July 14, 2005
The role of web analytics
We hired a web analytics company to help us track and analyze site traffic data for our eCommerce site. How can we use the data to improve usability?
Web analytics can be helpful in seeing where site traffic is dropping off or how many unique visitors your site is getting. But site traffic data alone cannot tell you why users are abandoning the site or what additional features or changes to the UI might increase conversion rates. We’ve also seen many cases of companies getting invalid or useless web analytics data, because they didn’t know how to ask the vendor for what they needed, because they inadvertently gave the vendor the wrong information, or because of problems with the analytics software.
To improve usability, it is best to get input and feedback directly from actual end-users during the design and development process. Web analytics data can point you in the right direction, but your arsenal should include other tools and methods, too.
Filed under: Usability, Process_and_Strategy | Permalink
