Following on from our previous posts in this series, this month we look at how to take all the digital analysis principles we've identified so far and create an ongoing measurement plan. Knowing how to use a tool like Google Analytics is great, but if you don't have a suitable plan for putting these skills into practise, it won't have any significant impact on your business.
With web design evolving fast it is important to keep up-to-date with the ever changing trends and technologies. In order to help you stay ahead of the curve we take a look at some of the trends we can expect to see in 2017.
A website conversion occurs when a user takes an action that you as the website owner desire them to take. This could be purchasing a product, signing up for a newsletter, completing an enquiry form or something else of value to your business. Understanding the different types of conversion and how you should attribute credit for them is a fundamental skill in analysing your website data and will help you when allocating future marketing budgets.
Following a recent announcement by Apple, the Apple App Store will soon begin to allow developers to offer paid subscriptions for apps. Until now, developers have only been able to charge a one-off download fee, or in-app fees to unlock specific features (e.g. the removal of ads).
Understanding how to interpret and analyse your data will allow you to harness the power of Google Analytics to help inform important business decisions about your website and online strategy. Although Google Analytics provides you with terrific aggregate data that highlights trends and patterns in your website traffic, you need to be able to analyse this data so that you can hypothesise about the underlying causes and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
Virtual Reality (VR) has huge potential to change the way we view and interact with the web and the world in general. Although VR experiences are still largely experimental, with headsets very much in their infancy, we can now begin to imagine how the impact of VR will shape the future. Imagine an ecommerce website that surrounds you - one that you could walk around much like being in a shop. Or a virtual library you could browse, pull a book off the shelf and read. These are the kind of exciting experiences we can expect VR to deliver one day along with much more.
AmazonFresh - an online grocery delivery service operating in the US since 2007 - has finally made it's first step across the pond to the UK. Initially the service will only be available to 69 postcodes in London, but a phased rollout will see this grow to include other parts of the city in due course.
Websites are business tools at the end of the day, and like any tool they need to be sharpened and maintained to remain fit-for-purpose. Without a facility to collect data about the traffic coming to your website, coupled with the skills to analyse it, making important business decisions about what you should be doing to develop your online presence can be daunting. Knowing where and when to invest in your website can be the most difficult part.