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Event Websites, Part II: Setting Goals and Measuring Conversions. John Curtis, Quotient Stephen Nold, Advon Technologies Ian Strain-Seymour, Apogee Search. Converting traffic into registrants. Advanced tactics Calculating website usability and conversion Heat and click-thru mapping
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Event Websites, Part II: Setting Goals and Measuring Conversions John Curtis, Quotient Stephen Nold, Advon Technologies Ian Strain-Seymour, Apogee Search
Converting traffic into registrants • Advanced tactics • Calculating website usability and conversion • Heat and click-thru mapping • Defining a visitor critical path
Email Marketing Best Practices • Tracking • A/B testing prior to sends • Don’t send emails from Outlook • Advanced techniques • Test for various email clients / browsers: BrowserCam • Include web analytics tracking code so that you can measure conversions • Create webpage version of your email for compatibility & SEO
Sample Email Tracking Code • Basic: Domain.com/link.html&=123 Advanced: • Domain.com/link.html&=Oct09-wk1-list1 • Domain.com/link.html&=Oct09-wk1-list2
Key Metrics for Email • Sends • Opens • Bounces (hard, soft) • Click Tracking • Unsubscribes • What you can’t track: conversion
Why Usability Matters • Improves your conversion rate • Get the full benefit from your traffic • Improve the Repeat Traffic Rate • Referrals via social / word of mouth • Customer Satisfaction • Side Benefit: • good usability = accessibility = good SEO = ROI
Website Usability Metrics • Bounce Rates • Validate for Accessibility • Repeat Visit Rate • Monitor Exit Pages
Usability Best Practices • Consider Z reading pattern • Page load time • Don’t code menus with images only, use text • Don’t code menus withy Javascript that renders links • Low cost testing: have 1-2 non-technical users try to accomplish your key site goal. • Do so without coaching
Heat Maps • How do people interact with the page? • What do the look at? • What do the click on? • How long on the page?
Click Paths • The path or sequence of pages a visitor looks at • Endless options, you have to focus • Have a specific question you want to answer • Key Questions: • Where do people go after they enter? • Where do people go before they leave? • Where do people go before a specific page, e.g. registration? • Where do converters enter the site? • Know you baseline
Web Analytics: Context is Key • Numbers without context are useless • You have to supply context • Vs. Goal • Vs. Previous Year, Month, Week, Week of Month • Vs. Competitors • Vs. Related Sites
Setting Goals: Work Backwards • How many attendees do you want? • What is your conversion rate? • What is your distribution of traffic? • What is your Cost per Visit (per Channel)? • Work backwards to your budget • Too high? 2 options • Improve your conversion rate • Change your traffic mix
Measuring Goals • In Google Analytics: • Implement GA on all pages, including Thank You page • Log into Google • Use Goal Wizard to define goals based on Thanks you pages • Better usability, better data
Contact Information John Curtis, | President Quotient Solutions www.quotient.net john.curtis@quotient.net @Social_Quotient Stephen Nold| President Advon Technology www.apogee-search.com stephen@advontech.com @stepnold Ian Strain-Seymour | Director, Online Strategy Apogee Search www.apogee-search.com ifss@apogee-search.com @ifss