions is not reported, only that the three of them were there, and made 24 purchases… But naturally there are other tools for that type of  measurement (Web Analytics anyone?)

Essentially, the new Google conversion reporting helps us, as advertisers, define value.  More importantly it helps us better understand the true value of a ‘click’ that we get from our AdWords campaigns.

To Sum up:

There is no black and white answer to the “Which conversion metric do I use?” question.

Ultimately it depends on the goals of the campaign and the conversion / success events you’re measuring.

If you’re doing direct response, lead generation, email list building, etc, with little follow-up or anything additional to sell, then chances are that the metric you care about most is the top line conversion, 1-per-click. i.e. did that click result in a converting user?

However, if you’re selling products or services, or doing lead generation in the classifieds space (jobs, real estate etc.), or 101 other possible events,  then these new metrics allow you to understand not just ‘did that ‘click’ convert’, but did they actually convert multiple times over the following 30 day period.  How valuable was that initial click in the broader sense?

Essentially it is a very useful measure in understanding, and calculating, true value per click and other ROI based metrics.