Google Analytics is a great tool for understanding your website performance metrics and the trends over time. While Google Analytics is great at uncovering what visitors are doing on your site, it is a poor tool for understanding the actual motivations of your visitors.
For example, many people like to measure "Time on Site" as a performance metric. The problem with a metric like this is that a longer period of time on the site isn't necessarily a good thing. While it's true that a longer site visit might correlate to improved engagement and conversion rate, it could also mean the visitor couldn't find what they were looking for and just had enough patience to continue slogging their way through the site.
I like to say that quantitative tools like Google Analytics are great at measuring the "What," but poor at measuring the "Why." In order to understand the friction points within your site, you need to move away from your web analytics program and use more qualitative tools, like an exit survey.
An exit survey will allow you probe site visitors and collect data on where their frustration points are. Two great tools for setting up your own exit surveys include Qualaroo and Hotjar. These tools will allow you to measure Task Completion Rate, a metric that every business should be measuring as part of their key performance indicators.
In setting up an exit survey for customers, I like using what analytics evangelist Avinash Kaushik calls the three greatest survey questions in the word. They are:
- What is the purpose of your visit today?
- Were you able to complete your goal?
- If not, why? survey
These three little questions will go a long way in providing you actionable insight to improve website revenue and lead generation.
Keep in mind that these exit surveys will appear in the lower right of the web page and the visitor can completely ignore it if they decide they are not interested. In addition, these surveys can be set to only show once per visitor, even if they return weeks later. The survey technology will attempt to engage the visitor when it looks like they are about to abandon the site. This is done by tracking the visitor's mouse and determining if it looks like they are about to hit the browser ‘Back' button or close out the browser.
Below is a screenshot showing how a simple exit survey can be set up using Hotjar.
By collecting exit survey data over a period of a few weeks, you'll gain incredible insight as to where the problem areas are on your site. Work to fix these issues and you'll instantly improve the business value of your site.
Americaneagle.com can help you get an exit survey installed on your site as well as analyze the survey data and make specific recommendations for improvement. Make the commitment today to improve your site by asking the three greatest survey questions in the world. You'll be glad you did!