Website Analytics: What Do They Mean?

Your website analytics are a clear view into how your website is performing.

That is, if you know how to read them. We’re going to dive into the purpose of website stats and how to leverage them.

Viewing your website performance statistics can be overwhelming, as you’re trying to understand what they mean and also how to use the data to optimize your dealership’s business strategies. Website analytics offer valuable insights into shopper behaviors and your website’s ability to deliver an optimal customer experience. Ultimately, this can help you identify opportunities to increase your dealership’s sales. 

To help you get to the bottom of this data, we’re exploring the top website analytics features and how you can translate the findings into helpful resources.

Visits Summary

This feature shows the peak times that people visit your website and the actions they take while on your platform. The especially important features to pay attention to are Unique Visitors (or how many individual leads visit your website), Actions Per Visit (average amount of clicks or downloads each visitor performs) and Bounce Rate (number of times visitors leave your website without clicking on anything).

One of your first actions should be to review your site’s performance summary so you can get a full picture of your digital landscape. Armed with this knowledge, you can dive deeper.

Site Search Keywords

Your site search keyword stats give you the ability to see which keywords your leads searched for that brought them to your site. “Keywords” refers to words and phrases typed into search engines that relate to your site (example: “marine dealership new orleans”). Knowing how well your website content aligns with consumer searches will help you identify the valuable keywords that are most used by potential customers. 

You should also identify which keywords aren’t helping your website. You can find out by looking at the Percentage of Search Exits analytics, which shows how often visitors clicked away from your site because they felt the website content didn’t align with what they were searching for. Knowing whether your keywords are bringing in leads or driving them away will help you satisfy the search intent of your customers.

Device Type

Your website analytics capture which type of device leads are using to access your site, such as a smartphone, desktop computer or tablet. Knowing how often users are visiting your website via a specific device and how much time they spend on your site will help you identify how leads are shopping and if you need to make any site optimizations. For example, if your site does not have a responsive design (meaning it converts well to any screen size), you may notice that mobile shoppers are spending less time on your site and have a low conversion rate. giving you a higher bounce rate and a lower conversion rate on mobile devices. This is an indication that your site needs an update to provide a better experience for mobile shoppers so you can capture those sales leads.

Referrer Terms

Referrer terms record where website visitors came from, with four main types:

1. Search Engines: Leads click on your website from a search engine (such as Google). 
2. Direct Entry: Leads land on your website by clicking on a link in a paid search ad or e-newsletter. 
3. Campaigns: Leads visit your website after being looped into your dealership’s marketing campaign. 
4. Websites: Leads reach your website by clicking a link on another site.

These terms make it easy to identify which platforms are driving the most website traffic. By knowing which resources yield the most results, you can make informed decisions for your marketing plan. For example, would your website benefit from investing more in your site’s SEO to drive search engine traffic, or should you launch more paid ads? You can test a few different platforms and adjust your focus according to the results.

Conversion Rate

Paid ad “conversions” refer to a lead clicking on one of your ads and taking an action that is valuable to you, such as calling your dealership or requesting more information about a unit. Conversion Rate is the number of website conversions divided by the number of total clicks resulting in a conversion. The Conversion Rate percentage reveals how well a paid ad is performing by capturing the lead actions that are valuable to your dealership. By knowing the conversion rate of your paid ads, you can save your dealership from pouring money into a paid ad that may not be service your best interests.

Your website analytics offer a rich resource to understand customers’ habits and tailor your business strategy to satisfy their expectations. 

For more information about how best to analyze your website stats, connect with Dealer Spike today!