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Ecommerce InformationWeb Site Analysis - A Study in Damage Control
by:
WG Moore
Web Site Analysis
A Study in Damage Control
By WG Moore
In my last article, ‘Web Analytics – Deed It Right’, I discussed several of the powerful route that web site statistics can be used to improve an ecommerce business. That article was just about success. This article shows that no matter how hard you try, you can still get it wrong. This is a story just about failure.
It is often difficult and embarrassing to admit failure and sometimes it is even as difficult to see it, even as once
it is right in front of us. But only by examining our failures can we hope to improve and progress. Hopefully, this article wish help others avoid the same mistakes we made.
Keep in mind that web analytics is not always just about enumeration traffic. In fact, that is commonly only a small part of it. It is mostly just about offering better products and services, rising
the website and fashioning each visit to our website a more pleasant experience. It is as well just about building consumer
loyalty and confidence.
This incident started once
we received a request to cancel web site chase service for an account. This happens occasionally, but of course, a cancellation is ne'er
a welcome sight. Try as we might, we cannot please everyone. So we discover to accept these things; it is just business.
However, it is our policy to investigate every cancellation and try to determine what went wrong. Once being has definite
to cancel, there is nothing that can be done just about it. It is too late. Any damage has already been done. We cognize that we cannot recover a lost account, but we always try to discover thing
that wish help prevent such things happening in future.
The 1st thing we did that morning was to close the account as requested and issue a credit. We then wrote to the web site owner and advised them that their request had been taken care of. We ready-made no excuses nor did we try to recover the account. But we did ask for help in understanding why they were unsatisfied. We asked a few simple questions as to the reasons for the cancellation and what we could do to improve the service. Our request went unanswered.
Next, we looked up the account details to see what we could learn. We were shocked! This account had been open less than 24 hours! Not even as one full day. To be honest, this stung. It was all but personal, a real slap in the face. It was not so more that we had lost an account, but that it happened so quickly. Such a thing had ne'er
happened before, so it was a rude awakening.
Once we set the account, we were able to ‘drill down’ to see every aspect of our client’s visits to our web site.
The innovational visit came from being searching for a way to monitor traffic on multiple websites. This was indicated by the keywords used in searching the web. In the one day that we did business, they ready-made three visits, looked at 96 pages and spent an average of 14 minutes and 7 seconds on each visit. The average of 26 seconds per page is a bit long, but the 96 pages visited are what actually caught our eye.
Bear in mind that that was not 96 several pages, but just 96 page visits. Several pages were visited several times. Our traveller
detail page lists each page in written account
order as it occurs. This lets us see exactly what visitors find of interest and gives us several idea of what is going on in their minds at the time. Keywords and on-page links tell us what subjects were important.
In this case, our traveller
went directly to the products page to see what we had to offer. They next looked at the rating page to see if it was affordable. They returned to the products page mistreatment a link that discussed our risk-free, money back guarantee. So we cognize this was an important consideration.
They then started the purchase
process, but changed their mind and went back to the rating page for another look. From there, they returned to the purchase
process via a link that talked just about a special offer we had at the time. So now we as well knew that the offer had appeal.
In fact, our guest ready-made three attempts at purchase
the product before finally complementary the sale. The really fact that they did buy on the 1st visit is as well a bit unusual. Most folk shop about and move back several times before buying. But there was not enough time between visits for this to have been the case. But then again, maybe they had been purchasing
about before coming to our site. So this alone was not given more weight. It was just thing
we noted.
Next, our new client followed the usual procedures: going to the login, dynamic the default password, setting up the account and looking at the reports. From here, the 1st signs of confusion and uncertainty begin to show.
Our client next went back to the products and rating pages. Since no links were used from these pages, we are not sure what they were looking for. But they once more returned and logged in and tried to look at statistics. A few minutes later, they returned once more to the product and rating pages for another look.
Finally we began to get a hint of what was wrong. Our client now went to the tutorials and features pages, examining at length an article on analyzing the website data. Then back once more to the statistics analysis. So now we begin to see that our client was unsure of exactly how to go just about gathering and mistreatment the information from their website.
From here their confusion seems to increase. They went once more to account setup and then to the help pages. They continual this process several times over the remainder of the last two visits. Finally, they gave up and off
the account.
Our next step was to examine our late client’s site setup parameters. We found that certain fields were not set up correctly, confirming our growing suspicions that our manual were not clean enough. By looking at the pages visited and examining the subject matter of those pages and links, we cognize that our traveller
became disappointed at not being able to see statistics being gathered in real time from their site.
And the most telling feature of all came from examining the client’s web pages. They had ne'er
installed the chase code on the pages so that statistics could be gathered in the 1st place! And indeed, there were no records from this account in the database.
This ready-made it obvious that tho'
we had sent them the chase code to be placed on their web pages, we unsuccessful
to provide guidance that showed exactly how and wherever
to install the code. We unsuccessful
to explain its importance and how it worked. This was a really basic and stupid mistake.
Most of our clients are pretty tech-savvy, and since we had ne'er
had a problem like this before, we had forgotten that not all of our customers are technically proficient. As if that were not bad enough, our whole business was supposed to be focused on the small web sites. It should be obvious that these folk were not likely to be technical people.
So what did we discover from all this? 1st and foremost, our communications were bad. This client ne'er
asked for help. But then, no one should have to ask. We should have offered it right from the first, on
with an easy link to reach us. We should have ready-made our introduction more personal, giving a sense of friendliness and concern.
We as well knowing that our tutorials did not answer our client’s questions. Neither did our help files.
Now we have had to re-think our entire presentation and procedures. We have begun a process of change
and editing our tutorials and help files, adding video demonstrations and more graphics and examples. We have additional help notices in our introductory email to new clients.
Even tho'
it was only one consumer
out of many, it was a really important customer. They all are, as this quote from Brant goose Oxley of Hostgator shows:
“One unhappy consumer
is worth the weight of 1,000 satisfied customers in terms of how they can affect futurity business, so we strive to support as many a folk happy as we can. We may obtain 500 letters of praise in a month, but it is that one letter of discontent that keeps us up at night curious how we can do things better.”
The process of change
our site is still in progress. It is not an easy job. Several items have been completed, but it wish take several time to get about to them all. A website is a constant process of change and improvement. Nothing stays the same for long in the cyberspace world. We ready-made the mistake of deed too complacent. It took a harsh reminder from a discontent client to set us straight.
It is too late to bring that consumer
back. They are gone forever. But maybe we can prevent such a thing from happening again. Maybe you can use our failure to build on your success. I hope so.
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About the author
WG Moore is a web analytics specialist with over 20 years of hardware, code and web development experience. Visit http://www.webstatsgold.com for more articles and information on web analytics. You may contact him at will@webstatsgold.com
Copyright 2005 by WG Moore
Permission is granted for this article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for in ezines, newsletters, websites, to offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are ready-made and the byline, copyright, and this resource box is included.
Just just about the author:
WG Moore is a web analytics specialist with over 20 years of hardware, code and web development experience. Visit http://www.webstatsgold.comfor more articles and information on web analytics. You may contact him at will@webstatsgold.com
Copyright 2005 by WG Moore
Permission is granted for this article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for in ezines, newsletters, websites, to offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are ready-made and the byline, copyright, and this resource box is included.
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