Web analytics is an aspect of digital marketing that most experts are still somewhat unfamiliar with particularly in Nigeria and Ghana. This may be largely due to the fact that historically most of them have been unable to measure with any degree of certainty the effect and results of their marketing efforts. And this is what web analytics is concerned about; metrics and measurements.
We believe that this is a very important aspect of the day to day role of a digital expert for the following reasons enumerated below:
1. It provides us with information about a customers’ journey on our web site
Web Analytics reveals what type of content is popular among your target audience. You can immediately have a fair idea of what products and services you need to be promoting more. You also understand how customers engage with your website as you can see page views (how many times an instance of a page was loaded) and what links they click on when visiting your website.
2. It exposes areas of weakness that need to optimised
Through web analytics, areas of your website that need to be further worked on can easily be seen. You can interrogate why a particular page on your website has a high bounce rate (the rate at which people leave a page upon landing on it) or why the average time spent on that page is low.
All this information can then help with website development efforts as your energies can now be more focused on optimising those pages.
3. It helps us understand what devices (and operating systems) to optimise our site for
What devices are people using to access your website? Are majority of people accessing your website via desktops or mobile? In an era where adoption of mobile is on an ascendancy, this information could be invaluable in how you design and structure your website.
4. It helps us understand our biggest sources of referral traffic
What keywords are people searching for and finding your website? Are they coming from Facebook, Twitter or a particular blog? The knowledge of top sources of referral helps us understand where we should concentrate our site promotion activities as it indicates a platform whose users are interested in our content.
Web Analytics presents an incredible opportunity for marketers to garner real insights about online customer behaviour. It is thus imperative that as digital marketers we become more and more familiar with it.
How else can web analytics be used? Let us know in the comments below.
