Maximize sales performance: Reach your goal with these tools
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Amazon, eBay and Alibaba, now also TikTok, Shein and Temu - At a time when competition in e-commerce is constantly growing, it is also of the utmost importance for online retailers to measure and better understand the performance of their webshops. Web traffic metrics offer you the opportunity to analyze the behavior of your visitors, take targeted measures to increase your conversion rate and maximize your sales. How exactly can analytics solutions be used to benefit your store? We look at the most important analytics tools in e-commerce and show why web traffic metrics not only improve the customer experience of your store, but also generally help to maximize your sales performance.
Traffic sources
A decisive factor in improving your online store is the precise recording of traffic sources. It is important to understand how and from where users are accessing your online store. Targeted placement of links in search engines, social media or links in blog posts and articles can increase your traffic.
It is particularly important to optimize the online store for mobile use. After all, most consumers make mobile purchases via their smartphone. It is therefore also crucial to present the online store as user-friendly as possible. Another measure is search engine optimization. Here too, targeted optimization can significantly improve the visibility of your online store and thus generate more traffic.
All in all, this rule of thumb applies: The more data and information your analytics programs have at their disposal, the better these tools can help you understand your customers' usage behavior.
Conversion and click-through rate
The conversion and click-through rate play a central role in evaluating the performance of a web store. They provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of impressions, clicks and conversions. They are not only limited to completed purchases, but also to other actions, such as newsletter registration, downloading files or filling out forms.
Analysis tools allow you to track and evaluate the actual conversions of your customers. For example, you can determine whether the conversions were generated via paid advertising campaigns or via organic and free sources and can adjust your store accordingly.
Loading times
Loading times influence the usability and search engine ranking of your online store. This means that a short loading time has a positive effect on your web performance, while a long loading time has a negative effect. This example makes this clear: if the loading process of your online store is completed in the first two seconds after it is called up, the measured conversions automatically increase. In return, however, the conversion rate decreases by a good 4.5 percent for every extra second that elapses.
Note that long loading times are mainly caused by images and videos with too large a storage volume, but a lack of mobile optimization of your website can also contribute to this. Therefore: make sure you have good analytics solutions in place in advance that evaluate your loading times according to browser type, version, device type and model. You can use the information you receive to make any necessary adjustments to your online store.
Customer information
Different customer segments can be tracked using analytics tools to obtain information about the age, gender, location and device used by consumers. This allows target groups to be developed and targeted content to be created for mobile users under 30, for example.
Session duration & bounce rate
The session duration and bounce rate are important metrics for evaluating the quality of the content and the usability of your website. A short session duration can indicate problems such as long loading times, insufficient usability of store functions or a poor interface in general. The bounce rate provides information on how many users migrate to other websites or stores.
With the appropriate analytics tools, important information about the engagement of store visitors, such as leaving a page, filling out forms, downloads and the time spent scrolling, can be determined in these categories. This also allows you to determine whether buttons, forms and downloads are working as intended.
Funnel
The so-called funnel makes it possible to define an ideal path for users and to compare this with the actual user behavior. This allows the desired customer journey to be compared with the actual one and functioning or non-functioning file paths can be identified and adjusted.
Error message 404
Error messages such as "Page not found (404)" must be documented by analytics solutions, as they reflect a negative user experience, which has a negative impact on the conversion rate and also affects your store's SEO strategy, among other things.
Web traffic metrics - what you should look out for
To run a successful online store, it is important that all pages, functions and, above all, the menu are clear and easy to use. This enables customers to enjoy high-quality usability and a pleasant customer experience. A good customer experience in turn increases the loyalty of your customers and increases the chance that they will return.
However, retailers should not only focus on attractive web design, but also use good analytics solutions to regularly monitor the performance of their online store. Good analytics solutions help you to better understand the purchasing behavior and wishes of end consumers and thus improve the user experience and increase the conversion rate of your online store.
It is important to note that common analytics software solutions such as Universal Analytics or Google Analytics 4 collect the stored data in the USA and therefore violate the compliance guidelines of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). To avoid legal conflicts and offer transparent and sustainable data collection at a European level, you should therefore look for more data protection-friendly alternative solutions. These solutions are also better received by consumers, as GDPR-compliant data collection is always based on the express consent of the store visitor and must be activated in a separate window with a mouse click.
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