Are Visitors Getting Lost On Your Site?

In my most recent post, I discussed the importance of measuring visitor duration on site. I also emphasized the benefits in keeping users on a website longer and some tactics in how to do so. But I also warned that if marketers discover either ultra-low or ultra-high durations, that it could be a red flag that users are turned off or getting lost within your website. In fact, using some other web metrics, one can better determine if this is the case and can even go as far as diagnosing the problem in order to make adjustments for improvement.

Depending on your category, brands’ number one goal on a website is usually a conversation. This could be a web form, a submission, or a transaction. However, if visitors are spending 5+ minutes on your site and still not converting, there could be a problem. Take a look at some of these metrics that might help you identify where the problem lies:

- Exit page - Is there a specific page where users are constantly leaving? Clearly this page might not be effective and needs a facelift. Determine your top exit pages and discover if design or messaging is not strong enough to encourage a conversion.

- Page views per visit - Are users browsing in and out of pages but cannot seem to find what they are looking for? This is a great metric to examine alongside page duration to see what specific links are being clicked and if visitors seem to be going back and forth without any sort of success.

- Conversions – At the end of the day, this is one of, if not the top goals of your website. If users are spending a great deal of time on your site without actually converting then this is a clear sign that your site should be audited for adjustments.

If users are getting lost within your site, there are some ways to improve the experience. The most top level solution (with many sub-factors) is to enhance the site’s usability. Stoney DeGeyter of SearchEngineLand suggests some tips into increasing a site’s usability: keep it consistent, divide categories clearly, make all navigation elements clickable links, use accurate navigation titles, ensure every clickable link has ALT text, and ensure your search feature works.  By making the overall structure more user-friendly, visitors will not be turned off by the path(s) they need to travel in order to get what they need out of the experience. It is generally acknowledged that web sites which provide the user with useful, well organized, navigable information in a well-structured layout are likely to retain users who access them and also generate repeat visitors.

Amidst these are also some other suggestions to helping site managers develop more effective websites. Web marketer Jakob Nielsen says that the important characteristics of a usable site include simplicity, naturalness and ease of use. If done right, with creative design and effective navigation features, it should result in users not only spending more time on site, but more importantly, finding what they need faster, converting and essentially having a more pleasant website experience. Overall, multiple metrics should be explored together to decide if users are effectively finding what they need. Well-designed sites should keep users engaged while also leading them to a conversion for long-term customer loyalty.