Digital Analytics: Unlock Site Secrets Like a Boss

Understanding how your business is doing is key to success, no matter if you’re dealing in coins or website clicks. Traditionally, businesses tracked sales and customer interactions. Today, there’s a flood of data available online, and it can be overwhelming. This guide will simplify digital analytics for you using a relatable analogy.

Your Website: A Digital Store

Think of your website as your online store. Digital analytics are like tracking foot traffic and sales in your physical store. You can see how people interact with your products and displays online, just like you would in a brick-and-mortar shop.

Website Visits: Not Just Window Shopping

Imagine you’re at a farmer’s market, keeping an eye on your shop. Impressions are like those moments when someone glances at your shop from afar. They might not have come for you specifically, but they’ve noticed you. In the digital world, impressions count how many times your website, ad, or social media post is seen. Remember, they haven’t taken an action yet but they now know you exist and are a part of their experience.

Clicks: Taking an Interest

Now, some customers come to your shop after seeing your products or ads. These are like clicks or visits on your website. They show potential customers are interested in exploring further. Click-through rates (CTRs) tell you how effective your marketing is by showing the percentage of people who click on your ad or post after seeing it. A high CTR means your content is menarik (interesting) and makes people want to learn more.

Conversions: Making a Sale

In a store, a conversion happens when a customer puts something in their basket to buy. In the digital world, you can track how many people add items to their online cart but don’t check out, and how many complete the purchase. Conversions are your ultimate goal – they show a high level of interest and a willingness to do business with you. By tracking conversion rates, you can see how well your marketing campaigns are working and identify areas for improvement. Once you get an understanding of how you are doing with regards to this metric, you can take more advanced steps like analyzing cart abandonment, when people get gunshy and opt not to complete the sale, and bounce-back strategies to bring those that bought from you once back time and time again. Also, as a pro-tip, don’t let the conversion percentage get you down. You might be surprised to learn that the industry average is 4-6% of all visitors actually complete a transaction. So if you look at that and think you are failing, know that the best of the best of the biggest sites you can think of still only convert about 5 in 100 customers. The fun now comes in trying to figure out just what the heck the other 95 were doing on the site, which is where the next section comes in.

Engagement: How Deeply People Dive

Digital analytics go beyond just clicks and conversions. They also show you how visitors interact with your website content. Engagement metrics like time spent on a page, how far they scroll down, and bounce rate (how many people leave right away) show you how interested visitors are in what you have to offer. High time on page means your content is engaging, and a low bounce rate suggests visitors are finding value.

Bounce Rate: Not Always a Bad Thing

Some people might argue about how important bounce rate is. It tracks how many people visit a webpage and then leave without interacting. Think of it like people who enter a store, browse a bit, and then leave. While some might pick up an item to try on, those who “bounce” from a website didn’t find anything interesting and moved on. The standard bounce rate varies by industry, but it’s usually around 40-50%.

Instead of being discouraged, use this as a chance to reflect. Ask yourself how visitors found your site and why they came to that page. What can you improve to make your content more engaging? The bounce rate can be a helpful starting point to improve your website strategy.

Click-Through Rate: Going Beyond the Click

Click-through rates (CTRs) are like the percentage of customers who enter your store, pick up an item, and take it to the dressing room. This involves looking at the product, seeing if it works for them, and deciding what to do next. Some might even add it to their cart, but CTR doesn’t track purchase intent specifically. It’s part of the bigger picture. Again, the standard CTR varies by industry and campaign type, but it’s typically around 4-6%.

Understanding Your Customer Journey

Marketers talk about getting customers “down the funnel.” This funnel represents the steps a customer goes through before buying something. Tracking their progress through the funnel is crucial for making your website work better and improving conversions. Let’s break it down with an example:

• People who walk by your store: Measured by Impressions (1,987)
• People who enter your store to browse: Measured by Clicks (119)
• People who browse but leave without buying: Measured by Bounce Rate (23)
• People who browse, pick up products, and head to checkout: Measured by Clicks/Goal Tracking (73)
• People who complete their purchase: Measured by Clicks/Goal Tracking (70)

Now, let’s calculate some key metrics:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): 5.9%
• Bounce Rate: 19%
• Conversion Rate: 58.8%

These metrics show valuable insights into how customers move through your sales funnel, helping you improve your marketing strategies.

Time for Your Homework

All of this may sound great and read well, but the reality is it won’t really stick until you actually roll up your sleeves, open up your analytics, and try to translate the numbers into a story of activity. To help you get started, here are some questions for you to answer about how your own business is doing.

1. Do you have analytics such as Google’s free Google Analytics installed and activated on your website? (If not, do that as soon as you can. You can’t diagnose a patient without vitals.)
2. Either review the latest report you received or open the tool and review last’s performance and compare it to a like period such as the previous month or previous year.
3. Do you see numbers with green arrows showing improvement? Do you see numbers with red arrows showing declines?
4. Do you know why they went up or down?
5. What are you going to do about it?

If the answers to any of the above are “I don’t know,” then schedule a conversation with KeyBuzz Digital to review your metrics and see how we can help you better understand the story that the numbers are telling you.