Data Driven Decisions
This post was made Jul 02, 2009 by Carlos del Rio
credit: fotographix.ca
There is a new video series brought to you by the Google Analytics people Avinash Kaushik & Nick Mihailovski. The first entry is about Advanced Segmentation and subsequent additions can be found here: google.com/analytics/ddd.
Here is an excerpt from the book about turning qualitative behaviors into metrics:
Let’s revisit some of the behaviors that you are trying to respond to in your website design and features.
- A sense of accomplishment
- A feeling of being taken care of
- A connection to other people
- A sense of trust
- A thirst for information
How Do People Who Are Hungry for Accomplishment Behave?
They exit quickly at roadblocks and they act quickly. If you have a series of short time on-page and then an exit, or a long time on-page, you are looking at a breakdown for Immediate and Competitive decision makers. You have halted their success.What are the signs that you are not fulfilling this need?
- High Bounce Rate
- Long time on-site
- High page views
- Low conversion
So the next step is how do you segment these metrics to get a vision of where you are failing to fulfill your user needs?
If you feel you have a high bounce rate and low conversion I recommend creating a segment of users that are above average time on site and page views but don’t convert. These are the people who are genuinely seeking something and are being stymied. These people are very likely potential conversions–as opposed to people that are short time on site.
Now check the top exit pages from this segment and find out what you may be missing.
Hi bounce rate and low conversion. My view on this is that the site is over performing for the wrong keywords and under performing for the keywords that should be getting me qualified traffic. I always ask another SEO or two to take a look and give me an opinion for starters. Check your spelling in your title up there… Cheers -
Mal, that is a good point. There are several more reasons that you can experience the bounce and conversion problem including: confusing language, improper price point, stock issues, or broken content.
Some of these problems, like broken content, will be obvious. Others, like price point, are not as apparent.
I Learning how to use Google’s tools has changed how my company see’s its markets. The HPPO doesn’t like when data goes against his opinion, lol. Insight for search is the market speaking, commerce is beautiful!