Winning Sales with Web Analytics 
Imagine a store that surveys every customer that walks in the door and follows them until they leave. Armed with information such as where the visitors are coming from, what products they pick up (and put down) and where they decide to leave, the storeowner could take what they learn and revamp the business’s marketing plan, rearrange the stock or redesign their store’s floor plan.
By taking advantage of all that Web site tracking has to offer, you get constant feedback on what visitors think of you and how they interact with your business.
Monitoring shoppers’ behavior in-store is close to impossible, but doing so on your Web site is your best weapon for success over the competition. By taking advantage of all that Web site tracking has to offer, you get constant feedback on what visitors think of you and how they interact with your business. It’s like round-the-clock usability testing, and its usefulness to your company can’t be overestimated.
Most Web site analytics packages offer the same fundamental features. With them, you’ll be able to gather valuable information that can help you tweak your site, tune-up your advertising, and attract—and keep—more business in the future.
These important basics include:
- Visitors and Page Views – Bottom line numbers on how many people are actually visiting your site and which pages they are going to
- Entry Pages – The first page a visitor saw on your site
- Exit Pages – The last page a visitor viewed before leaving your site
- Referrers – Where your visitors came from (affiliate sites, search engines, etc.)
- Search Phrases – Search terms engines use to find you
- Additional Statistics – These may vary to include the Web browser a visitor uses and their geographic region
How You Can Use The Stats
Search Engine Result Maximization
Just by looking at where people are coming from can help you to maximize your position with search engines.
If you find you’re getting more search-engine-sent visitors, you can easily revise your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy or search engine marketing (SEM) campaign. For example, if you have a number of smaller bids on various key phrases with Overture.com, you can find out which ones are really performing for you and where you can save money. Just by looking at where people are coming from can help you to maximize your position with search engines.
Online Marketing Monitoring
Use your referrer statistics to keep track of your other online marketing channels. Are your banner ads worth the money? If they’re not bringing in the traffic you expected, maybe it’s time to redesign or discontinue. Are significant numbers of people coming from a common, little-known source? It may be a complimentary business—and an opportunity for a future partnership.
Web Site Redesign
Where are people coming in? Where are they deciding to leave? Responses to both questions can help you shape your Web site. If the majority of your visitors are entering on a page other than your home page, perhaps you should consider a subtle introduction to your business on this page. If people are commonly jumping off your site from a similar page, perhaps there’s a technical glitch that needs fixing, or perhaps the content needs sprucing up. If many people leave during checkout, abandoning their shopping cart, your process may need some streamlining.
Advanced Tracking Analysis
In addition to basic statistics, your business may also benefit from advanced tracking reports.
These include:
- Revenue Tracking – Allows you to look at transactions and compares them with the visits and page view information
- Campaign Tracking – Gives you the big picture look at a whole campaign and reports on your return on investment (ROI). For example, although visitors may arrive from AOL or MSN, it will be due to your Overture.com campaign. This feature clears up confusion about what is specifically working in your marketing campaign
- Conversion Tracking – Shows you customer conversions such as submitting their information for site membership or signing up for your product newsletter
- Time Trends – Reports on patterns of traffic. You’ll be able to see if there are any trends in time of day or day of week for visits
- Click Paths – An invaluable statistic, reporting on real-time paths your site visitors take, allowing you to see if customers are flowing in the planned direction
The more you know about your customers, their habits, and preferences, the better you can plan your company’s strategy.
As the science and art of Web analytics evolves, its importance to the success of your small business grows as well. The more you know about your customers, their habits, and preferences, the better you can plan your company’s strategy. What’s the bottom line for your bottom line? Improved sales from your Web site can be as simple as looking at the numbers.
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