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Measure conversions in Behavior Analytics with goals

Create an always-on Behavior Analytics goal, read its report, and understand how goals relate to Data Platform metrics and Metric Reports.

Behavior Analytics10 minBeginner
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#When to use this

You want to know how a business action performs on your site in general, not inside a test. For example, how many visitors who land on the homepage go on to click Subscribe Now. A Behavior Analytics goal tracks that conversion continuously, shows a conversion rate over time, and links to heatmaps and recordings of visitors who did and didn't convert.

#Goals, metrics and Metric Reports: which one applies to you?

Goals are the legacy way to measure conversions in Behavior Analytics. Wingify is replacing them with Metric Reports and Funnel Reports, built on Data Platform metrics:

  • New Data Platform accounts (created after Feb 25, 2025) don't have Goals. Use Behavior Analytics > Metric Reports instead. See Monitor KPIs with Metric Reports.
  • Existing Data Platform accounts keep Goals for a limited transition period. During the transition, existing goals keep collecting data, but you can't create new goals or modify existing ones. Migrate them (see step 6).
  • Accounts without Data Platform can keep using Goals until they move to Data Platform.

A metric (Data Platform > Metrics) is defined once and reused across campaigns and reports, and can count repeat conversions. A goal belongs to one goal report, is session-based, and counts at most one conversion per visitor per session. If your left menu shows Metric Reports but no Goals, follow the Metric Reports guide instead.

#Before you start

  • Your account still offers Behavior Analytics > Goals (steps 2-4 require an account where goal creation is allowed).
  • The Wingify SmartCode is installed on every page used by the goal (audience and conversion pages).
  • Goal data is sampled: it comes from the visitors included in Behavior Analytics sampling.

#Steps

#1. Open the Goals dashboard

Go to Behavior Analytics > Goals. The dashboard lists your goals. Use the right panel to search by goal name or URL, filter by status (Running, Drafts, Paused, Archived, Trashed) or label, and sort by creation or modification time. Pin the goals you check most so they stay at the top.

#2. Create a goal and pick its type

Click Create, then click the edit icon next to New Goal to rename it. From Select goal to track, choose one of:

Goal type Tracks You enter
Track Page Visits Visits to a URL or URL pattern The page URL
Track Form Submits Successful HTML form submissions The form page URL and the URL the form submits to (its action)
Track Clicks on Link Clicks on links pointing to a URL The page URL and the link's href
Track Clicks on Element(s) Clicks on any element The page URL and the element's CSS selector
Track Revenue Revenue from transactions The page URL, then install the revenue snippet
Track Custom Conversion Any event you fire with code (hover, AJAX success...) The page URL, then install the generated snippet

Tip: To get an element's CSS selector, right-click it in your browser's developer tools and use Copy Selector.

#3. Optionally segment the goal

Enable Select the segments for which you want to track goal performance to limit the goal to, for example, visitors from a marketing campaign or a given country. Pick a default segment or create a custom one. Click Next.

#4. Define the audience

In Enter URL of the page you want to define as audience, enter the page where the journey starts. The audience is every visitor who can potentially convert. For example, with the homepage as audience and a signup click on the pricing page as conversion, you measure visitors who land on the homepage and later click signup. Use the ADVANCED tab to include or exclude more URLs. Add notes and labels to find the goal later, then click Create and start the goal now or later.

For Track Revenue and Track Custom Conversion, copy the generated snippet into the page source, below the SmartCode. See Track revenue and custom conversions.

#5. Read the goal report

Open the goal and go to the DETAILED REPORT tab:

  • Filters: Date Filter (default last 30 days), User Segments, and Report Segments such as Goal Trigger Time (Day of Week or Hour of Day, in the visitor's time zone), Goal URL and Goal Revenue.
  • Goal Overview chart: the conversion rate over the selected period.
  • Goal performance metrics: unique visitors, unique conversions and conversion rate.
  • Heatmaps and recordings for visitors who converted and those who didn't, to see what differs.

To edit URLs later, open the goal's SETTINGS tab (AUDIENCE and CONVERSION sections). The vertical ellipsis gives Email, Print, Clone, Archive, Trash and Flush Data.

#6. Migrate a goal to Metric or Funnel Reports

Open the goal and click try migrating this Goal. Review the auto-filled Metric Name (suffixed migrated) and event, then click Create. If the goal uses an audience URL or pre-segmentation you want to keep, click migrate it as a Funnel instead: the audience URL becomes step 1 and the conversion URL step 2. Click Create, then Start Tracking.

Warning: Migration can't be undone and can't be done in bulk. A migrated goal starts collecting data afresh in its new report; old goal data stays available for your retention period.

#Check that it worked

  • The new goal appears on the Goals dashboard with the status you chose.
  • Perform the action on your site yourself, then check the report after data refreshes. Remember that goals are sampled, so your own visit may not be included.
  • For a migrated goal, the goal shows a migration message and the new report appears under Behavior Analytics > Metric Reports or Funnel Reports.

#Common questions

Why do my Metric Report numbers differ from my old goal? Goals allow one conversion per session; metrics count according to their type. A unique metric counts a visitor once in their lifetime; a sum metric counts every conversion, even within one session.

Do I need to change my custom conversion or revenue code after migrating? No. Existing snippets keep triggering the migrated Metric Report.

Two links on my page point to the same URL. Can I track them separately? Not with Track Clicks on Link, which counts both together. Use Track Clicks on Element(s) with each link's selector.

Will migrating affect my A/B tests? No, but you may want to switch those tests to the new metric.

#Learn more

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