Monthly conversion number changes when i look at it in different time ranges

[GulcinPa]

Hi all, hope someone can help me on this.

I have a conversion report, when I look at it in the time range of April only, it shows the correct conversion with the Month metric.
however when I change the time range to This Year - it shows all months, but the conversion rate of April (as example) and other months are shown completely different.

how can i trust this numbers to create a monthly view?

[MandyGeorge]

Does the metric that you're using for conversion contain any segments in it? If it's just the regular orders/visits, I would say that's really strange. But if you have segments involved, especially visit or visitor segments, that can definitely change what information is being calculated. Are you able to tell us more about the conversion rate metric that you're using?

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

Yes, I agree with Mandy... using Visitor based segments is particularly impactful, since it will look at everything the user did within the panel range.

For instance, let's say you have a segment that looks at:

Visitor [

    Page equals contest

]

And you want to see a conversion rate from viewing the contest page, to signing up for a newsletter.

Visit 1 (Jan)  - viewed the contest page

...

Visit 8 (Apr) - signed up for a newsletter

If you look only at April, this user wouldn't be included, they didn't look at the contest page in April, but if you change your range to "This Year", the action they took in January makes the user eligible, and the Newsletter Sign Up counts in your conversions.. making April inflated.

You also have to keep in mind, that if you are trying to use the Unique Visitor metric, you don't need to use a Visitor scoped segment... this is a common misconception.

If you share with us what you are trying to use, and what segments are being applied, we should be able to help you.