Micro-Conversion.

A conversion is a predefined, valuable action such as an enquiry or a purchase. These main goals are also called macro conversions. Micro-conversions are the intermediate steps before them: watching a video to the end, visiting the pricing page, using a calculator, starting the form, tapping the phone number, downloading a brochure. None of them generates revenue on its own, but together they show how far visitors get on the way to an enquiry.

For SMEs, micro-conversions are especially valuable because main goals are often rare. A website with few enquiries per month delivers too little data to judge changes or evaluate an A/B test. Micro-conversions occur more often and show earlier whether a new page, new copy or a different button makes a difference. They do not replace the main goal; they make the route to it visible.

Technically, micro-conversions are captured like other events, via conversion tracking, a tag manager or your own measurement. In Google Analytics 4, important events have been called 'key events' since 2024. In Google Ads, micro-conversions can be set up as secondary conversion actions: they appear in reports but do not steer bidding. That is usually right, because optimising for call clicks or form starts brings more clicks, but not necessarily more customers.

The biggest risk is confusing them with real results. A call click is not a call, and a started form is not an enquiry. Reports should therefore show micro and macro conversions separately. And not every measurable action makes a sensible micro-conversion: scrolling halfway down a page says little, a click on 'See prices' says a lot. What counts is what demonstrably happens often before an enquiry. For phone calls, call tracking takes you from the click to the actual conversation.