For too long, website design and layout has been based on subjective information.  This may rock your world, but pretty, clean and flashy sites mean nothing when it comes to improving your bottom line.  If you’re serious about capturing leads and closing sales online, your website must be built analytically.

Web analytic reporting is crucial to making informed decisions about website optimization and digital marketing, but knowing how to interpret that data is what separates the leaders from the pack.

In last week’s blog, The Nine Most Important Web Analytics for Dealers to Monitor, we discussed how measuring basic data on consumers visiting your website in real time allows you to identify prospective customers and engage them with the right message at the right moment.

The following list contains the criteria, data and processes to help you measure and maximize website visitor engagement and conversion.

• Identify Critical Content – These pages of your website are specific “conversion points” on which you want visitors to take action.  Such action can include filling out a form, downloading additional information or simply contacting you.  Most likely, critical content exists on your Finance Information pages, specific Inventory pages and Contact Us pages.  The level with which website visitors achieve the goals of your critical content indicates how engaged they are.

Engagement Rate = # of interactions with content / total # of visits

• A/B Split testing – “The Journey of 1000 miles begins with 1 step.” That ancient Chinese proverb sums up the concept of increasing engagement and conversion through split testing.  In this process, Internet managers make small, incremental changes to their website, specifically “conversion points.”  These changes can include altering the size and color of button, reducing the amount of fields to be filled out in a form, or rewording a call to action (from submit to continue).  A split test is then conducted in which the conversion rate of the new page is compared to that of the old.  The higher scoring design is then implemented, something else is changed and the testing continues.  Use this process to optimize your critical content pages to be as engaging as possible.  Remember, this process is ongoing.  Like the proverb, the best website begins with 1 test.

Conversion Rate = # of goals achieved / total # of visits

• Visit length/page views/exit pages – The depth of visit will help you to determine if website visitors are engaged by your content or if they are abandoning your site.  If you look at this analytic closely and in real-time, you can see which pages visitors find most engaging and which pages turn them off.   A large amount of time spent on specific pages indicates high engagement.  A large amount of pages viewed indicates a highly engaged visit.  

• Recency – Measuring the span of time between the visits to your website by specific customers will help you to determine their level of engagement.  A highly engaged online shopper visits your website multiple times a day or multiple days per week.  Adding new content to your website on a regular basis keeps your website experience fresh and gives people a continued reason to visit your site.

• Direct visits – Each visitor that types in your URL directly and does not enter your site by referral can be considered highly engaged.  These users have been motivated to visit because they are actively involved with your brand.  Ensure that your website’s home and landing pages undergo frequent split testing so that direct visitors can easily navigate your site, readily find the information for which they search and understand how to take the next step toward purchase.

Dealer Takeaway

Understanding how to monitor and improve both the level of engagement of your website and its relative conversion rate gives you greater control over your website’s performance.  Having this data on hand lets you enforce your opinions about what’s working online and what is not.

Data is the true guide, not popular opinion.  Let data be your compass.

Optimizing your website will convert engaged users into leads that are highly qualified and usually ready-to-buy.  These leads are of high quality because you have already provided them with the information they desired and engaged them in the sales process.  Going beyond optimization, dealers that open additional channels of communication between the dealership and consumers can develop 1 on 1 relationships with engaged users prior to them ever visiting the physical dealership.

It’s up to you to decide how engaging you make your website, but web analytics make doing so much easier and effective.  Now you just have to take that first step.

Your turn!

What types and styles of content do your visitors find most engaging?  What tricks or tips can you share that will help dealers jumpstart their website’s performance?

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