Is your company website using a website analytics program to track vital visitor statistics?  I sure hope so… but unfortunately many business owners have never been advised of the benefits related to tracking this information.

There are many different  reasons every website owner should be utilizing an analytics package… here are just a few of the big ones:

1.  It shows you what works, and what doesn’t work

By tracking website visitor information such as number of website visitors, amount of time spent on each individual page,  and the exact keywords visitors searched for to find your website you are able to learn a good deal of information about what works.

For example, if your site sells industrial fans you will be able to see the exact keyword phrases visitors searched for in Google and the other main search engines to get to your site.  This will tell you if the keywords you are focusing your marketing efforts on are actually delivering the results you intended.

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2. It provides insight into opportunities you may have initially overlooked

Another valuable benefit of using website analytics software is the ability to find opportunities you may have not previously thought of.  It never fails, every time I setup and monitor a tracking package for a client or a personal website of mine, after a few weeks pass I always find a few keywords that I initially overlooked.  When you are able to see the exact keywords that are driving traffic, you are able to adjust your marketing efforts accordingly, ultimately leading to a more efficient and cost effective online marketing strategy.

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3. It shows you where you have opportunities for improvement

A great opportunity that comes out of tracking is the ability to diagnose “problem areas” and “tighten up” the conversion process.  For example, when studying your analytics reports you may find that 30% of  site visitors exit your website on the first page of your checkout process.  This tells you that there are numerous opportunities for split testing different variables to get this “exit rate” down to a more acceptable figure.  This ultimately leads to more sales / leads.

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4. It’s cheap

Installing a web analytics program to your current website is rather inexpensive in comparison to other site optimization methods.  There are free analytics programs like Google Analytics available that allow for do it yourself installation and monitoring, though you will get the best results having an online marketing professional manage your analytics and testing efforts.

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If you have any questions about how to set up website analytics on your website, feel free to contact me

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According to an e-tailing group survey, nearly 60% of e-commerce retailers in the United States are experiencing shopping cart abandonment rates over over 20% so far in 2009.

Another study performed by Paypal and ComScore found that 45% of online shoppers in the United States abandoned goods in shopping carts multiple times over a three week period.  The study also found that the average cost of abandoned goods in each shopping cart totaled $109.

The Main Reasons For Shopping Cart Abandonment According To The Study

• High Shipping Costs: 46%
• Wanted to comparison shop: 37%
• Lack of money: 36%
• Wanted to look for a coupon: 27%
• Wanted to shop offline: 26%
• Couldn’t find preferred pay option: 24%
• Item unavailable at checkout: 23%
• Couldn’t find customer support: 22%
• Security concerns: 21%

How Can You Reduce Your Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate?

A high shopping cart abandonment rate is one of the most disappointing statistics to analyze as an Internet marketer.  So much hard work is put into bringing visitors to the site and taking them through the purchasing flow, it’s a real shame to see all that hard work wasted when a customer decides to leave your site without checking out.

To keep your abandonment rate at a minimum, make sure you:

• Offer multiple payment methods.  It’s important to offer all major credit cards, paypal and either an e-check or direct debit payment option.  Google checkout is another easy to integrate option that is increasing in popularity.
• Make sure your checkout pages include an icon that explains your checkout pages are secure.  Almost all SSL certificate providers offer the ability to add a clickable image on your checkout page that customers can click to verify your business details.
• Don’t over inflate shipping costs.  This may be an acceptable practice in late night infomercials, but its no longer tolerated by online shoppers.  When a customer finds the product they are looking for at a price they are willing to pay, an inflated shipping cost that doesn’t display until checkout is a slap in the face and a great way to lose potential repeat customers for life.

Shopping cart abandonment rates are an important statistic to be aware of and optimize for.  If you have any questions about how to track the rate of abandoned shopping carts, or what can be done to help lower the abandonment rate on your site leave a comment below.

According to Avinash Kaushik, the average conversion rate for websites in the United States is 1.74%.  Of course, depending on the products you are selling and the niche you are marketing to, conversion rates will vary greatly.

A site that sells flowers may see a conversion rate as high as 30% while a site offering cell phone ringtones may be happy with a conversion rate of 0.2%.

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The Top 10 Online Retailers By Conversion for April 2009

1. ProFlowers 42.8%
2. Vitacost.com 28.9%
3. Office Depot 25.0%
4. MetroStyle 24.5%
5. Woman Within 23.0%
6. Schwan’s 21.1%
7. CDW 20.8%
8. 1800Flowers 20.8%
9. Landsend 18.8%
10. Drs FosterSmith 18.30%

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Your site isn’t converting in the 20% to 40% range?  Don’t fret, it really just comes down to whether or your cost per customer acquisition and product margin are jiving.

The nice thing is that in almost every case with almost any website, conversion rate is something that can be dramatically increased as long as you are properly split testing  the appropriate page elements.

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Raising Your Conversion Rate Is Usually Easier And Cheaper Than Getting More Traffic
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Often times companies feel that the only way they can make more money online is by getting more and more traffic to their sites.  A lot of times it is much easier and more cost effective to work on increasing your conversion rate rather than going after more traffic.

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Here’s an example:

Company X sells widgets at a retail price of $50 and it costs $30 for the product and marketing costs leaving a $20 margin.  If company X gets 10,000 site visitors each month and is converting buyers at 1.5%, they end up with 150 buyers and a total profit of  $3000.

If Company X decides to split test pages and optimize their conversion process just enough for a jump in conversion rate from 1.5% to 3% 300 of those 10,000 visitors become purchasers bringing the total profit to $6000.

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The beauty of increasing conversion over increasing site traffic is that it only takes time or a one time cost if you hire the process out.  In our example those changes to the site that resulted in the jump in conversion rate only had to be done one time and they provided Company X an additional $3,000 per month going forward.

If Company X had decided to increase sales by increasing traffic instead of conversion, they would have to spend the extra time and money for all the additional traffic every single month going forward.

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Do you need help increasing your company’s conversion rate?  Shoot me an email with any questions you have.

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