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B2B Analytics Basics

We’ve discussed some of this before, but just as a refresher:

There are three types of basic information for a website:

  • Page views are the number of web pages viewed on your website.
  • Visits are the number times people visit the website. They can view multiple pages (page views) each visit.
  • Unique visitors are the number of people who visit the website (usually as near as possible to ascertain).

What other information should you look for in your analytics package to find out if your site is usable and designed with your customer in mind?

  • pages/visit: how many pages (on average) do people look at when they come to your website. Obviously, the higher the better. Some of this will depend on if your traffic comes mostly from search engines or from direct traffic. Visitors from search engines are less likely to browse around once they’ve found their answer (or if they didn’t find their answer).
  • average time on site: how long (on average) do people spend on your site. Again, the longer the better. If this is a very small number (under a minute), your visitors aren’t bothering to read much of what is on the page.
  • bounce rate: is the percentage of visits where the visitor only viewed a single page and then left. This often means the page where the visitor entered was not relevant to what they were coming to the site for (although it could also mean that they found their answer and left). This stat is extremely important for eCommerce sites which don’t want visitors to leave until they’ve purchased something.
  • % of new visits: how many of your visits are from new visitors. This will tell you how loyal your audience is. If your site is engaging, your visitors will come back from time-to-time for more information and updates.

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B2B Design – The Need for Whitespace

Too often I come across websites or clients who want to get as much as they possibly can into the smallest possible space. They think that makes their site look trendy and up-to-date.

The problem is that the human mind processes text in a certain way – it actually uses the shapes of words and the contrast between white space and “ink” to figure out what’s going on. When you bring up a webpage, you actually scan it starting at the top left to right and then move down and then left to right again – very similar to how we read words on a sheet of paper.

Good design takes advantage of these natural tendencies by balancing colors, text, and, very importantly, whitespace. This is called negative space in the traditional design world and it is just as important as what you put on a page or canvas (or space, etc.). So when you layout your website design, keep in mind that whitespace is important and you need to space things out a bit just so people can get a handle on what you’re trying to convey. If you don’t, they’ll just go somewhere else that is easier to understand.

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Good B2C Websites

Since I covered an example of a bad B2C website last week, let’s take a look at a couple of good B2C websites and what makes them good.

  • L.L.Bean – This site has been one of my favorite consumer websites for several years. Why? Because I can always find what I’m looking for. If I need help there are multiple different ways to contact the company: email, phone, online chat which are clear from every single page. I can find products by their catalog number, by searching, by browsing (in multiple categories). Browsing allows the ability to narrow your choices by several different types of information (dependent on what you’re looking at) – for example, on comfort fleece, I can narrow my choices by department, attributes, price and colors. When I add an item into my shopping bag, I can label it with different names if I have items going to different people and during checkout it will ask me for different addresses and gift card information. I also can save items in my bag for later if I’m considering different items or shopping around. They have details on every product including the ability to zoom in to see more detail. L.L. Bean is a catalog company so if they lose a visitor off their site, they’ve lost a sale. You can’t get much more customer-centric.
  • Lands End – Also a catalog company, Lands End has many of the same functions as the L.L. Bean website (they compete on many of the same items). I think their display of items is somewhat better since they offer several different views of each product and offer recommendations on how well something will fit you (based on your personal measurements). They also offer the same great customer service options and abilities as far as finding products.

Obviously eCommerce sites are going to be very different than other B2C websites and different from most B2B websites, but they are very good at being customer-centric since they must be so to compete. Most B2B websites are also selling products, but often forget to offer good customer service and to think about what their customers want when they are on their website.

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