Welcome to Maturing Web Analytics. This article is for everyone who, after reading Beginning Web Analytics, following the links, and setting up your own web analytics, now want to take the next step. You have plenty of data filtering in now, so the question becomes, how can I turn this data into profit?

Conversion Rate Analytics

There are a couple of answers to this question, most of which are contingent on the goals you set while configuring your analytics. But some of the most important data you need to watch has to do with your conversion rates. What are conversion rates you ask? Well, the conversion rate is the percentage of people who, upon coming to your site, download or purchase your products. This makes conversion rate one of the most telling indicators of how well your website is working, since it is directly related to your ability to sell your ideas. Whether your intentions are to make a profit selling through your online store, or to sell visitors on an idea, getting them to download your brochure, attend your conference or subscribe to your newsletter, conversion rates can tell you how well you’re doing.

Although conversions are not the be all and end all of eCommerce, they are certainly essential data. This is because conversion rate provides you with concrete evidence that your campaign is working (or not), and a general idea of how well it’s doing. After all, knowing our conversion rates before and after you start buying ads on a certain site can allow you to calculate how effective your advertising budget is, and if they go down when you decide to switch your ads to a different site, you’ve acquired yet another bit of hard, useful data. And while there are several reasons why you shouldn’t obsess over conversion rate, with enough micromanagement, it can help you improve the website experience for those who prefer to do their buying on the internet, rather than just research or job hunting.

What Effects Conversions?

However, in the process of not obsessing about it, it helps to remember that there are a number of concerns on your website that might effect conversion rate. It must be remembered that the internet is a land of misclicks and distractions, a factor which once computed in, can provide you with a great deal more confidence in that 2% conversion rate. Keep in mind that sometimes people click accidentally both to your site and away, that some people haven’t figured out tabbed browsing yet, and will use your window to check their back accounts before returning to buy, and that more than ninety percent of conversions happen offline. I know, this can be frustrating for those of you without brick and mortar retail stores, but don’t let it become discouraging. In the process of setting goals, remember to include micro conversions as well. If macro conversions are things like downloading your programs and purchasing your products, micro conversions can be used to measure how many times “contact us” was clicked, or “about us“, or jobs were applied for, or “print this page” was clicked, and the other signs that your site is being used for research, even if nothing was purchased. Someone interested in your site enough to research it is likely to come back, especially if you were convincing enough with your web copy, which will help you calculate your conversion ROI, which is every bit as helpful as the conversion data itself. After all, if you aren’t measuring the metrics that matter, you’re wasting time that could be used on more valuable metrics.

I’m sure at this point things are starting to feel a little complicated (and if they aren’t, congratulations!), but don’t worry. While tracking the various conversion rates can be difficult, it’s not any harder than following your favorite team. All it takes is a bit of time and practice before you’ll get it, and keep in mind that the web is a large, scary place, and if you keep in mind that even a 2% calculation can lead to a great deal of profit, depending on your average order value. But the obvious follow up question is, assuming I’m not obsessing, and have discarded extraneous metrics while incorporating necessary ones, how do I improve my conversion rates?

Improving Conversions With Web Analytics

Well, as we’ve already mentioned, web analytics is all about data. And now that you’ve got your conversion rate practices refined, you can start thinking about how you wield that data. Using this data, you can refine the processes on your websites, particularly when it comes to leads and the sales process. Consider that you check your data, and you find that an odd amount of people start the checkout process, but never finish (abandon the checkout). This could be a problem with your security loading speed, trust, your density of text, or even your safe words display being unreadable so they can’t checkout. Once someone has made the decision to buy, they’re close, but not roped in yet, so you need to make the checkout process as smooth as possible, and your analytics data should provide plenty of opportunities and insights towards improvement.

But if they’re not even getting to the sales page, then maybe the problem is with your sales copy. Thanks to your analytics and conversion rate, maybe your strategy for making a simple website with less professional copy, so as not to scare away the old ladies, is hurting your business, and it’s time to invest in someone to write better copy for you. Sometimes the right data can mean the difference between finding out whether you’re capable of being a one person band, or if what you really need is a slightly larger team. Checking the ROI of your analytics can tell you whether or not your investment in a copywriter will increase sales enough to cover the position.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

And after you’ve streamlined your checkout process, and written stellar copy thanks to a few late night courses on speech writing and psychology, if you still want to improve your conversion rates there are a few tips and tricks you can try. After all, you’ve found out that information is beautiful, and there’s no reason your customers won’t either. Show them how your products and ideas will improve their life, then assign them their own metrics, and study their conversion rates to see which charts, graphs, and graphics are the most effective. Save those, build more in their style, and use them in your advertising campaigns, where they can spread their impact across the entire internet. As you can see, the potential of an entrepreneur wielding a solid set of goals and data is limitless. And if you get stuck in the process, you can always come back to refresh your knowledge. Or just because you feel like there’s always more to learn, and places to improve.