We hear a lot of chatter about analytics and how they are important. Heck – we’re frequently part of the chatter. What we don’t hear often is why they are important. It’s wonderful to shout about tracking results and measuring success. We love charts and facts as much as the next business.
Why? Because numbers are something we can easily wrap our heads around. But at the end of the day, we need to know why those figures matter. Why did we spend time, energy, and money to collect them? In particular, website analytics are a great way to start tracking and see results.
Website Analytics Show You What’s Working AND What Isn’t
Successful businesses are not stagnant. They are constantly re-evaluating what is working and what is not. This is what analytics allow you to do. They are insight. They help your business identify where adjustments can be made to improve your business’ return on investment (ROI).
This is especially true when it comes to your website. Just as no two businesses are exactly alike, no two websites are exactly alike either. Different strategies and implementations work for different businesses. The trick is finding what works for your customer base by tweaking and upgrading your site as necessary to meet their needs.
Analytics allow you to do this by showing you where customer engagement is happening and where it isn’t. You don’t have to guess if a new landing page will increase conversion rates; you can test it, see how people are responding, and then make revisions. Analytic software can track practically anything. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Unique Visitors – Number of new people who visit your site.
- Return Visitors – Number of people who come back to your site.
- Sales – Number of people making a purchase, size of purchase, frequency of purchase, etc.
- Bounce Rate – Number of people who visit your site and leave without viewing other pages.
- Click Throughs – Number of people who navigate to another page.
- Leads – Number of people who opt in to a service of some kind, such as an e-mail distribution list.
Don’t Get Bogged Down In Analytics – Set Goals
With all the facts and figures you can track, it is easy to drown in data. But, getting consumed by your analytics can decrease your productivity and reduce your ability to make progress. The ultimate key to successfully utilizing analytics is to set clear goals. These might include:
- Increase leads through email distribution list signups
- Increase the number of people who call your business
- Increase local search rankings
- Drive discussion through your blog
Each of these goals correlate to specific analytics. This allows you to not only track and measure what is working, but adjust your website to improve results.
Throughout October, we’re going to keep exploring analytics including how you track them and how you interpret them.
If you have any questions, shoot us a quick email. We’d love to address them and determine the best ways to apply analytics to your website.
