For banks and credit unions, customers are more and more moving online, exploring the products, applying for them, and then using them online. It provides a good channel for these institutions to connect and communicate directly. A well-designed and organized website enables flawless communication with the members.

When faced with questions regarding websites' performance, it is often difficult to provide an accurate answer because most organizations do not actively monitor their website analytics. In the end, numbers are just numbers unless you know what you are looking for and how it will help your organization.

You should be monitoring website analytics for the following reasons-

• It assists you in getting to know your web page visitors and enhancing their experience.
• You can track what visitors are looking for on your website.
• It can help you find the most visited pages on your site.
• As a marketing tool, it can help you to track conversions.
• Assists you in SEO implementation.
• It drives marketing and business decision-making.

Key performance indicators for website analytics assist you not only in the process of website optimization but also in the process of converting visitors into customers. There is a wide range of metrics available depending on what you are looking forward to measuring and the objective behind regulating it. This article discusses the top KPIs to track your website analytics and use effectively.

Overall metrics to assist you in determining the total performance of your website

1. Unique website visitors/ Visits/ Page view trends

The first-time visitors of your website are measured for a specific period. They are unique because they are only counted once in the entire process, even if they have visited before or again. User's IP Address combined with a cookie on the browser can help you determine the total number of unique web visitors. Tracking website visitors, visits, or page view trends, enables you to understand the web traffic and what causes and influences the fluctuations therein. You can use these insights in determining your content charts and promotions.

Visitor metrics to help you in analyzing how visitors are reaching out to and responding to your website

2. New visitors v/s Returning visitors

This is a meaningful metric useful in determining the website's performance concerning the new visitors and the visitors it can retain. Usually, websites have more unique visitors and fewer returning visitors, which indicates that they cannot engage and retain their visitors. Returning visitors have a better conversion rate and increase metrics like viewing more pages per session and more duration per session. Hence, every website should have more returning visitors than new visitors. An enterprise will accustom its marketing initiatives towards objectives it seeks to achieve. For example-- if the objective is to obtain new visitors, marketing initiatives like advertising will be more fruitful.

3. Top landing pages

The top landing pages metric provides an overview of how a particular page is performing concerning your other website pages and is helpful when you need to monitor a campaign or individual page performance. Quality landing pages with an efficient user experience are more likely to be the top landing pages. The target should be to find such pages and improve them continuously. These are the pages where most of the website traffic comes to and hence can be most useful in determining and coordinating the traffic. Decreasing the bounce rate and making your visitors loyal to the website is one way to maximize the top landing pages.

4. Channels and/or promo codes being used by visitors

Every marketing investment needs a return, and monitoring marketing channels help to measure the same. They help you discover how many visitors access your website through inbound marketing like ads or direct URL entries. Promo codes bridge the gap between a particular marketing campaign and the conversion rates. They help you track the inbound traffic of visitors and the visitors who are directly engaging with your website. Unique promo codes can be affiliated with each marketing channel or promo code, and by tracking these codes, it becomes possible to monitor the desired return on investment.

5. Time of maximum influx of visitors

Various analytics software now provides the convenience of knowing when your website will have the maximum traffic of visitors. It is possible to curate your content in the required manner and gain a reasonable outreach.

6. Browsers and technologies being used by visitors

To understand how your visitors are viewing your website, what programs they are using, what browsers are they using, whether these browsers are compatible, and if so, do you need a mobile website, it is possible and essential to track the browsers and technologies being used by your visitors. This helps you improve display, user experience, and bounce rates.

Visitor metrics to determine the nature and behavior of the existing visitors of the website

7. Existing customers or prospects

It is a metric to aid you in understanding who is your website's existing and potential visitors. People who already know your website and can make purchases in another single visit are your prospects. Tracking strangers to your websites, prospects, and customers who have already visited and are engaged orchestrates your marketing campaigns and engagement practices.

8. Demographic information of visitors

It is crucial to know your audience's demographics to segment your visitors carefully. This information aids in targeting content ads and hence creating returning visitors who will come back to your website since they connect to what they are offered and are interested in the niche. You can also compare demographic data of two different websites to understand the dynamics and performance of that website.

9. Bounce rate

Bounce rate indicates the percentage of visitors who visit and browse through your website but leave before clicking anywhere else. It translates into an unsatisfactory website for visitors. A low bounce rate is desirable for any site since it indicates that the visitors are sticking long enough to the website, and prospects can be further converted to customers. A high bounce rate means that the visitors are not responding to calls to action or converting, which is a primary objective of most marketing campaigns.

10. Pages viewed per session

Metric is used to track the average number of pages viewed on your website per session. The more the number of pages viewed, the better it is for the website since it will indicate that the visitors are engaged through the content provided on the website, the bounce rate is low, and the visitors are responding to calls to action or exploring more. For example, for a banking or credit union website, it is possible to know what sections the visitors are exploring - auto, mortgage, deposits,, or the sectors that grab their interest. The website can further be used to nurture their interests. Two pages per session have often been quoted as the unofficial standard.

11. Conversion rate

This shows the website's effectiveness in converting visitors and getting them to respond to the content on the website. Event tracking assists you in understanding the actions which people are taking on the website who are enabling such conversions. It is possible to narrow down these factors to traffic channels and sources by applying filters. A high conversion rate is preferred since it shows what visitors are doing when they are actually at the website and is significantly impacted by design and content.

12. Average time per session

This is for how long, on average, are the visitors spend on the website. It is calculated by dividing the total duration of all sessions by the total number of sessions. A high average time per session is always preferred. Still, it is also important to note that if the visitors are looking for  contentnot available content, it is not an appropriate situation. And in comparison, a visitor spending time reviewing or reconnecting with the website will be a better situation.

13. Onsite search queries

Assists in identifying user experiences and analyzing the website's structure by examining what content the visitors prefer and what can be improved. Implementing custom search engines can be more fruitful in this metric since visitors can use them to find content, and you can track these queries and the pages visited as a result of searching for the content. For enterprises that prioritize content strategies, this is one of the most favored metrics.

14. Top exit page

Exit pages are the pages where the audience leaves your website, and you can examine the reasons for the same by implementing this metric. Websites play a huge role in influencing visitors, and hence insights gained from measuring this metric can be used to improve the content on the website. Such pages need to be analyzed, and the content can be made more engaging by adding various calls to action or using comfortable language therein. This metric can also provide information with respect to websites that visitors reach out to after exiting yours or the reasons for exiting the website.

Conclusion

Any website should reach its profit-making potential and serve its purpose of effective communication of information and data. Sometimes, even minor changes on the website can bring significant returns on investment, among other powerful results.