When it comes to data-driven marketing, it's not enough to measure your performance — you also need to know how to translate your findings into action.
Today, we're taking a look at three common issues you may discover when analyzing your website performance metrics, and what you can do to improve in these areas.
Poor Conversion Rate
If your conversion rate is below your industry's average, it's likely for one of three reasons:
- You're making it too complicated. Consider your check-out process or your submission forms and look for ways to streamline the process.
- You haven't clearly communicated your value. Make sure your value proposition is apparent and easy to understand so visitors know why they should choose your business over your competitors.
- Your offer isn't competitive. Take some time to evaluate your competitors to determine whether your prices are too high or your products' or services' perceived value is too low.
Short Sessions or Low Number of Page Views Per Session
If visitors don't stay on your website for very long or don't engage with more than one or two pages per session, this could mean:
- Your message is off-target. Consider whether your messaging immediately addresses your audience's key challenges and pain points. If you only focus on your product or service's features without discussing the benefits for your audience, they're more likely to leave.
- You aren't providing an enjoyable user experience. Ensure your website is clean, user-friendly and easy to navigate, or visitors aren't likely to stick around.
- Your content isn't human enough. Keep in mind you're marketing to other humans. As The Startup suggested, put yourself in your customers' shoes and think about what would appeal to them. Consider writing content that's conversational or even humorous.
Low Traffic Volume
If you aren't receiving enough traffic to meet your goals, you may need to do the following:
- Improve search engine optimization (SEO). Be sure to do an SEO audit at least once a year (or more) to prime your website for the top spots of search engine results pages.
- Optimize your distribution strategy. Simply posting blog posts, videos and other content isn't always enough to earn traffic. Make sure you're also distributing this content by resharing on other platforms, such as social media.
- Boost your paid efforts. It's becoming more and more challenging to drive traffic via social media through organic efforts alone. If you aren't already leveraging social ads, it may be time to get started.
These are just a few common obstacles small businesses face through their digital marketing efforts, but analyzing website performance metrics can help you find areas of opportunity. The more often you review this data, the easier it will become to spot problem areas, identify the culprit, reach a solution, and increase your marketing success.
