> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ishlabs.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Conversion intent

> An optional read of how a simulated audience leaned toward buying, signing up, or subscribing: how it is asked, how words become a scale, and what it does not claim.

A journey tells you where people got stuck. Conversion intent adds one more
question at the end: having been through it, would they take the action you care
about? It is an optional read of how a simulated audience leaned toward one event,
**buying**, **signing up**, or **subscribing**, and it is a direction to compare
versions by, not a forecast.

## Each person answers in words, not a number

A study opts in by naming the event in `evaluation_dimensions`. Each value adds one
open question that every participant answers after the run, alongside any other
[after-run questions](https://docs.ishlabs.io/concepts/assignment-questionnaire.md):

| Value | Question added | Card title |
| - | - | - |
| `purchase_intent` | "Would you buy this? Why or why not?" | Purchase intent |
| `signup_intent` | "Would you sign up for this? Why or why not?" | Sign-up intent |
| `subscribe_intent` | "Would you subscribe to this? Why or why not?" | Subscription intent |

The simulated person answers in their own voice, with the whole session behind
them. Nobody picks a point on a scale, so the read keeps the reasons and the
hedges behind each answer.

The question is kept in step with the setting: turn the event off and it is
removed, turn it on and it is added, and your own questions keep their order. It
does not appear among the questionnaire answers in the web app or in exports,
because its answers feed this read instead.

## From words to a five-point spread

ish turns each answer into a position on a five-point scale with **Semantic
Similarity Rating** (SSR), a published method (Maier et al., 2025). The answer is
compared by meaning with first-person reference statements written for each
point (for buying, from "There's no chance I'd buy this" at the bottom to a clear
yes at the top), across several sets of statements.
The result for each participant is not one number but a spread: how much of their
answer sits at each of the five points. Its mean falls between 1 and 5.

For each iteration, the participants' spreads are averaged into one, with its own
mean, and iterations are ranked by that mean. The mean also gets a plain label:
clearly wouldn't, leaning against, divided, leaning toward, or clearly would.

A participant with no answer to the question (someone who stopped early, for
example) is scored from their end-of-session summary instead. Working out the read
uses no generation, only the comparison by meaning, so it costs no credits and
gives the same result each time for the same answers.

## Two numbers for one read

The same read is shown two ways, and it helps to know which one you are looking at.

* **The 1 to 5 mean.** The raw result for each iteration, with its spread, band,
  and rank. This is what the CLI's analysis results carry and what a benchmark
  comparison returns.
* **The 0 to 100 index.** The web app's headline. It starts at 50 (balanced) and
  moves by half the difference between the share in the top two points and the
  share in the bottom two. It pools every iteration, weighted by how many people
  ran each.

Percentages in the breakdown are shares of the pooled spread, not counts of
people, so a figure like 4% can appear in a panel of ten.

## How many people a read needs

The web app shows no spread below 8 answers, and marks a read from 8 to 14 answers
as an early read. From 15 it is shown as a firm read. That is also the sample size
the run page suggests for a study that measures conversion intent.

## What it does not claim

* It is not a prediction of how many people will convert, and not a sales,
  sign-up, or revenue forecast. "12 of 20 would buy" is not a reading of it.
* It does not compare across different studies or over time. It is most useful
  between iterations of one study, where the panel and questions are the same.
* The shape of the spread carries more than any single number.
* The method's published reliability describes the method on labelled data, not
  ish's own output. ish checked purchase intent against labelled reviews; sign-up
  and subscribe intent have not been checked separately against real outcomes.

When a study also uses the [open gate](https://docs.ishlabs.io/concepts/feed-previews.md), only the people
who opened the content are asked, so the read describes openers.

## Where it is set and read

Conversion intent applies to interactive and media studies. The web app does not
offer it for chat studies.

| Surface | Turn it on | Read it |
| - | - | - |
| Web app | When creating the study: **Would they buy / sign up / subscribe?** in the "Also find out" section. One event per study. | The study overview, with the index, the breakdown, each person's answer, and a ranking when Compare is on. A share link shows it once an analysis has completed. |
| CLI | `--evaluation-dimension` on `ish study create`, `ish study generate`, or `ish study update` (repeatable; `update` replaces the list). | `evaluation_metrics` on each analysis result in `ish study insights --json`, after an analysis has run. |
| MCP | `evaluation_dimensions` on `study_create` or `study_revise` (pass `[]` to clear). | `study_comparison`, as `purchase_intent` per iteration. |

In a benchmark comparison, the `purchase_intent` field holds the 1 to 5 mean of the
study's first conversion event, whichever event that is. See
[benchmarks](https://docs.ishlabs.io/concepts/benchmarking.md).

Values are not validated when you set them: a misspelt event such as
`purchase-intent` is stored and produces no read. Use the values in the table
above exactly.

## Related

> [card] [Reactions and results](https://docs.ishlabs.io/concepts/reactions-and-results.md)
>
> The reported journey conversion intent is read alongside.

> [card] [Assignment and questionnaire](https://docs.ishlabs.io/concepts/assignment-questionnaire.md)
>
> The after-run questions the added question joins.

> [card] [Creating a study](https://docs.ishlabs.io/cli/generated/study-create.md)
>
> `--evaluation-dimension` on `ish study create`.


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