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How to track landing page conversion with PayPal

by dmckissick
3 replies
OK, for starters, I'm a newbie to selling online. I've got a WordPress site. I've written several ebooks that I've decided to try selling online. I'm familiar w/Facebook advertising (as I've done that in other pursuits).

I've installed WordPress plugin to sell them on my site. Have a PayPal account...linked it to the plugin just fine. Created a/b landing pages. Tested the sales process just fine.

Problem: I'm trying to setup "goals" in Google Analytics to track traffic and conversions of each landing page. Until I can do this and know it works, I wouldn't be able to tweak/optimize landing pages...and of course can't spend any money on ads, etc...

I think the issue is that the user leaves page on my site..goes to paypal...then back to my site...buy how does Analytics "know" that and give me good data?

Any tips? Either on that, or if I should use something other than Google Analytics for this?

Thanks much!
#conversion #landing #page #paypal #track
  • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
    Originally Posted by dmckissick View Post

    I think the issue is that the user leaves page on my site..goes to paypal...then back to my site...buy how does Analytics "know" that and give me good data?
    Why do you assume people leave, go to paypal and then return? Just curious. Seems to be an assumption since you're not tracking it.

    GA knows if you set it up so it knows. In this case, you would configure your paypal link so it's tracked by GA. You should do this anyway because some will/may click on your paypal link and ultimately not buy; similar to shopping cart abandonment.

    I have setup goals and tracking links in GA but had a hard time wading through Google's instructions. Be careful if you Google this to find tutorials from other people. Things have changed over the years and some instructions are outdated, though they still may appear high in the serps. I was able to finally get everything properly setup and successfully tested.

    Any tips? Either on that, or if I should use something other than Google Analytics for this?
    Thanks much!
    There are lots of tracking solutions on the web. May be a good idea to use the WF search function. There have been threads on this topic with lots of good comments, suggestions and recommendations.

    Ken
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    • Profile picture of the author dmckissick
      Re: going from my site to Paypal, I meant that, in order to properly track how the page converts, in Google Analytics I have to plug in the "landing page" url (as the starting place) and then the "goal page" (which is my "thanks for the purchase" page)...but PayPal is in between the two.

      I "think" I might have figured this out... I saw somewhere that you needed to 1) tell PayPal to "auto-return" to your site... and add some "utm" (?) extra code to the end of the URL...that prevents PayPal from getting credit for the referal vs. your originating landing page.

      Anyway, will see if that works.

      Thanks for the feedback.
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  • Profile picture of the author topnichewebsites
    You might want to look at Ad Trackz Gold

    Ad Trackz Gold - Ad Tracking Software - Easily track which of your traffic sources are effective.
    Signature
    http://pixelcovers.com/ <- eBook add eCovers

    https://www.unicommercesolutions.com <- WordPress Websites and Maintenance
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