How to Run Website Analytic Reports: 7 Key Metrics to Cover

All it takes is knowing which metrics you should cover when running website analytic reports, so let’s discuss the major players, each of which will provide valuable insights to boost engagement and drive conversions effectively.

Bounce Rate

Understanding your website's bounce rate is pivotal to gauging user engagement. It measures the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your site after viewing just one page.

If you have a high bounce rate, it could indicate that users aren't finding what they're looking for, or that their experience on your site isn't as smooth as it should be.

Examining and improving this metric can greatly influence how long visitors stay on your website and lead them further down the conversion funnel, especially if sales automation is your aim.

Traffic Sources

Knowing where your website's traffic is coming from can provide crucial insights into how to tailor and optimize your marketing efforts.

This metric breaks down into four basic categories, which are direct visitors, organic search visitors, referral visitors, and social networking visitors.

Analyzing each category deeply lets you tweak your digital marketing strategy for better engagement. For example, if a large part of your traffic comes from social media sources, it may be worth investing more in that area.

Session Duration

The average session duration is a valuable metric to understand how much time visitors are spending on your website. The longer the duration, the more engaged your audiences are.

Low session durations may indicate that users aren’t finding what they’re expecting or navigating adequately through your content.

Conversely, high session times might suggest your content is engaging and relevancy resonates with user interests.

If you're noticing lower-than-average sessions, consider creating more meaningful content or improving site navigation to foster a better user experience. And if you’re responsible for running reports for your clients, this is even more relevant.

Using analytics platforms that can carry out automated client reporting for marketing agencies will let you keep tabs on session duration and the other metrics discussed here more efficiently.

Pages Per Visit

The pages per visit metric tells you, on average, how many pages a visitor explores before leaving your site. This information is crucial in understanding user behavior and engagement levels.

If this number is low, it could imply that users aren't finding enough relevant or interesting content to stay engaged.

On the other hand, high figures suggest your website's navigation structure and content are engaging enough to keep visitors browsing more pages.

New Sessions

The new sessions metric tracks the number of first-time visits to your website within a specified period. It's vital in understanding how well you're attracting new users and gauging the effectiveness of your acquisition strategies.

A healthy mix of returning and new visitors shows that while your site content is keeping visitors engaged, your outreach efforts are also effective in driving fresh traffic.

If this percentage is low, it might suggest you need to beef up on initiatives aimed at bringing new audiences.

Conversion Rate

Your website's conversion rate is a crucial metric that determines the success of your online objectives. It measures the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.

A high conversion rate signifies effective marketing and web design, suggesting users are finding what they need on your site and feeling compelled to act on it.

Analyzing this metric helps you identify opportunities for improvement in optimizing user journey towards better conversions. You can increase your conversion rate with the help of CRM analytics software.

Exit Pages

Monitoring exit pages, which refers to the last page a user visits before leaving your site, can offer strategic insights into where you're losing potential conversions.

If certain pages have higher exit rates than others, it may indicate that these pages aren't providing enough value causing users to leave rather than continue browsing.

These could be opportunities for improvement, such as adding more compelling content or clear call-to-actions (CTAs) in order to retain visitors and guide them towards conversion.

Final Thoughts

Prioritize the tracking and analysis of these metrics in order to get the most out of your reporting processes. Whether you’re doing this for your own site or those of a client, the results will pay off quickly.

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