Why Your Website May Be Failing to Convert: A Worksheet

Businesses may create their websites for a variety of reasons. That said, it’s safe to say all should have one thing in mind: converting website traffic to increase their business. Conversion can mean sales, registrations or anything that contributes to business success. However, a site’s conversion rate is often an afterthought. Today you’re being challenged to take a peek beneath the cover of your website’s analytics and focus on this key aspect of your web presence.

First, answer the following questions about your business goals and write out your answers:

1. Identify your ideal target consumer:
   • List the words or phrases that are most important to the type of customer that will produce the highest dollar amount for you?
   • List the words or phrases that are most important to the type of customer that will be the easiest to convert?
2. What is the primary task that you would like this consumer to complete before leaving your website (register, purchase, subscribe, etc.)?
   • On what pages of your site is this task referenced
   • On what pages of your site is the task itself facilitated?
3. Describe and number steps that are required for the visitor to complete primary task on your site?

Next, take a look at your web traffic via Google Analytics and answer the following questions:

1. Where is the majority of your website traffic coming from?
   • Which websites are you receiving referring the most links from?
   • Which keywords are producing the most referring links?
2. Which pages produce your highest bounce rate?
   • If you have set goals in your Google Analytics account, which pages have the highest conversion rates?
3. Which pages on your website have the most views?
   • How much time are they spending on these pages?

Now, based on the above, answer the following questions, giving yourself 1 point for every “yes” answer:

1. Have you defined a primary task for visitors of the site?
2. Is your bounce rate highest on your home page?
3. Your bounce rate is NOT highest on any of the pages where the primary task of your customer is to be completed?
4. Does more than one page link to or directly reference the page(s) that facilitates your primary task (not including the global navigation)?
5. Your primary task does NOT require viewing more than one page or executing more than three steps?
6. Does the page (or pages) that facilitates your primary task have the highest conversion rate?
7. Is the page that facilitates your primary task third place or higher among the pages with the most number of views?
8. Are any of the pages that promote your primary task third place or higher in most amount of time spent per page?
9. Did your list of words or phrases match three or more of the top performing keywords from your Google Analytics report?
10. Are less than half of your top referring sites paid advertisers for your brand?

Now add up your score:
10 = Excellent. Your site is best configured to achieve your core business conversion goals. Keep monitoring it’s performance and be prepared to engage in a few periodic tweaks to maintain its effectiveness.

9 – 6 = Almost there. Your site is doing some things well, but there is definitely room for improvement. Put some thought into how your site is set up to engage your target customer and facilitate your primary task. Some professional advice would be helpful.

5 or less = There’s work to be done. Roll up your sleeves. Your site is missing a number of key elements to facilitate effective conversion. Consult a web professional to review your call-to-action, navigation and your core conversion goals.

A Few Things to Remember

Generally speaking, your bounce rate should be low — particularly on the pages where your visitor conversion takes place. While there are a number of valid exceptions to this (such as ads or links that reference other sites), in general, this would mean that when a user lands on a page within your site, instead of leaving your site after viewing that single page (a bounce), they complete the primary task (a conversion) and potentially view additional pages.

Look at the pages that receive the most views. How much content is on the page? How easy is it to find and interpret the important links? Content and navigation design combined equal the “user experience.” While your website may have much in the way of visual and textual information and functionality, it’s most likely an individual user will only focus on 20% of it. Therefore, it’s important to maximize the user experience and time spent on the site by focusing primarily on that which allows the user to consume information most critical to conversion. Essentially, make sure your conversion has a clear, easily accessed call-to-action.

While this is a simple analysis utilizing only data gleaned from a Google Analytics integration, perhaps it has yielded some interesting insights on your website’s effectiveness in addressing your business goals and market needs. Identifying such correlations are important to determine your site’s productivity and identify its strengths and weaknesses. A comprehensive assessment of your website’s performance is an integral part of your business’ digital strategy. Without a clear idea of where you are and where you need to go, it’s impossible to achieve any measurable results. If you are not currently measuring your site’s conversion, speak to your digital team and put those wheels into motion today.

Original guest post at Module’s Digital Conversation Blog

Tagged as: analytics, conversion rates, ROI, User Experience, Website