Is your website due for a redesign? Answering this question may be very easy. For instance, if your website has responsivity issues, usability flaws, or branding inconsistencies, it's probably time to look for a design agency.
However, not all design problems are obvious and visible. In some cases, your website may look fine but fail to perform as intended. And the way to revert this is through a conversion-oriented redesign.
In this post, we'll explore:
- The top 9 website KPIs that will let you know a redesign is due
- How to address them through design and copy
But first, let's define what we mean by website KPIs.
What Are Website KPIs?
As a general definition, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the metrics you’ll use to analyze how successful your strategies are. Website KPIs are specific metrics to assess a website’s performance and commercial effectiveness.
All in all, analyzing the right KPIs will let you visualize your website's weakest points and measure your initiatives' success. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that each KPI is measured differently.
For example, active users is a KPI that reflects the count of users who have taken a significant action on your website, like registering for a service. This KPI is quite straightforward. You simply need to review the number of people who have taken whatever actions you consider relevant and sum up the figures. Meanwhile, some KPIs will require you to crunch some numbers. Such is the case with customer retention, which calls for a specific formula.
Additionally, it's worth mentioning that not all the metrics your website produces will be important KPIs.
KPIs vs. Vanity Metrics
Vanity metrics give the impression of progress - and can be early success indicators, but aren't directly tied to your commercial goals. While there's general agreement on what metrics are vanity metrics and which ones really move the needle, there are times when you want to focus on vanity metrics.
For instance, organic traffic is usually regarded as a vanity metric. But without organic traffic, you won't get organic conversions. So an SEO strategy that takes organic traffic as a critical success indicator isn't necessarily wrong, especially if you've never invested in SEO before. But an SEO strategy that brings organic visibility but no conversions can't go on for long.
Now, without further ado, let’s look at our top 9 website KPIs, the issues they indicate, and some effective solutions.
Top 9 Website KPIs that Let You Know a Redesign's Due
It may be time for a website redesign if you’re seeing consistent underperformance across:
- Leads generated
- Lead quality
- CTA conversions
- Customer acquisition cost
- Click-through rate
- Blog traffic
- Engagement
- Micro-conversions
- Returning user conversions
In this section, we'll define each KPI. Next, we'll cover common challenges and recommend solutions for each.
Let's dive in.
Leads Generated
“Leads generated” measures the total number of qualified leads that are generated and captured through your website.
Common challenge: Low visitor-to-lead percentage
Solutions:
- Review your CTAs - is there copy compelling enough? Are CTAs strategically located where they're most relevant?
- Tighten your messaging - remove landing page elements & sections that don't highlight benefits, accentuate pain points, or manage objections.
Lead Quality
Not every lead is a good lead. A low-quality lead is someone who is not a good fit for your product; they are more likely to churn, and convincing them will take valuable time away from your sales team. A good lead fits your ideal customer profile and is willing and able to acquire your product.
Common challenge: Low lead quality.
Solutions:
- Bring visibility to your ICP - who are your best customers? Who's feeling the pain you're solving the strongest and has the resources to address it in the way you propose? Next, use this knowledge to rethink your website’s structure and focus.
- Compare your website with your competitors - is their look and feel more professional, polished, and user-centric than yours? If your website looks “cheap” or outdated, qualified users may reject your offer.
CTA Conversions
This measures how often your CTA (call to action) results in conversions. Are your clients clicking on your CTA offers? And are they actually converting after doing it?
Common challenge: A key CTA isn't converting.
Solutions:
- Reduce your PPC spending and focus your energy on SEO and social, which are known to have a lower CAC.
- Experiment with your CTA’s positioning and copy.
- Make sure your CTAs contrast with the rest of the website, make sure they stand out and are easily readable.
Customer Acquisition Cost
Customer acquisition cost (or CAC) is self-explanatory. How much does it cost to acquire a new client? An easy way to measure this is by dividing your marketing and sales costs by the number of new customers.
🥸 Pss... We've crafted an entire guide on CAC and how you can lower it.
Common challenge: CAC needs to be lowered.
Solutions:
- If your CAC is too high due to an overreliance on PPC, reduce your PPC spending and focus your energy on SEO and social, which are known to have a lower CAC.
- Tighten your attribution and discontinue your spending on low-performing channels - do you have the tracking mechanisms in place to do that?
- Maximize your conversion rate by designing a clearer, low-friction path to conversion
- Optimize your landing pages, both copy-wise and design-wise
Pro-tip: Ask your web design partner to create a set of reusable patterns that you can tap into to craft landing pages without direct intervention from your designers or developers.
Click-Through Rate
Your click-through rate shows how many clicks a specific link generates. This link may be part of your or it may be any other relevant link on your website.
Common challenge: The click-through rate is too low.
Solutions:
- Make sure that your links are highlighted as such.
- Make sure that your CTAs “pop” the way they should.
- Confirm if your CTAs are relevant and if they appear before your user at the right time.
- Verify that you’re not overwhelming your users with too many CTAs.
Blog Traffic
Blog traffic refers to how many users browse your website’s blog in contrast to the amount of traffic your website receives. It's essential for measuring your blog's overall impact.
Common challenge: The blog isn't receiving enough traffic.
Solutions:
- Create the right incentives to visit your blog, and make sure to promote it to the right users, at the right time.
- Use heatmaps to check how your users interact with your navigation and other “gateways” to your blog and conduct experiments accordingly.
Pro-tip: You don’t have to use one strategy for your entire blog. You can create specific elements to promote specific content hubs.
Engagement
Engagement represents the number of key actions taken by your users. What do we mean by key actions? That will depend on your website, some examples include:
- Watching videos
- Filling out a form
- Buying a product
Common challenge: Engagement is too low - and the bounce rate is too high.
Solutions:
- Check for basic speed and performance issues.
- Make sure that you’re not triggering decision paralysis by throwing multiple unconnected CTAs in your users’ faces.
Micro-Conversions
Micro-conversions are every small step a user will take before reaching the main conversion, for instance:
- Logging into your website
- Clicking on a product
- Starting the checkout process
Ideally, all these actions end in a major conversion, such as purchasing your product.
Common challenge: Users are dropping off on their path to conversion.
Solutions:
- Reduce micro-conversions and intermediary steps. If making a purchase takes 8 steps, try to shorten that path.
- Implement a proper analytics solution that allows you to visualize where your users drop off.
- Add elements that give users a sense of progress or achievement after completing a microconversion.
Returning User Conversions
This metric focuses on users who have previously visited your website and are now coming back to convert. This KPI is extremely important to understand customer retention.
Common challenge: Users return but don't convert.
Solutions:
- Look for patterns - where do users drop off?
- Learn which pages are attracting the most returning visitors - are they informative or conversion-oriented pages? If they’re informative pages, you may need to level up your CTAs and make them more visible and more relevant.
- Check for usability issues - are your visitors trying to convert again and again and failing due to a bug?
- Target returning visitors with custom special offers.
Constant Optimization is the Secret to a High-Converting Website
Your website can have an enormous impact on your business. Especially if you approach it as a “living” asset that you can optimize for impact.
Transitioning from a “launch it and forget it” approach to a more hands-on method can be overwhelming.
The good news? We can help you make that transition.
Start getting an ROI from your marketing site today.
Learn more about our design services or book a free consultation today.