What Is Web Analytics
What Is Web Analytics
What Is Web Analytics
ANALYTICS
● Data collected through web analytics may include traffic sources, referring sites,
page views, paths taken and conversion rates. The compiled data often forms a
part of customer relationship management analytics (CRM analytics) to facilitate
and streamline better business decisions.
● Web analytics enables a business to retain customers, attract more visitors and
increase the dollar volume each customer spends.
● Determine the likelihood that a given customer will repurchase a product after
purchasing it in the past.
● Observe the geographic regions from which the most and the least customers visit
the site and purchase specific products.
● Predict which products customers are most and least likely to buy in the future.
● In addition to these features, web analytic may track the click through and
drill-down behavior of customers within a website, determine the sites from
which customers most often arrive, and communicate with browsers to track and
analyze online behavior. The results of web analytic are provided in the form of
tables, charts and graph.
1. Setting goals. The first step in the web analytics process is for businesses to
determine goals and the end results they are trying to achieve. These goals can
include increased sales, customer satisfaction and brand awareness. Business
goals can be both quantitative and qualitative.
2. Collecting data. The second step in web analytics is the collection and storage
of data. Businesses can collect data directly from a website or web analytics tool,
such as Google Analytics. The data mainly comes from Hypertext Transfer
Protocol requests -- including data at the network and application levels -- and can
be combined with external data to interpret web usage. For example, a
user's Internet Protocol address is typically associated with many factors,
including geographic location and clickthrough rates.
3. Processing data. The next stage of the web analytics funnel involves
businesses processing the collected data into actionable information.
This involves tracking, reviewing and reporting data to measure web activity,
including the use of a website and its components, such as webpages, images and
videos. Data collected through web analytics may include traffic sources, referring
sites, page views, paths taken and conversion rates.
Web analytics sits at the heart of any digital marketing campaign as it helps
understand visitors’ demographics, behavior, and interests. Using this information,
you can build more informed and impactful marketing campaigns and strategies and
scale your business faster.
Identify Your Stellar Content – Web analytics tools offer a precise insight into
which content garners the most attention. This information help in meticulously
analyzing and fine-tuning your web content for enhanced engagement. By
incorporating more calls to action (CTAs), links to make purchases, and similar
elements on your most frequented pages, you can elevate conversion rates. You can
also refurbish the most popular landing pages by infusing them with the latest
information or overhauling their design and structure to imbue them with a
rejuvenated and contemporary feel. Moreover, these factors help in producing the
type of content that captivates visitors, thereby bolstering engagement and expanding
your customer base.
Monitor Leading Referrers – With the help of website analytics, you can monitor
which sources funnel the most traffic to your business website, analyze this data, and
concentrate on formulating strategies to procure additional referrals from these
sources.
For instance, if your website gets most of its traffic through search engines; this
shows that your site's SEO is robust. With a slight augmentation in the effort, you can
bolster your website's online presence and attract unprecedented traffic.
Boost Website SEO – Website analytics bolster your site’s SEO in a plethora of ways.
When you understand the demographics and interests of your visitors, you have the
ability to craft content that specifically targets them, which in turn enhances your
visibility on search engines. Additionally, keeping tabs on your referrals is quick way
to glean insights on backlinks.
Thus, by presenting other business owners with outbound link reports, you can
demonstrate the synergy between the two businesses, making it easier to convince
them to embark on mutually beneficial partnerships.
Monitor eCommerce Metrics to Boost Sales – If you're in the business of selling
physical goods, software, or online services, familiarizing yourself with sales reports
is crucial. Fortunately, website analytics tools allow you to access a comprehensive
array of vital eCommerce metrics including total revenue, conversion rates,
best-selling products, and top referral sources, all consolidated in one report. Next,
armed with precise knowledge of who is funneling the most sales your way, you can
devise strategies to further increase those numbers.
Web analytics and data analytics are essential analytical tools, but they serve different
purposes and are used in various domains.
Data Analytics is a broader term and encompasses the analysis of any form of data,
not just web data. This can include data from databases, spreadsheets, business
systems, or any other source. It is used to discover patterns, correlations, and insights
that can inform decision-making across various industries and domains.
For example, in the HR sector, data analytics can be used to analyze employee data
for recruitment, performance, and retention. HR analysts might look at data from
various sources, including application tracking systems, performance reviews, and
employee surveys to gain insights into employee satisfaction, performance, and
turnover rates.
In the banking industry, data analytics plays a critical role in detecting fraudulent
activities, credit risk assessment, and customer segmentation. Banks analyze
transaction data, customer profiles, and historical trends to identify suspicious
activities or assess the creditworthiness of a loan applicant.
Web Analytics is a subset of data analytics that exclusively focuses on web data,
whereas Data Analytics encompasses a wider range of data sources and is applied
across various industries for different purposes. Web Analytics is typically used for
improving web performance and user experience, whereas Data Analytics can be
applied to a broad range of business questions and challenges in various sectors.
Understanding the importance of web analytics is one thing and knowing the most
important metrics to track and share with your customers and advertisers is another.
Depending on the analytics tool you choose, you can track dozens of metrics to
measure the performance of your website. You can club the possible metrics into
three kinds:
1. Acquisition-related metrics
Acquisition-related metrics gauge the ways in which you attract visitors to your
website, allowing you to comprehend who your visitors are and the means by which
they arrived at your site.
New Users: This counts the number of distinct visitors within a specific time frame.
Monitoring this metric lets you ascertain if your website is drawing in fresh traffic,
meaning individuals who are visiting your site for the first time.
Sessions: This encompasses all the interactions users have on your site within a
certain time period. Keeping track of this metric offers insights into the activities and
behavior of users during their time on your website.
2. Behavior-related metrics
Behavior-related metrics gauge the actions and patterns of visitors once they arrive on
your website. These metrics give insights on how users engage with your site,
highlighting aspects such as which pages they frequent, the duration of their stay on a
page, and the actions they undertake while there.
Bounce Rate: This metric keeps tabs on instances when a user lands on a page on
your website and then departs without initiating any further requests or interactions.
For instance, if a user stumbles upon one of your blog posts through a search, reads it,
but does not click on any internal links or engage in any other significant manner
before leaving, that user has “bounced”.
Exit Rate: This represents the frequency at which users depart from your website
from a specific page. By identifying which pages record the highest exit rates, you can
pinpoint the pages that require enhancement.
Pages Per Session: This is the average count of pages that users browse during a
single visit to your website. This metric serves as an indicator of visitor engagement
on your site. For example, a high number of pages per session suggests that visitors
are actively navigating and finding valuable content on your site.
Session Duration: This is indicative of the average length of time that users spend on
your site in a single session. A lengthy session duration is usually indicative of
visitors finding the content on the website engaging and pertinent, whereas a brief
session might suggest that the site isn’t meeting their needs or expectations.
3. Conversion-related metrics
Transactions: This metric furnishes you with insights regarding the count of
purchases customers make, the average monetary value of these transactions, and the
cumulative revenue stemming from sales.Revenue: This denotes the sum of money
your transactions amass. By monitoring this metric, you can keep track of the return
on investment attributed to your marketing endeavors and advertising campaigns.
Web analytics offers many possibilities to constantly develop ways of engaging with
your existing and potential users. But it also has a few disadvantages, both of which
will be examined here.
Identification: One of the major advantages of employing web analytics tools is the
capability to track who, when, and how visitors navigate through your website.
Beyond the sheer curiosity, this information is crucial for devising sales and
marketing strategies. It’s essential to know your audience!
Marketing ROI: You can leverage web analytics tools across various digital
marketing channels for your benefit. Even if your website doesn’t focus on
e-commerce, you’re likely to invest in online ads or email subscriptions eventually.
Web analytics tools can track these as well, making them an incredibly versatile and
user-friendly platform that ultimately supports a solid return on investment.
Sneaky Pricing: Generally, there are few downsides to using web analytics tools,
especially considering their cost-effectiveness. However, a few things are worth
mentioning.
Take Google Analytics as an example; it’s free, but sometimes that can be a
double-edged sword. Google might entice you to purchase an exorbitantly priced
upgrade.
Data Misuse: Certain data analytics tools might ask for information about yourself,
your company, and your visitors, which could compromise confidentiality. However,
this might be a trade-off you are willing to make unless you handle highly sensitive or
classified information.
Best Web Analytics Tools
Now that you know the importance of analytics and which metrics you should track,
you might get stuck on which tool you should use to track these metrics.
The market today is quite competitive with a number of promising tools available to
monitor your business’ performance. With the web analytics market size expected to
hit $9.11 billion by 2025, various small and big tech companies are offering tools that
boast of similar tracking features. To help you choose one that meets your
business requirements and helps it grow quickly in 2022 and beyond, we have curated
a list of the best tools:
Google Analytics – It is the big daddy in the web analytics business and the
most widely used tool. As a free tool, it offers deep insights into your website’s
performance and easily integrates with other marketing tools from Google including
Google Ads, Google Data Studio, Google Search Console, and Google Optimize.
Adobe Analytics - It is a paid tool but does pack all the bells and whistles. It
allows you to track the performance of your website from scratch using Tracking
Codes. Apart from web analytics, it also provides your team with actionable insights
from social networks. You can access data in real time and evaluate a customer’s
journey.
Open Web Analytics (OWA) – Another free tool, this has found its backers
among digital marketers. Apart from metrics that are trackable on other tools, OWA
offers a few interesting features such as page heatmaps and lets you track what users
click on a page.
SEMrush – If you wish to run compelling ads for your marketing campaign,
this is the web analytics tool for you. Apart from tracking the performance of your
website, you can track and gain insights into competitors’ ad campaigns.
Crazy Egg – This tool focuses on conversion rate optimization and A/B
testing. It provides visitor snapshots for you to understand and serve users in a more
personalized way.
Marketing CloudFX – MarketingCloudFX provides you with advanced
insight into the performance of your website. It lets you personalize the content for
different users and also transcribe phone calls which is an added advantage.
Kissmetrics – Kissmetrics enables you to track and analyze user engagement
on your website as well as social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Moz Pro – This web analytics tool focuses on helping businesses improve
their SEO strategy. It has one of the best keyword explorer tools in the market and is
popular among SEO strategists.
Clicky – It is one of the easiest web analytics tools to get started with.
Leverage features such as heatmaps, uptime monitoring, and A/B testing, and monitor
your website in real time especially when running annual sales.
Azure Application Insights – It serves as a versatile Application Performance
Management (APM) service that developers and DevOps professionals use. They
employ it to keep an eye on live applications and collect performance data. Marketed
for its telemetry capabilities, Azure Application Insights concentrates on response
rates, load times, and performance. But that’s not all - you can also tailor it to glean
analytical information about the elements users engage with on the site.
Zoho PageSense: It is a comprehensive solution for optimizing website
performance and visitor experience. It empowers businesses with features like A/B
testing, funnel analysis, heatmaps, and session recordings. With these features, users
can identify what content or webpage elements engage visitors and make data-driven
decisions for site improvements. Additionally, Zoho PageSense integrates seamlessly
with other Zoho products and various third-party services, making it a highly versatile
tool in the context of broader digital marketing strategies.
Thus,Web analytics sits at the center stage of your digital marketing strategy. It acts
as the nerve center of your campaign offering you a bird’s eye view of your website’s
performance. By measuring diverse user engagement metrics, you can optimize your
campaign and stay ahead of your competition. If you haven’t used these tools up until
now, it's time to get started. And with the right tools before your eyes, it should no
longer be a daunting task to choose which one fits your business needs the best.
If you are wondering where to start with implementing an analytics tool on your
website or how to leverage its true power, our team at Growth Natives is here to help.
As expert digital marketers who have served several of our customers with making
the most out of analytics, we have deep knowledge of the use and potential of these
tools. Connect with us at info@growthnatives.com and we shall help you choose the
best ones suited for your needs. To learn more about our capabilities with web
analytics, visit our website.