Running an online shop provides its owner with several valuable data on the level of sales and customer behaviour. Analysing the collected information, especially those concerning website traffic, is the basis for effective e-commerce business. How to analyse traffic and develop an online shop?
Sources of traffic in an online shop
One of the key factors determining sales in an online shop is traffic. The bigger and more valuable it is, the better the chances of good deals.
There are many sources from which potential customers can reach a shop. The key one is the one from the Google search engine which is the main source of traffic for almost all online shops. Organic traffic is responsible for website positioning activities. Traffic from social media, price comparison engines, affiliate networks or directly from bloggers and influencers is also valuable.
Conversion in an online shop
Conversion in e-commerce is one of the key factors in the profitability analysis of online shops. It represents the percentage of users who have visited our website and made a purchase through it. For example, when the percentage of sessions in a shop was 1000 and 50 orders were placed, the conversion rate is 5%.
Optimising online shop conversion is a challenge for online retailers. By monitoring traffic within the site and visitors’ behaviour, we can more effectively tailor online services to their needs and expectations. A high level of conversion will be the best measure of online sales success.
Tools useful in traffic analysis
1. Google Analytics
Among the website traffic analysis tools, we can distinguish between paid and free of charge. The well-known and popular Google Analytics tool is used to verify the conversion measured for each channel. Properly configured, it gives full insight into all converting traffic sources. In this way, it allows for tracking the conversion value of individual channels – total revenue, average order value and income by purchase. It is also used to monitor user traffic on the website, i.e., to track the customer’s paths and analyse the popularity of particular products or product categories.
2. Google Tag Manager
Another tool that can be used by e-shop owners is Google Tag Manager. It allows you to track traffic on your website and monitor advertising campaigns. GTM makes it much easier to work with all the tracking codes on the website, including Google Analytics, Google Ads, Crazy Egg and more.
3. Google Search Console
The primary function of the Google Search Console, which is extremely useful for website owners, is the information about organic traffic on the site. Apart from its analysis, the tool is also used to monitor the status of the website – it detects any errors and malware, which can lower the position of the website in search results and reduce traffic within it.
4. SemStorm
Another handy tool for e-business owners is SemStorm which enables extensive analysis of the website’s visibility – in natural Google search results and paid results. It presents detailed data on the keywords to which the website is visible in the TOP50 free Google search results together with the position occupied. In this way, it allows you to estimate the volume of traffic from the search engine.
5. SimiliarWeb
SimiliarWeb – a tool for analysing the popularity and level of online shop traffic – is also used in e-commerce traffic analysis. The functionality of the plug-in includes such statistics as a monthly number of visits or user engagement, i.e., time spent on the website, number of page views or rejection rate. The data also includes traffic sources with their percentage share.
6. Ahrefs
Ahrefs also provides detailed insight into the popularity of the linked website and the organic traffic estimation site. This tool provides a function to check a selected keyword and estimate the potential of organic traffic for a specific phrase.
7. Crazy Egg
Heat maps, a method of graphical presentation of data on user behaviour on a website, play an important role in e-commerce traffic analysis. The Crazy Egg tool creates the so-called heat maps showing clicks and scrolling of the website and presents statistics of clicks on its elements.
Why is it worth investing in shop traffic analysis?
Web analytics is the foundation of e-commerce. It involves collecting data and analysing them, which serves to draw the right conclusions about the condition of the shop and to plan activities related to its development. The numerous advantages of web traffic analytics include primarily the improvement of the aforementioned conversion rate and acquisition of new customers at a lower cost. The analysis allows to verify the popularity of particular products or product categories and to determine the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
If we want to have a constant insight into the condition of our online shop, we can also choose Ecometrixo. It is an e-commerce analysis tool that saves your time as it collects data from all advertising sources and converts them into the most important KPIs for your business.