FOUR ESSENTIAL WEB METRICS THIS HOLIDAY

Happy November …or the official start of the holiday sales season 2023! Deloitte forecasts e-commerce sales will grow between 10.3% to 12.8% year-over-year and will likely result in e-commerce holiday sales reaching between $278 billion and $284 billion… or the highest holiday sales on record! You have already been hard at work on your holiday promotions for months – and now it’s here! Time to reap in the rewards.

Before you hit send on those emails, make sure your website is set up as the ringmaster for this big event. Your website serves as that digital storefront where a positive first impression can turn into a conversion, making it a critical component of any winery’s online presence. For some wineries, a website is the only point of contact between their brand and their potential customers. Not only is it a channel for showcasing wines, wine clubs or subscriptions, and additional information but also acts as a powerful marketing tool, providing valuable insights into user behavior and engagement through various metrics.

To show success with your holiday campaigns, know what benchmarks you’re looking to achieve. Let’s review the essential website metrics you’ll need to pay attention to this season to see if your promotions have been naughty or nice. It is important you go into programs with these in mind and we’ll highlight their significance in shaping your success this holiday.

CHECKING THAT LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE: WHAT TO LOOK FOR

With Google Analytics 4 officially taking over earlier this year, there are a number of new/different website metrics that you can track, but here are four of the most important ones that we analyze the most:

• Total visitors
  Total visitors is a simple but important metric that tells you how many people are visiting your website over a period of time. This metric can be a good indicator of how much interest there is in your winery and your wines.
• Traffic source
  Traffic source tells you where your website traffic is coming from. This can be helpful for understanding which of your marketing channels is most effective. For example, you may see that a lot of your traffic is coming from organic search, or from email campaigns you have, or you can analyze your ROI from paid services you have.
• Engagement rate
  Engagement rate measures how engaged your visitors are with your website. This is calculated by taking the total number of visitors or page views and dividing it by the total number of engagements. A high engagement rate indicates that your visitors are interested in your content and are spending time interacting with your website.
• Conversion rate
  Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as signing up for your email list or making a purchase. This is a valuable metric for tracking the effectiveness of your website and marketing campaigns.

Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as signing up for your email list or making a purchase. This is a valuable metric for tracking the effectiveness of your website and marketing campaigns.

KEEP RUDOLPH ON COURSE: HOW TO USE THESE METRICS TO IMPROVE YOUR CAMPAIGNS.

Once you’ve collected enough data to start tracking these metrics, you can use the data to improve your website’s performance. For example, if you have a low engagement rate, you may need to improve your website content or navigation. Or, if you have a low conversion rate, you may need to test different landing pages or marketing campaigns.

Here are some specific tips and questions for improving your website performance based on each metric:

Total visitors: Am I getting enough traffic to my website? What can I do to increase traffic?

Look at how your total visitors have changed over time. Is traffic increasing or decreasing? If it’s decreasing, try to identify the reason and take steps to address it.

• Increase traffic from organic search by optimizing your website for relevant keywords.
• Run paid advertising campaigns on search engines and social media.
• Promote your website through social media and email marketing.

Traffic source: Which traffic sources are sending the most valuable visitors to my website? How can I improve my performance in these areas?

See which traffic sources are sending the most visitors to your website. Are you getting good traffic from organic search, social media, and paid search? If not, focus on improving your performance in these areas.

• Invest in marketing channels that are sending you high-quality traffic.
• Improve your performance on marketing channels that are not sending you much traffic.

Engagement rate: How engaged are my visitors with my website? What can I do to make my website more engaging?

Look at how engaged your visitors are with your website. Are they spending time on your site and visiting multiple pages? If not, try to make your website more engaging by adding high-quality content, videos, and images.

• Create high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience.
• Make it easy for visitors to navigate your website and find the information they’re looking for.
• Use images and videos to break up your text and make your content more engaging.

Conversion rate: Are enough visitors taking the desired action on my website? What can I do to improve my conversion rate?

Track how many visitors are taking the desired action on your website. Are people signing up for your email list, making purchases, or contacting you? If not, experiment with different landing pages and marketing campaigns to improve your conversion rate.

• Test different landing pages and marketing campaigns to see what converts best.
• Offer incentives for visitors to take the desired action, such as a discount on their first purchase or adding something complimentary.
• Make it easy for visitors to take the desired action by streamlining your checkout process.

‘TIS THE SEASON

By tracking and analyzing these website metrics, you’ll gain valuable insights into how your website is performing and make informed decisions about how to improve it. Many times, you can catch things mid-campaign and improve the overall program performance. Get in the habit of looking at your metrics weekly and regroup at the end of the quarter. Then you will have the start of some foundations to kickoff 2024 with a deeper level of understanding to expand your marketing goals.

Happy Holidays!