LinkedIn adds long-awaited conversion tracking for advertisers
Linkedin has launched a long-awaited conversion tracking feature for advertisers to monitor whether users make purchases after viewing adverts. Part of an internal technological overhaul, a spokesperson for the site said that although the social network had planned to include the feature a “long time ago,” it wanted to ensure the best use of its data set. The tool will also be available for Sponsored InMail soon.

The site rolled out conversion tracking for sponsored content and text ads on Thursday after a serious overhaul of its tech infrastructure.

At its most basic level, the feature lets marketers determine if a user converted after clicking or viewing an ad. The tool is not yet available for Sponsored InMail, but that’s coming soon.

In theory, deeper insights into conversion could help marketers identify factors influencing ROI.

For example, they may be able to determine that directors of product marketing convert at twice the rate as CMOs. LinkedIn hopes this capability will address broader marketing pain points beyond its own walls.

“We should have put [conversion tracking] out a long time ago, but we wanted to do it in a way that really took advantage of LinkedIn’s data set,” said Russ Glass, VP of products for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. “We wanted to make sure it was a universal pixel that laid the groundwork for more features to come.”

Another historical absentee from LinkedIn’s marketing tool set: retargeting, which Glass said will eventually run on the same infrastructure as conversion tracking.

“In the future, we’ll be hooking up all this conversion data to help marketers identify the most likely conversion scenarios,” Glass said. “[Instances] where we’ll see all the way down to revenue and into the CRM system and do more with that data. We’re not there, but I’m bullish about the potential.”

LinkedIn had to overhaul much of its marketing infrastructure and product strategy to support these additional features.