Don't redesign your Web site blindly - analyse usage data first
Published: 22 May 2003 13:06 BST
Tag your links
A quick and easy way to measure which links are getting clicked is to add unique tags to each of your URLs. For this example, we'll tag each URL based on its page position. We'll break the page into three main sections: header, body, and footer. You can have more than one tag for each section; just make sure they are unique.
For the header, we'll create two unique tags to specify where a user clicked. One is labelled logo and the other is tab. This will allow us to track when a user clicked on the logo to return to the home page vs. clicking the Home tab. It also lets us differentiate between clicks to other pages, such as the catalogue, that have multiple entry points.
The catalog URL in the header might look like this:
http://www.yoursite.com/catalog.html?tag=tab
We can apply the same concept to both the body and the footer of the page. Here's how each of those catalogue URLs might look:
http://www.yoursite.com/catalog.html?tag=body
http://www.yoursite.com/catalog.html?tag=footer
In Figure B, I've added the various tags to the sample site.
Figure B
Gather the data
Once the new tagged URLs are up and running on the Web site, you can begin to collect the usage data for the site's catalogue. Instead of gathering aggregate usage data for catalog.html, you can now identify the source of each page view based on the unique tags. In addition, you can compare the number of clicks for each of the unique catalogue URLs to the other URLs that share the same tag. For example, you can compare the performance of the Catalogue tab to the other tab URLs.
Instead of just being able to report that the catalog.html page got 100,000 page views in a month, you can also report that 60 percent of those views came from clicking the Catalogue tab, 30 percent came from the link in the body of the home page, and 10 percent came from the footer link. You can also report that the Catalogue tab is the most-clicked tab on the site, receiving 30 percent more clicks than the others.
How does this data solve the original problem?
With the data gathered from the tagged URLs, you can now show your manager that the catalogue page is actually getting the majority of the site's page views. The problem with the sales numbers doesn't appear to be related to a lack of traffic to the catalogue page as your manager asserted.
So, instead of creating a pop-up window or changing the tabs to get more clicks to the catalogue page, you and your manager can now focus on determining why so many users are visiting the page but not following through with a purchase.
Listen to the data
Remember that data alone is never going to give you the solution to your problem. Analysis of the data is just as important as the collection of it, so make sure that you're willing to listen to the data and continue exploring it. Your findings will help you make more informed decisions. Just don't be surprised if the data proves both you and your manager wrong.
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