Web Metrics
October 26, 2006
Steven Schwartz
President, PowerWebResults.com
Southeastern Massachusetts E-Commerce Network
University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth
Agenda
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Terms Definition
Approach
Making Sense of the Data
Moving from Web Metrics to Web Analytics
Tools
Resources
Q&A
Definitions
• Hits: Connections made via the internet to another
website
• Unique Visitors: Individuals who visited your site during
the report period (typically 30 days). If someone visits
more than once, they are counted only the first time they
visit. Counted by domain names, visitor id or cookie.
(Unless they delete cookies)
• Number of Visits: Number of time the unique visitor came
to your site.
• Pageviews: A measure of how many times a complete
page is displayed.
Metric: Average number of pages per visit
Definitions
• Robots/Spiders - Automated software program that runs
at many search engines, reads sites' content, analyzes
it, and inserts them into the index (or collects information
for later insertion into the index).
• Entry/Exits – Point where people entered and exited the
site
• Paths – What were the most common pathways people
used to navigate the site.
Strategy
• What is the objective of your site?
– Distribute information to customers/prospects
– Capture Leads
– Support Customers
– Sell Stuff
– Build Networks/Improve Relationships
• ROI
– Measure Your Results
– Proof
– KPIs – Key Performance Indicators
Conversions
• Conversion is the number of visitors who took a desired action on
your site
– Buy Something
– Download
– Filled out a form
• Conversion Rate = Desired Action /Total Number of Visitors
(Typically 1 month)
– For example, if 1,000 unique visitors were driven to your website from a
search engine and 10 elected to purchase a product then your “sales”
conversion rate would be 1.0%.
What Can Metrics Tell You
• Overall health of the site
• Direct improvements to your site
– Improving Conversions
– UI
• Fine tune PPC campaigns/Landing Pages
• Make decisions about direction and how to focus resources
– Targeted Campaigns (email, advertising, webinars, sales)
– Driving More Traffic
– Search Optimization
– PPC
• Developing testing scenarios
Basic Questions
• Unique Visitors – where do they come from
• How People Find You (Drive Traffic)
– Search optimization
– People who link to you
– What sources are most important
• What do visitors do when they arrive?
– Where do they enter?
– Where do they leave?
– How long do they spend on each page?
– What are the most popular pages?
– Do they go where you’d expect? (conversions)
Measures to Look At
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# of Unique Visitors
Trends over time
Time of Day
Look at Days of the week
Visit Duration
Top 10 Pages (Most popular pages)
How people find you?
What search phrase visitors use to find you
Entry/Exits
Navigation Pathways
Tools
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ISP/Host May Offer for Free
Log Files on Web Server
AW-Stats – (Free)
Google Analytics (Free by Signup)
Net Tracker - Unica
Click Tracks
Web Trends
Key Performance Indicators
• Analyze
• Improve
• Turn web metrics into meaningful
information
Primary Performance Metrics
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Conversion rates
Cost per visitor
Cost per lead, prospect or referral
Cost per customer
Value per visitor
Source: Five Performance Metrics by Kevin Gold
Define Your Conversions
• Conversion is the number of visitors who took a desired action on
your site
– Buy Something
– Download
– Filled out a form
• Conversion Rate = Desired Action /Total Number of Visitors
(Typically 1 month)
– For example, if 1,000 unique visitors were driven to your website from a
search engine and 10 elected to purchase a product then your “sales”
conversion rate would be 1.0%.
Source: Five Performance Metrics by Kevin Gold
Example
Cost Per Visitor
• Dollar amount spent to drive one unique
visitor to your website.
– For example, if you spent $100 to drive 1,000
unique visitors to your website, then your cost
per visitor is $0.10.
– Cost per Visitor = Money Spent / Total
Number of Visitors
Source: Five Performance Metrics by Kevin Gold
Cost per Lead/Referral
• “Cost per visitor” times the number of
unique visitors needed to produce one
prospect, lead or referral.
– For example, if you spent $100 to drive 1,000
unique visitors to your website and it
produced 10 prospects; your “cost per
prospect” is $10.
– Cost per Lead = Money Spent / Total Number
of Leads Produced
Source: Five Performance Metrics by Kevin Gold
Cost Per Customer
• “Cost per visitor” times the number of
unique visitors needed to produce a sale.
– For example, if you spent $100 to drive 1,000
unique visitors to your website and it
produced 2 sales; your “cost per customer” is
$50.
– Cost Per Customer= Cost / # Customers
Source: Five Performance Metrics by Kevin Gold
Value per Visitor
• Composite figure that consists of multiple, performance
metrics including conversion rate, average value per
completed action, number of unique visitors and number
of completed actions.
– For example, if the 1,000 unique visitors generated 2
sales worth $100 per sale or $200 in gross revenue
then your “value per visitor” is $0.20.
• Value per Visitor = Sales / Total Number of Visitors
• “cost per visitor” of $0.10 and your average “value per
visitors $0.20 then for each new visitor you will gain
$0.10 in gross profit.
Source: Five Performance Metrics by Kevin Gold
Live Demo
Resources
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Web Analytics Association
Google Analytics: Conversion University
MarketingProfs.com
ClickZ
Marketing Sherpa
Five Performance Metrics of Successful
Online Business
Q&A
Steven Schwartz
PowerWebResults.com
info@powerwebresults.com
(401)440-4028
Conclusion
• If you’re not looking at your web metrics,
you should
• Improve Conversions
• Improve Site UI
• Drive More Traffic
• Make Educated Business Decisions