As a digital marketer, seeing more success for your marketing initiatives is the ultimate validation of what you do. Simply coasting along or worse yet, dropping in sales, leaves you questioning what you’re doing wrong. With all the tools out there, the best one for understanding the behaviors and actions that are taking place on your site is Google Analytics. By looking closely at your analytics report, you can receive valuable guidance that is needed to revise your site and boost conversion rates.
Part of understanding your data is realizing that your users fall into different groups. Not only do you have converters and non-converters but also groups based on age, new vs. returning user, mobile vs. desktop and so forth. Each of these groups has different perceptions of your site and it’s up to you to determine their actions and behaviors.
Users Flow
Your analysis should start with the two basic groups: converters and non-converters. Take a look at these groups and ask yourself questions like:
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Where does a converter typically enter the site?
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How many pages does a user go through before converting?
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Where does a non-converter enter the site?
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How many pages does a user go through before they drop off?
Look for certain patterns when answering these questions. For instance, is there a considerable drop off where calls to action are lacking? Is there confusion with navigation?
Content Drilldown
For an alternative data view that sheds light on your customers’ journeys, use Content Drilldown. It provides a table view for you to walk through top content pathways from within data segments. Go through your site and click through these pathways to gain more perspective on why users may be leaving.
Mobile
Before you start thinking about mobile users, you should have a basic understanding of why some users are leaving and others are converting. Based on this information, you can start thinking about your mobile audience and whether your site is optimized for this group. Pay attention to the percentage of conversions from mobile users compared to the percentage of overall mobile traffic. Do you see an issue?
Demographics
The best way to address demographics that could be an underlying issue in conversion rates is to create a custom segment based on the demographic (age, gender, location) and review User Flow and Content Drilldown to assess a customer’s journey. For example, you may notice that you’re suffering a low conversion rate from a young female group. This information can help you craft a better site with appropriate links, enticing pathways and content that gets this group to stay on your site longer and ultimately convert.
