You have a website, it’s been fully optimized, and it’s available for your audience to interact with. There’s just one problem: you aren’t quite sure if it’s doing its job in properly representing your brand and bringing in customers.
In other words, you want to learn more about website performance and how to make sure that it’s doing what it’s supposed to.
When you want to know how your website is performing online, there are a few important metrics to watch out for. However, sometimes it can be difficult to read those numbers and interpret them.
That’s going to be the focus of today’s article. We’ll highlight some of the biggest key performance indicators (KPIs) that you should be watching for when looking at your website’s analytics.
1. Unique Web Visitors
One of the first KPIs to look at is how many people are actually coming to your site. The way this works is that one person can view multiple pages, and it will still only show up as one visitor, giving you a more accurate (less inflated) idea of the number of visitors you’ve gotten on any given day.
It’s important to take these numbers with a grain of salt, though. Unique web visitors will give you a clear picture of website performance in that people are clicking on your website and finding it on the internet. It does not, however, tell you how many people are converted customers.
So, while it’s important to keep track of how many visitors you’re getting in a day, keep in mind that these visitors may not be particularly interested in your brand or products. At this point, you’re gauging the level of clicks you’re getting.
2. Conversion Rate
When people go to your site, do they sign up for your newsletter, or add items to their cart? Do they send you messages or download any of your free materials? If so, you can consider these visitors “converted” in that they’re interested in what you have to offer and want to learn more.
A high conversion rate shows that you’re doing something right with enticing your audience by bringing them to the site and using calls to action in order to get them actively engaged.
A low conversion rate means that you may have some work to do. You could consider looking into what part of the process people are leaving your page or when they decide to unsubscribe from your newsletter. Either way, it may be time for a change in strategy.
3. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate can be a great tool to measure website performance, but again, it’s important to take the information with a grain of salt.
Bounce rate refers to the number of times people enter your website and then leave without clicking on anything divided by the total number of sessions. However, just because your website has a high bounce rate (85 to 90%) doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective. Your homepage may just be particularly good at giving people the information that they need.
Length of Average Session
To get a clearer picture of what your bounce rate actually means, you’ll want to pay attention to how long visitors are spending on each page. If people are spending several minutes looking at your content and then leaving, you may consider adding more calls to action, or otherwise getting people to engage.
If people are leaving after a few seconds, though, you may be looking at a larger problem. Consider the user experience on your site. Is it intuitive and pleasing to look at? Is it easy to navigate? Are you using high-quality images and content? These are all questions that you now should be asking in order to keep people interested for longer.
4. Pages Per Session
A good way to check in on website performance is to consider how many pages each person is looking at when they visit your site. Are they looking at multiple blog posts and ultimately taking the next step of requesting more information (or whatever the case may be for your unique site)?
According to Spinutech, the unofficial industry standard for the number of pages visited per session is two. However, it’s a perfectly reasonable goal to aim for more, depending on the type of industry you’re in. It just may take some more strategic planning on the backend.
5. Exit Pages
At what point are people deciding to leave your website? Are there any particular pages that people are leaving more than any others? If so, you may want to look into why.
If the top exit page is the page that comes up after people sign up for your newsletter, it may not be something to worry too much about; they’ve done what you wanted them to do, and now they’re moving on.
Exit pages can be useful for determining particular areas of your website that need more attention. If there’s a page with poor responsiveness or that looks unprofessional, it could contribute to the exit rate and may need a bit more attention.
Again, time spent on the page can be an important factor to look at with this KPI. You may have an exit page that’s sticking out more than the others, but if people are spending time there and looking at your content, it may not be something to worry about too much.
Putting It All Together
Your website’s performance is essential for knowing how to adjust your digital strategy and better meet the needs of your customers. These are just a few of the ways that you can assess website performance.
At Vervology, we handle all of these metrics for you and put them together in a way that’s easy to read and makes sense for your unique business. If you’re interested in learning more about your website performance and how Vervology makes a difference, get in touch to schedule your free consultation.
And, if you found this article useful, don’t forget to share it with your colleagues.