event websites, part ii: setting goals and measuring conversions john curtis, quotient stephen nold,...
TRANSCRIPT
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 [email protected]@Social_Quotient
Stephen Nold| PresidentAdvon Technologywww.apogee-search.com [email protected]@stepnold
Ian Strain-Seymour | Director, Online StrategyApogee Searchwww.apogee-search.com [email protected]@ifss