Web Site Conversion Optimization
One of the most common performance goals of web site owners is to improve the conversion rates. Before designing a new web site or writing new content, I like to spend a little time reviewing the web site analytics. Here is a quick look at my process for performing a Web Site Conversion Recommendation:
1. Analytics Software. The web site needs to using a web analytics program. This post is not intended to be a review of multiple web analytics software, but I will mention there are basically two types of analytics software. The most common type uses a javascript file, i.e. Google Analytics, that is placed on the web site and reports back through a hosted service. The other type of software, i.e. Webtrends or Clicktracks, analyzes web log files for most web servers, such as Apache or Windows. The .js files are usually easier to configure and will immediately start providing web analytics. The log file software can require a little more work to get setup and configured, but provide the additional benefit of being able to look backward historically for web analytics eliminating the need to wait a few days to start identifying relevant trends
2. Conversion Tracking. Different analytics programs will use different labels for conversion goals, but the basic premise is to identify a page on your site that indicates a successful conversion. Most programs will allow you to setup multiple goals and assign different success values to each goal, usually defined in an dollar amount. The most common example of a conversion, or goal, url is a /thank-you.html page that is displayed to the visitor after they complete a lead form, sign up for a newsletter, request more information, or purchase product online.
3. Site Conversion Rate. The first item to note is the overall site conversion rate. If the goal is to improve the conversion rate, I would first need to know exactly what the conversion rate is for the current site. Not only would I look at this overall conversion rate, but I would look for any type of trend. Is the conversion rate improving or getting worse? Does the conversion rate follow a weekly pattern? Almost every web site will have some type of conversion trend, identify and see if you can make the trend your friend.
3. Acquisition Sources. Once you know the site conversion rate, you can use it to compare against various acquisition sources. For my standard process, I want to look at several different acquisition sources: a) Direct traffic, visitors who either directly typed in your domain name or could not be attributed to a source b) Referred traffic, visitors who clicked from another site c) Search traffic, both organic and paid. The key is to compare each general acquisition source conversion rate against the web site conversion rate and identify points of weaknesses and trends in acquisition source. Once identified, drill deeper into the referring site, paid search campaign, or organic keyword.
4. Actionable Items. At this point, I am starting to uncover items that could be addressed to improve the overall conversion rate of the site. The key is to start creating a list of actionable items on the web site that will later be prioritized for your Web Site Conversion Recommendation. I usually identify the tasks using both ease of implementation and expected performance lift using a grading of 5 (easy) to 1 (hard) along with 5 (high expectations) to 1 (low expectations) to help the web site owner prioritize the reccommendaitons.
5 . Bounce Rate. For each acquisition source, I will look for higher than average bounce rates (people who only viewed one page and left) to identify low quality traffic sources that will almost surely have low conversions. In most instances, low quality traffic is easier to identify using the bounce rate metric than the conversion metric. There are many reasons for low conversions, there is usually fewer reasons for a high bounce rate. If an acquisition source has a high bounce rate, I look for ways to alter the traffic pattern which is much easier for advertising campaigns and paid search. If a particular page, or set of content, has a high bounce rate, I would recommend new content or new messaging to engage the visitor.
6. Click Stream. Most web analytics will allow you to overlay click patterns on the actual web page giving you a quick and handy view of the page hot spots. I will start at the home page and watch for several traffic patterns. The first traffic pattern I look for is the ‘Most Used’ path trying to determine if the web site is designed around visitors are actually doing on the web site. Many web sites are organized around how the web site owner or developer things, not the way the web site visitor thinks. Second, I look for click stream confusion which is usually shown in circular clicks meaning that someone goes down one path, but then backs up to either the last page or clicks to the home page. Finally, I look for click stream that supports the conversion goal where I try to identify pages and paths that correlate positively to successful conversion.
7. Conversion Funnels. Most sites have some type of funnel process that leads to successful conversions as most web visitors will not simply complete a conversion without collecting some type of information. In addition, most web sites have a 2, 3, or even 4 step process that ultimately defines the conversion and by looking at the whole conversion funnel, I can look for bottlenecks in the page navigation that does not look normal. For example, if a high number of web site visitors do not complete the 2nd of a 3 step process, that tells me to have a deeper look at the 2nd step of the conversion funnel.
8. Conversion Forms. The Web Site Conversion Recommendation process ultimately leads me to the actual page that needs the most improvement. I immediately look for several key items including: a) clear and compelling explanation for the ‘conversion’ b) the exact reason why you need each piece of data requested in the ‘conversion’ c) an understanding of what will happen after the ‘conversion’.
9. Other Notes. In addition to these tactical items, I also am reviewing the overall design of the website, the load time of pages, asking to review error logs, talking to the marketing guys, and watching out for a handful of other items that might end up in the Web Site Recommendation.
The end goal of the Web Site Conversion Recommendation exercise is to identify actionable items that can improve the overall performance of the web site. When most internet marketing experts are asking to improve sales and marketing, they tend to recommend new traffic sources, improved rankings, or a new web site design. However, one of the first steps could simply involve optimization of your current advertising, web site content, and conversion forms. Hope this helps.
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