On the few occasions when we are away from our computer screen, we experience people through our senses: we can see them, hear them, touch and interact with them.
In the online space, physical in-person relationships give way to interactions with others through Websites, user generated content, mobile, social networks, virtual worlds, podcasts, and the list goes on. For business people, it’s important to adopt new methods to see, hear and listen to people online, so you can better understand how they experience your brand, products and services.
Web analytics allows us to observe and listen to our customers online. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, we use Web analytics to understand the seeing, hearing, touching and interacting that people do online.
Watch and Learn
It’s not enough to know where people go, that your site
has traffic (unique visitors, page views). What matters
is being able to understand that a page view is not a number,
but in a very concrete way, represents a customer’s experience. Analytics
allows you to understand whether the experience was good or bad,
resulted in a sale, or converted a loyal customer to a brand
ambassador. This understanding permits you to take action. Without
that kind of understanding, you’re either just looking
at a spreadsheet or flailing around in the dark.
- Quantitative analysis acts as your eyes and lets you observe customer behavior.
- Qualitative analysis acts as your ears and let’s you listen to what customers are telling you.
Together, these methods allow you insight into customer behaviour and to apply this knowledge to your business in a real way.
For example, due to a strong marketing budget, you have high site traffic but most people tend to leave immediately and few of them return because they didn’t have a good experience, or they didn’t find the information they were looking for or the functionality compelling or useful. A deeper example would be to segment customers and notice that people who find your Website from the RSS feed, knew what to expect from your site, loved it, stayed and bought. Without good analytics and competent observation, these happy people might have been lost.
More Observation, Less Guessing
Web analytics, when done properly, should allow you clarity on
users and their behaviours – to learn who is coming to
your site and what they are doing. By leveraging customer
insight, improvements and optimization can occur with confidence
or at least without blind optimism.
Web analytics is fantastic for unearthing “The Killer Tweak” – that one little service enhancement, or simple application functionality addition, or new product feature that makes a disproportionate impact on the customer experience by adding convenience, improving quality, or reducing cycle time.
Web analytics can also simply provide assurance - that Website performance is reflecting and meeting business targets.
Fine-tuning Your Web Senses
Web Analytics, as a practice, is evolving - it’s not about
watching numbers, it’s about watching people. The
numbers represent the customer experience and the better we get
at seeing that experience, the more real, the more productive
and effective your online initiatives can be.
Lastly, it’s important not to narrow our vision too much: user generated content, mobile, social networks, virtual worlds, podcasts, and video-on-demand have changed the Web experience. It’s not just about your Website anymore. It’s about the experience.
In July 2007, Nielsen announces it will favour time spent online rather than the traditional page views as the primary metric to gauge Web site traffic
Some things to consider once you’ve developed your KPI strategy and Analytics plan:
- Bounce rates and time spent may indicate interest level or resonance of message - Is the content clear or usable? Is it motivating the user to progress through the Website in a way that meets or exceeds your corporate objectives?
- Abandonment may indicate gaps or obstacles in the process - ie. if customers need their driver’s license to complete a process, warning them ahead of time will increase their preparedness and ultimately lead to higher conversion rates.
- Segmentation - allows you to identify which parts or sources of traffic are most valuable to you and learn who is using what features on your site.
About Mark
Mark Dykeman joined WebFeat in 2007 as an Analyst and Planner
having worked for some of the largest online companies and agencies
in Canada steadily since 1997. He holds two Master's degrees
from the University of Toronto: one in Political Science and
the other in Information Studies.
WebFeat’s Analytics Services can help you See, Hear and Listen to your customers more fully. Contact our VP Client Service, David Zbar for more information at dzbar@webfeat.com.
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