Assignment #1 Post #2: Web Metrics: Engagement

This post will be a direct continuation of the previous post that focused on the web metrics category of visitor characterization. First, to give a recap on web metrics, these are the analytical tools that we use in order to monitor the performance of a business via its online presence. Within web metrics, there are several categories including foundational, visit characterization, visitor characterization, engagement, and conversion. Now with a better understanding of the visitor characterization category, we can move along to the next web metrics category of engagement. 

Engagement

Engagement is one of the most crucial categories of web metrics in my opinion because it is how your visitors are interacting with your site. It is one thing if your visitors are simply viewing your site’s landing page, but it is another if they are actually engaged and browsing through each page of the site. As a company, you would want the latter because it means your business is appealing and worth investing in, whether it be time or money, or even both (Stokes, 2018). Within the engagement web metrics category, there are four subcategories: page exit ratio, single-page visits, single pageview visits (bounces), and bounce rate. 

Page Exit Ratio

Page exit ratio is actually quite as simple as it sounds. It is the number of exits from a page divided by the total number of page views of that page (ClickInsight, 2019). The page exit ratio is used to analyze the data relating to the number of page exits a page receives relative to its page views. For instance, if a specific page on a site has a high page exit ratio, then it would be evident that something on that page is not engaging enough for the visitor to keep browsing through the site. 

Single-Page Visits & Bounces 

Single-page views is another self-explanatory subcategory, it is fundamentally when a visitor only visits a single page on the site, regardless of the number of times they have visited the page. Single-page views are easily confused with single-page view visits also known as bounces. Bounces are visits that consist of one page-view (ClickInsight, 2019). In other words, if you visit one page of a site twice in one day, that would be considered one single page visit, but two single-page view visits or bounces. It is important to keep both the single-page views and bounces low to ensure that the visitors are engaged enough to look through each page rather than clicking off after a single one. 

Bounce Rate 

Lastly, the bounce rate, which is what most analytical tools will display as the overall summary of how a business is performing in terms of engagement. Bounce rate is the single page view visits or bounces divided by entry pages. Bounce rate can also be calculated based on a specific page. In that case, it would be the number of times that page was a single page view visit divided by the number of times that page was an entry (ClickInsight, 2019). Once again, it is crucial to keep this rate low. A good bounce rate will fall somewhere between 26 to 55 percent, with 55 to 70 percent being higher than average and anything over 70 percent being a disappointment (Peyton, 2014). 

Real-World Example

In taking a look at the same real-world example below that was also utilized in the first post in this assignment, this company’s bounce rate is extremely high and very much disappointing. They are clearly doing something wrong and need to figure out what exactly is the problem. Previously, it was also noted that their returning visitor percentage is low which could be a contributing factor to their high bounce rate. This company will have to develop a new marketing approach to keep its visitors engaged enough to return and to browse through its site in its entirety. 

 

      

     Figure 1: Audience Overview

Conclusion

In conclusion, engagement metrics are a major category within the metrics categories. The engagement metrics category contains many subcategories including page exit ratio, single-page visits, bounces, and bounce rate. These subcategories all give insight into how a business is performing online. It allows for real-time analytics which then allows the business to either maintain or improve their marketing approaches online. 

References 

Peyton, J. (2014). What's the average bounce rate for a website? Good, Bad, Ugly, and Average Bounce Rates. https://www.gorocketfuel.com/the-rocket-blog/whats-the-average-bounce-rate-in-google-analytics/. 

Stokes, R. (2018). P.109. In EMarketing: The essential guide to marketing in a digital world. (Sixth ed.). Cape Town: Red & Yellow Creative School of Business.ences

Unique visits (metric). Analytics Glossary. (2014). https://growhackscale.com/glossary/unique-visits-metric. 

Web analytics Definitions: Clickinsight analytics consulting - Toronto, Canada. ClickInsight. (2019, July 12). https://www.clickinsight.ca/res/web-analytics-definitions-3#new-visitor.