How to Improve Your Prospecting Efforts

Featuring:

• Mastering Web Metrics
  By Linda Formichelli
• Tuning In to Tech Tools
  By Linda Formichelli

Executive summary:
All merchants keep a close eye on their Web numbers-visitors, abandonment rates, conversion rates, and various other metrics. But when the numbers go up or down, many marketers don’t know what’s behind the peaks and valleys. Peaks in conversion rates could be attributed to improved site features, or a misprint in an ad that results in a too-good-to-be-true price. The valleys may stem from difficult navigation, or an easily corrected site error.

For instance, Crutchfield, a multichannel merchant of consumer electronics, noticed that some site visitors were getting error messages on the Website between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. Crutchfield was able to jump on the problem thanks to the software it uses to monitor its visitors and how they use the site. The system, from San Francisco-based provider Tealeaf, “alerted us to the fact it was happening and as we dug into it, we realized there were some database maintenance jobs happening then that were producing an overload,” says Steve Weiskircher, Crutchfield’s vice president of information technology.

Getting a handle on important Web metrics can help improve site performance. For this special report from Multichannel Merchant, we spoke with several experts to find out what’s behind the Website numbers so you can improve them–or at least halt a downward slide. Our pros provide insight on which numbers are important, how to track problems, and ways to figure out what’s causing changes. Understanding what’s behind the numbers can ultimately help you reduce abandonment and boost conversion rates.