8 KPIs You Should Use to Track User Engagement
No matter what type of business you have, it’s safe to assume you have specific goals in mind, known as key performance indicators (KPIs). When it comes to online engagement, it’s just as important to have goals. More importantly, you’ll want to know how well you’re achieving those goals, especially if you want to get the biggest return possible on your online engagement investment. The digital marketing professionals from Saba SEO, one of the most innovative San Diego marketing companies in the industry, offer this advice about some of the user engagement KPIs you should be paying attention to most.
1. Pageviews or Impressions
A pageview (PV) is what happens when a visitor comes to one of the pages on your website. It’s not the same as visits—that just means someone is visiting your site, but when they do so, they could “view” multiple pages. PVs basically give you an idea of the kind of traffic your various webpages are generating. Google Analytics will give you PV stats (under “Audience and Overview”). If you notice an increase in pageviews over time, it’s a good sign you’re doing something right. Boost your odds of getting a steady stream of PVs by:
• Creating a good overall user experience (e.g., fast load times, a mobile-friendly site)
• Using appropriate keywords and meta descriptions to give searchers a reason to visit your site
• Promoting your site with links from your social media pages, blog posts, guest blog posts, etc.
2. Time Spent on Pages/Session Durations
Time spent on pages refers to how long visitors actually stick around once they arrive on a page on your site. You can measure this KPI as time spent on pages by each visitor or as the average time spent on your various pages by all visitors. A related stat to look at is “session duration,” which refers to the total amount of time someone spends on your site, not just how long he or she stays on a particular page. Both of these stats can be optimized with:
• Fresh, relevant content
• Easily digestible content (e.g., short paragraphs, descriptive headlines, relevant images)
• Convenient navigation features
3. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who visit a page on your website and leave without taking any further action. Google looks at this particular stat because it shows how relevant and useful visitors are finding your website. As for why people “bounce,” common reasons include:
• A vague or unclear call to action
• Content that’s boring or not in line with a visitor’s expectations
• Frustrating issues with load times or navigation
4. Exit Page Rate
The exit page on a website is usually the page where somebody wraps up a purchase. It can also be your “contact us” page. The exit page rate is a reference to the number of people who leave your site from the exit page. It’s good to have a high exit rate for pages actually designed for this purpose. However, if people are leaving your site in high percentages from other pages, you may have issues that include:
• Confusing content organization
• No call to action
• Too much info presented at once
• Sparse content that doesn’t provide any incentives to take the desired action
5. Pages per Session
This is a measure of the number of pages someone visits during a “session” when coming to your website. More pages per session generally means visitors are more engaged with your entire website.
6. Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of people visiting your site who take the desired action, which could involve things like calling your business, downloading an app, or completing a purchase through your site. GA can be used to track CRs. Many social platforms also have tools you can use to keep track of how of this affects KPIs.
7. Abandonment Rate
People sometimes come to a website and put stuff in their cart, but then they just leave the site without taking any further action. If you have a high abandonment rate, it means there’s something causing many visitors to your site to think twice about making a conversion. This is an especially important metric to pay attention to if you have an e-commerce site.
8. New/Returning Visitors
Simply put, new visitors are those who have never been to your site before. Returning visitors have checked out your site before. Google is getting smarter about figuring out this stat. When people visit the same site from different devices, Google records the first device used as a new visit and other devices used by the same person as return visits. There are many ways to target both first-time and return visitors, some of which include:
• Display and paid advertising
• Organic search results
• Promoting your website offline so people will go online and directly access your site with your URL (direct traffic)
• Email marketing
What happens if your KPIs aren’t in line with your user engagement goals? A good starting point is to look at what’s actually working and compare it to underperforming pages or content. If you eliminate possible technical SEO issues, try A/B testing different headlines, subheads, calls to action, and other elements of your content to see if you get better results. If this doesn’t work, consider seeing what a digital marketing expert has to say.
If you’re looking for a trustworthy firm with outstanding expertise in digital marketing and SEO, call on the experts at Saba SEO, a premier Internet marketing service agency that has served businesses around the world with integrity for almost ten years. Give one of our experienced marketing specialists a call today at 858-277-1717.