# Goal

> What a goal is in web analytics, how it differs from an event, and how MIRA FIVE sorts goals into purchase, conversion and intent.

URL: https://mirafive.io/glossary/goal  
Updated: 2026-09-28

A goal is an outcome you decide to count, such as a purchase, a sign-up or a booked demo, so reports can show who reached it.

An [event](https://mirafive.io/glossary/event) records that something happened. A goal says which of those things count as success. Setting goals is what turns traffic reports into business reports: instead of pageviews per channel, you see sign-ups or orders per channel.

Most sites need two or three goals. A shop has the purchase; a software company has the sign-up and the paid plan; almost every business has a sign that someone is close to buying, such as a pricing page view.

## In MIRA FIVE

A goal is an [action](https://mirafive.io/glossary/action) with a role. Purchase decides who counts as a buyer and carries the revenue, read from the event’s `revenue` property or from a property the goal names, and shown per currency. Conversion covers other successes, such as a sign-up or a lead. Intent marks a sign that someone wants to buy, and the people who show it appear as high intent in People. Each goal has a page: who reached it, where they first came from and how long they took to convert. From there, “Test a change that moves this goal” opens a new [A/B test](https://mirafive.io/glossary/ab-test) decided by that goal.

## Example

The Acme Shop’s goal “Order paid” counted 138 buyers and €21,582 in the last 30 days, a 13% conversion rate, with a median of 10 days from first visit to purchase.

## Read next

### Guides on this

### [How long should an A/B test run?](https://mirafive.io/learn/how-long-should-an-ab-test-run)

How long an A/B test should run, planned before it starts, in whole weeks, with the smallest change your traffic can detect worked out for 2, 4 and 8 weeks.

### Related terms

- [Conversion](https://mirafive.io/glossary/conversion)
- [Action](https://mirafive.io/glossary/action)
- [Buyer](https://mirafive.io/glossary/buyer)
- [A/B test](https://mirafive.io/glossary/ab-test)

[All terms](https://mirafive.io/glossary)

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