Often ignored by the novice internet marketer, website analytics have a key role to play in any successful marketing strategy. Careful analysis of even the most rudimentary statistics will often highlight areas for improvement that can make or break the average campaign.

In this article we'll take a look at some simple steps to ensure you're getting some sort of tangible return on your marketing efforts, and why using analytics might not be such a scary proposition after all...

Step 1: Define the Sales Process
However you refer to the sales process, the first step is identifying each stage of the journey and understanding what is expected of your customer. Consider the following questions:

• How is the visitor incentivised to engage with your sales process?
• How does each phase of the process relate to your overall sales strategy?
• How is the customer guided through the process?

For example, you may be offering a free ebook or whitepaper to capture their information before initiating a classic upsell strategy, culminating with your primary product or service.

Step 2: Create a Measure
A marketing strategy means little unless you have something to measure your success against. These parameters should form a natural extension to your sales process – for example conversion rates, new monthly subscriptions, white paper downloads, webcast attendance and so on. Here's a quick look at some key measurements:

• Current opt in rate per website visitor
• Email conversion rate
• Average membership shelf life
• Upsell conversion rate

Identifying your key measurements will enable you to start sharpening your game, beginning with targeted content you can use in your marketing activities.

Step 3: Time to Figure Cost Per Visitor
You are now ready to begin your analysis in order to assess your cost per visitor. Think of it as a funnel effect, with each phase of the sales process channelling your customers to the desired end result.

By working out your conversion rate for each phase of the process and identifying the associated value attached to your average customer, you can calculate your cost per visitor.

Step 4: Set the Right Budget
Now you know your cost per visitor, you are in a position to set an appropriate budget for each of your marketing activities. In simple terms, if you are paying in excess of your cost per visitor, your strategy is not sustainable – unless of course your web analytics are sophisticated enough to identify the source for each online sale you make.

In either case, intelligent use of your website visitor statistics will enable you to set an appropriate budget and – more importantly – stay within it.

Of course every product, service or market fluctuates significantly in terms of customer profile, so try not to focus on what you consider to be 'good' or 'bad' conversion rates, but rather how these compare month on month. By definition a 'good' result will, of course, be growth rather than decline.

If you have a web marketing budget – which, by the way you should – then you are probably keen to know how effective it is proving to be. While working out a rudimentary cost-per-conversion figure can be worthwhile to compare to your offline marketing activities, a decent web analytics program can tell you so much more.

Marketing over the internet is more measurable than any other media channel. Your website visitor statistics provide a wealth of information which, when interpreted correctly, can identify where your customer acquisition process may be breaking down. Following are some tips for using web analytics to help you achieve a real return on your marketing investment.

What to Measure and How to Improve
The first step toward using web analytics effectively is to identify your main website objectives. Once you have established your main aim, you can create 'funnels' to guide your website visitors in the desired direction. This can be accomplished by using calls to action, images and persuasive menu navigation.

The next step is to identify the ideal route(s) to the intended sales conversion pages. Measuring the activity on these pages will yield the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). A KPI, as it sounds, allows you to assess how successfully you are achieving your main objectives.

Bounce Rate – Simple but Effective
In web analytic terms, the bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave your site immediately (within approximately 5 seconds) after arrival. An acceptable bounce rate is around 20-30%, but the lower the better; anything over 50% should be a matter of concern.

A high bounce rate can help identify problem areas in your online marketing activities. Here are a few possibilities to look out for.

1. Check the Home Page Message
One of the purposes of your home page is to filter out visitors who are not your target audience. A high bounce rate, however, may indicate that you are not getting your message across quickly enough to the people you do want to attract.

Your main marketing message should be evident instantly upon arrival. This can be achieved by using well-positioned slogans, appropriate imagery, effective headlines and sub-headlines, clear calls to action and minimised home-page clutter. Run a simple test with friends or family: have them tell you the main message they perceive in the first 5 seconds.

2. Discover the Best Referring Sites
Buying ad space on related websites can be an excellent marketing activity – but only if you are receiving targeted traffic as a result. Identifying the bounce rate from referring websites can show:

• The referring site is not sending the right kind of traffic, or
• Your landing page is not sufficiently relevant.

Making the appropriate tweaks to your landing page will allow you to identify how effectively your ad spend is being directed.

3. Prove Search Engine Terms
Search Engine Optimisation is not only about ranking well for the top keywords for your sector; it's even more about what searchers do, once they click through to your site. Assuming you have your landing page optimised, bounce rate data can now be checked to assess which keywords are sending visitors who stay and go on to fulfil the customer conversion process.

4. Optimise PPC Marketing
Similar to your organic search engine marketing activities, your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing can benefit from an assessment of the bounce rate in relation to each ad (or group of ads). As before, consider the effectiveness of your landing page, the target phrases and, in this instance, your ad copy.

In each case, use your bounce rate as a measure as you tweak and test, then tweak and test again. Analysing one change at a time will enable you to make educated decisions when enacting improvements.

The bounce rate is a simple, yet informative measure which, when used effectively, can help you make significant improvements to your online marketing. If you would like help with using web analytics, call us on 0845 345 2592.