Important Forgotten/Neglected Metrics

 

Since its release back in 2005, Google Analytics has been the most popular web analytics platform available.

It is one of the most important tools for anyone who has a website to enable them to measure their websites performance and success, as well as provide them with valuable information on how to improve their website and highlight its weaknesses and flaws.

Some analytics are favoured by website owners such as the number of visitors your website receives and how many pages they have viewed as they think these are the crucial points to determine their success, however here are four metrics that tend to be forgotten or neglected despite being just as valuable when it comes to measuring success:

1) Conversion Rate

This metric tells you if your website is doing its job. Many estate agents will ignore this metrics as an estate agency website will never make a direct sale from the website; however, a conversion doesn’t always mean a sale. It could mean registering to properly alerts, searching for a property, filling out a contact form, signing up to a mailing list, creating an account, etc.

Your website should have goals which you are monitoring. If your website isn’t achieving its goals despite getting thousands of users visiting it a month then it isn’t successful. If your visitors aren’t converting when they come to your website then something needs to be fixed.

2) Average Time on Page

This metric can tell us a lot. For example, if your visitors are on the page for a long time then they are engaged with the content. If they are only on for a couple of seconds then it might mean they didn’t find what they were looking for or it could mean the page was difficult to navigation.

You can make pretty accurate assumptions based on the time spent on page.

3) Visitor Flow

Your website should flow in a smooth and seamless way. You should have a route in place which directs your users through your website to the conversion page.

Monitoring your Visitor Flow is important as not every visitor necessarily follows the path you have set out for them. For one they may be accessing your website from a property listing rather than your homepage.

This metric will show you the paths in which visitors take to arrive at your intended destination. It can also tell us where a visitor leaves the website, so you can look into why people are leaving and fix the issue.

4) Top Pages

This metrics shows you which webpages are the most popular and you may be surprised by what pages are performing the best.

Knowing what pages are the most popular is important as it allows you to see what people are using your website for.

This information may help you optimise your more popular pages to entice your visitors convert or restructure your page to make it more valuable to the user.

 

You should always take the time to delve deeper into the data your analytics is providing you. Really think about what the metrics mean and how you can use them to improve your websites success.

Remember all websites serve a purpose; use your analytics to understand what is working for you and what isn’t. Always try to provide your customers with the best possible user-experience!