"Know What, How to Measure for Website Success"

Many companies, when considering redeveloping their websites, are driven by the need for a new look or adding functionality to their websites. The first question I ask is, “What results are you getting from your current website?” and “How will you measure the success of your new website?” The answer often is, “Well, we’re a business-to-business company, so we don’t sell online.” Sometimes the answer is, “We get X hits or visitors per month,” Of course, neither answer reveals results that tie in to business objectives.

Before embarking on an overhaul of your website or development of an initial site, it is important to establish objectives and quantifiable ways that you will measure the site’s success. Having standards for measurement helps justify your investment in site development, and it directly impacts the way that the site should be developed and modified over time. For example, if an objective is to increase attendance at seminars or events for your clients (and prospective clients), one gauge might be to measure the number of online registrations received during a month’s time. If measurements show that you’re not reaching your goal, you will want to look carefully at your website structure to ensure that the events are prominent (possibly posted on your home page) and that the registration process is easy, streamlined, and clearly visible to the site visitor.

If an objective is to extend customer service to the Web and decrease incoming phone calls, several features might need to be added. The most obvious is the inclusion of Frequently Asked Questions, the addition of downloadable documents (such as product documentation), and potentially allowing clients to have direct access to their account information online. With these functionalities, several success measurements would apply:

• The number of documents downloaded over a period of time
• The number of times the FAQ page is viewed and its relative popularity/usage to the other sections of the site.
• The number of client log-ins (if account information is available online).
• Perhaps most importantly, has the number of incoming customer service phone calls been reduced?

While the number of online sales is certainly a quantifiable measure of success for e-commerce sites, how does a business-to-business website, which may not have e-commerce, evaluate its success? A variety of common gauges may be used, measuring performance on a daily, weekly,  monthly, or quarterly basis. Let’s look at some of the most useful.

New and repeat visitors
The percentage change of new and repeat visitors offers insight about the impact that off-line efforts are having on people who act to get more information about the company. An increase in new visitors indicates awareness and interest in the marketplace is increasing. When compared to off-line marketing activities, it may be possible to identify which activities provide us the most “bang for our buck.” For example, if you give a lecture to a large business group and see a corresponding spike in new, local visitor traffic, that confirms that the lecture was effective. If Web traffic remained static, think about whether a lecture is worth doing again.

Who signed up?
A common business goal is to increase direct leads. Translated into Web functionality, this could mean data collection via electronic newsletter subscriptions or requests for product or service information. Measuring the number of resulting contacts reveals the website’s effectiveness at directing people to a specific action. However, keep in mind two things:

• Other off-line marketing efforts could impact the numbers as well, so you’ll need to keep a holistic view.
• It could be helpful to see how many people visit those form pages, compared to how many people actually submit the form. If there’s a big disparity you will want to check for programming errors on the form, or consider whether the questions or format of the form are scaring people away.

Lessons in geography
Many businesses initially market to a local region, but what if you want to develop a national client base? The first step should be to tailor the marketing for national reach. As you initiate that process, keep an eye on the geographic spread of your web traffic. Site statistics will reveal where your users are coming from. If you’re particularly interested in building awareness in the Northeast; for example, you’ll be able to see how many people are coming to your site from that part of the country.

The key is to become familiar with your web statistics, so get a general sense of what is “normal” and where the statistics are heading. You’ll get a much better sense of your site’s value to your company, and of the marketing steps you should be taking, online as well as offline.

Adrienne Cregar Jandler is President of Atlantic Webworks, a website development company in Greensboro. The firm specializes in site development, strategic planning, and website lifecycle services.