There are many factors that could be preventing your visitors from achieving
specific end goals. From the tone of the copy to the colour of the page, everything
on your website may affect conversions. Possible factors are often so glaringly
obvious that one tends to miss them, or so small that they are dismissed as
trivial. Changing one factor may result in other unforeseen consequences and
it is vital to ensure that we don’t jump to the wrong conclusions.
Segmentation
Every visitor to a website is different, but there are some ways we can
characterise groups of users, and analyse metrics for each group. This is
called segmentation.
Some segments include:
Referral URL
Users who arrive at your site via search engines, those who type in the URL
directly and those who come from a link in an online newspaper article are
all likely to behave differently. As well as conversion rates, click path and exit
pages are important metrics to consider. Consider the page on which these
visitors land to enter your website – can anything be done to improve their
experience?
Landing pages
Users who enter your website through different pages can behave very
differently. What can you do to affect the page on which they are landing, or
what elements of the landing page can be changed to influence outcomes?
Connection speed, operating system, browser
Consider the effects of technology on the behaviour of your users. High bounce
rate for low bandwidth users, for example, could indicate that your site is
taking too long to load. Visitors who use open source technology might expect
different things from your website to other visitors. Different browsers might
show your website differently – how does this affect these visitors?
Geographical location
Do users from different countries, provinces or towns behave differently on your
website? How can you optimise user experience for these different groups?
First time visitors
How is the click path of a first time visitor different to a returning visitor? What
parts of the website are more important to first time visitors?
20.5 tools of the trade
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