5 important website metrics you need to track

Website analytics tools that you should use

In the past, business managers only relied on IT departments to analyze data and answer important questions. The biggest challenge with this is that it demanded constant access to power users with a good understanding of analytics tools. In addition, using multiple data sources came with lots of technical complexities. 

Cloud analytics tools have changed everything. They have promoted efficiency in decision-making processes.

There are lots of analytics tools, and they all have different features. When trying to choose the right analytics tools for websites, consider the following:

• Your business objectives
• Visualization and user interface
• Mobility

Website metrics that you need to keep an eye on

Here are a few of the most important website metrics to track. 

Visitors

Always pay attention to the number of unique visitors to your website. You can determine the number of visitors to your site last month, last week, or during a specific timeframe. 

Unique visitors are individual people that come to your site. It doesn’t matter how many times they come back. If, for example, one person visits your site once and the other one visits three times, you only have two visitors. However, you have four visits.

The numbers help you understand your audience size. You can use them to determine how many people you reach at any time. As you improve your marketing efforts, you must know if they are working. 

Tracking visitors to your site is critical if you are big on offline marketing. Once you figure out how to track unique visitors, you can start paying attention to repeat visitors. If the number of repeat visitors is increasing, people may be coming back to read or shop. This means that your website is not only inviting but also relevant.

Exit pages

Exit is when users visit a site and leave without doing much. Naturally, some pages on your site will have a higher exit rate than others. The order receipt page is likely to have a high exit page. When visitors get to the site, they have already completed a purchase. 

If you have a high exit page, it is probably because you aren’t delivering the most relevant information. You would be wise to take a step back and change the nature of your content. Ensure your target audience receives the information they want when visiting your website.

Referrals

Referrals are some of your best marketing tools. As you start to understand the number of visitors to your site, you must start thinking of where they came from. A referral report will give you some answers. 

Referral can track your users when they click on links. The links may be on other sites, search engines, or other blogs. Referral reports may also indicate the number of visitors coming from various social sites. 

Knowing your traffic source makes it possible to channel your efforts to the right avenues. If, for example, most visitors know you from social sites, you can streamline your social media campaigns to suit their needs. 

Referrals reports are also great for identifying other blogs and companies that you need to create stronger relationships with. They are the sites from which you could be getting a lot of traffic.

Bounce rate

Bounce is when visitors come to your site and click on the close button or close the browser tab right after. Usually, this means that users were unable to find whatever they wanted. 

This is the same as someone getting into the front door of your business, looking around, and walking out. In some instances, visitors may have opened your site by accident. It is, therefore, impossible to maintain a zero percent bounce rate. 

However, it would be best if you kept your bounce rate as low as possible. Find out why visitors are leaving and address the problem. Every business leaving your site is a lost opportunity.

Conversion rate

This is probably the most critical metric to measure. It refers to the percentage of visitors meeting your website’s goal. These goals include viewing a page on the site, completing your purchase, and filling out a contact form. 

Tracking your conversion rate means tracking your site’s success. You are probably attracting the wrong visitors if you have a low conversion rate.

It could also mean that your site isn’t convincing enough to keep visitors around. You may also find out that something on the site is broken. If your ‘add-to-cart’ feature isn’t working, you may notice a drop in sales.

Conclusion

Tracking your website data is very important and luckily, it is a lot easier than ever. There are plenty of data analytics tools to help your business. They can help you track conversion rate, visitors, referrals, and other essential metrics.