event websites, part ii: setting goals and measuring conversions john curtis, quotient stephen nold,...

Event Websites, Part II: Setting Goals and

Measuring Conversions

John Curtis, QuotientStephen 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

Questions

Contact Information

John Curtis, | PresidentQuotient Solutionswww.quotient.netjohn.curtis@quotient.net@Social_Quotient

Stephen Nold| PresidentAdvon Technologywww.apogee-search.com stephen@advontech.com@stepnold

Ian Strain-Seymour | Director, Online StrategyApogee Searchwww.apogee-search.com ifss@apogee-search.com@ifss