The principal end-game of running an e-commerce website isn’t just to display items for web visitors to observe, but rather to facilitate a successful commercial transaction on a consistent basis. Simply put, if the e-commerce platform that you’re managing isn’t able to convert its visitors to satisfied customers then it is failing in its purpose and will not survive for long.
There are many reasons why e-commerce sites fail to become viable commercial ventures. While the most obvious, of course, includes establishing an e-commerce site in an over-saturated niche and failing to build a customer base that is sufficient for the website, there are other shortcomings that are specific to factors that are within the pages of the e-commerce website.
Google Analytics is a vital tool that helps in identifying these internal factors responsible for the poor performance of an e-commerce website. It basically functions by gathering data on your site’s activities, including pertinent details about every one of the site’s visitors, with the main objective being to evaluate the site’s performance and optimize it if it turns out to be lacking in any manner whatsoever.
Before the data tendered by the much revered Analytics tool can be used to improve the conversion rate of an e-commerce website, it must first be accurately interpreted in order to identify the area or section of the site that is flawed and hindering commercial activities. It is simply wise to be armed with the right information before attempting to proffer a solution because it makes certain that the source of the issue is targeted when the optimization process is being implemented.
Interpreting the content of a Google Analytics report can be very tricky especially if you aren’t familiar with certain web traffic terminologies; the elaborated tips below will, however, help you understand what each site-traffic metric entails and how it affects your e-commerce website.
Google Analytics’ Key Metrics
Website KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are among reliable metrics that are made available by the Google Analytics tool. They basically provide information that can be assessed to grade the performance of the site in terms of productivity and the achievement of set targets.
The information that is retrieved from the data breaks down every component of the e-commerce website and utilizes both graphical and numerical descriptions to rate the performance of each component.
Some metrics that are used as a measure of a website’s performance are:
Pageviews
This is a wholesome metric that attempts to measure the amount of traffic a website receives. If you wish to have an idea of the number of pages in your e-commerce website that receive regular visits or want to confirm the number of visits each page receives, then Pageviews’ figures are important data that must be studied.
Pageviews is among the measures used to confirm the efficacy of a digital marketing strategy, most importantly as it pertains to SEO implementation. For example, an off-page SEO campaign that includes guest post outreach, link building, and other white-hat methods can only be regarded as successful if the Pageviews’ figures suggest a substantial increase in the number of visits since the commencement of the SEO campaign.
Most often times, lackluster Pageviews’ figures can be solely attributed to flaws that aren’t concerned with the composition and configuration of the e-commerce website i.e., it is often as a result of a failed digital marketing effort.
The metric, however, ensures that the website owner is aware of the estimated number of visits that it receives within a given timeframe.
Product Performance
Knowing how well each product in your e-commerce store is performing is critical to the success of the venture since it allows you to create a marketing strategy that will be uniform and adequately addresses any issue that may arise.
This metric makes it possible for you to identify the products in your online store that are doing great as well as those that aren’t performing too well. The information curated from the data can be used to identify the cause of a product’s poor performance, which is then incorporated into a digital marketing strategy in order boost sales.
Checkout Behavior
The Checkout page is perhaps the most important part of an e-commerce website since it is the page that is instrumental to the completion of the commercial process.
It is, thus, important that you regularly have access to information that details the checkout behavior of all visitors to your online store. This information is critical as it is used to calculate the conversion rate of the e-commerce store and, hence, gauge its performance.
Studying the behavioral pattern of customers that make it to the checkout page and understanding why they cancel orders — if at all they do — make certain that you are able recognize any possible flaw in the page that may be hindering the checkout process.
If the issue with the checkout process is a design flaw or functional defect, then you can hire a freelance web design or programming expert to rectify the error and optimize the page in order to improve your site’s conversion rate.
Sales Performance
It isn’t enough to only have information that represents the amount of traffic garnered by your e-commerce platform as it doesn’t really do much and fails to describe the financial status of the site. It is the revenue you make, however, that really matters and not the number of web users navigating through the pages of your online store.
The information contained in a Sales Performance report keeps you abreast with important financial stats like your business’ total revenue, tax fees as well as shipping figures, and even the amount expended on executing refunds to customers.
This is basically a metric that measures the financial health of your website, and if the figures do not correlate with those of traffic metrics, then it simply means that your site’s conversion rate is meager.
The figures and illustrations provided by Google Analytics are only as useful and effective as the quality of their interpretation, and failure to properly interpret the retrieved data may jeopardize the commercial viability of your e-commerce site.
