It’s about asking questions
The more I learn about user experience, task completion, conversion rates, web design and digital marketing as whole, the more I find that web analytics plays a commanding role in improving these areas. I’ve always recognized the importance of seeing page views, unique visitors, bounce rates and traffic sources, but recently I have realized that this figures give you much more than the paths users take on your website. Most webmasters look at their Google Analytics data, and say “hey, that’s cool, we have 12% more traffic this month than last month”. The most important thing to do when your staring at your analytics dashboard is to ask questions. Why is my bounce rate so high on this page? How come Google is such a low % of my referring sites? How come we got some many visitors this month?
A confused user that bounces off your website in the shopping cart process because he is lost, may never come back again, so it is important to continually improve your website based on your analytics data and continually analyze your analytics data.
Web analytics gives you an idea of what is wrong and its up to you to fix it. Think of web analytics like you are driving on a trip to the mall with an oil leak . Perhaps you take a few wrong turns, but then get back on track and ultimately arrive at the mall. With this information, the owner of the mall might say “hey, its cool that it took you 12 minutes to get here and that you were driving a toyota prius”. But if the owner started to ask questions like, why did you make wrong turns on those particular streets? Are the street signs too small? Should we add signs saying the mall is straight ahead? Is the road optimized for Toyotas? How many cars are there versus bicycles? With this information, you will see that you can improve the experience to drive to the mall which will give you a more positive experience.
Do not take your Google Analytics for granted. Keep checking and keep asking questions, because don’t forget, your website is not for you, it is for the user. So it makes sense to optimize your website not the way you think it should look and feel, but based on how to make it a good experience for the majority of your users. That way,the web will be a much happier place.
The more I learn about user experience, task completion, conversion rates, web design and digital marketing as whole, the more I find that web analytics plays a commanding role in improving these areas. I’ve always recognized the importance of seeing page views, unique visitors, bounce rates and traffic sources, but recently I have realized that this figures give you much more than the paths users take on your website. Most webmasters look at their Google Analytics data, and say “hey, that’s cool, we have 12% more traffic this month than last month”. The most important thing to do when your staring at your analytics dashboard is to ask questions. Why is my bounce rate so high on this page? How come Google is such a low % of my referring sites? How come we got some many visitors this month?
A confused user that bounces off your website in the shopping cart process because he is lost, may never come back again, so it is important to continually improve your website based on your analytics data and continually analyze your analytics data.
Web analytics gives you an idea of what is wrong and its up to you to fix it. Think of web analytics like you are driving on a trip to the mall with an oil leak . Perhaps you take a few wrong turns, but then get back on track and ultimately arrive at the mall. With this information, the owner of the mall might say “hey, its cool that it took you 12 minutes to get here and that you were driving a toyota prius”. But if the owner started to ask questions like, why did you make wrong turns on those particular streets? Are the street signs too small? Should we add signs saying the mall is straight ahead? Is the road optimized for Toyotas? How many cars are there versus bicycles? With this information, you will see that you can improve the experience to drive to the mall which will give you a more positive experience.
Do not take your Google Analytics for granted. Keep checking and keep asking questions, because don’t forget, your website is not for you, it is for the user. So it makes sense to optimize your website not the way you think it should look and feel, but based on how to make it a good experience for the majority of your users. That way,the web will be a much happier place.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice summary of what we think about analytics, too. Trying to make that happen is a bit harder. I’ve been looking to create discovery tools that give more of a sense of what’s happening on a site, with less of a focus on the numbers (although they’re still there, in the background).
Unfortunately that means lots of experimenting and visual programming. The web is good with text. The visuals (and any custom visual) still have a long way to go.
(Sorry for the double post. I got my link wrong. Love to hear what you think of what I’m doing.)
Nice summary of what we think about analytics, too. Trying to make that happen is a bit harder. I’ve been looking to create discovery tools that give more of a sense of what’s happening on a site, with less of a focus on the numbers (although they’re still there, in the background).
Unfortunately that means lots of experimenting and visual programming. The web is good with text. The visuals (and any custom visual) still have a long way to go.