Your website is a critical component of your business. For many customers, it’s the only interaction they will have with your business, which means you need to ensure it is doing its job. But how do you know whether your website is performing at a high level? 

Measuring your website’s performance is all about tracking data. There are several common key performance indicators (KPIs) that you may find useful for tracking your website’s performance. We'll go through five of the most common KPIs, and consider the types of websites that could benefit from them. 

1. Sales

We’ll start with the most obvious KPI that needs to be tracked. If sales numbers are strong, you know you’re meeting your goals—or at least some of them. Strong sales are an indicator that you’re getting traffic to your website and your sales page is generally well-crafted.

But what if your sales figures aren’t up to expectations? Tracking some of the other KPIs in our list could help you nail down the reason. In fact, the important thing to remember with any KPIs is that you often need to combine several metrics to get a full picture of what's going on.

2. Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that navigate away from your website after viewing only one page. This makes it an extremely useful KPI for you to track for determining how well your website is performing. 

You have a limited amount of time to make a positive impression and close a sale on each visitor, so if your bounce rate is high then you can deduce that something about your website’s design is not working. This KPI will let you know whether your UI/UX design or offer needs to be reworked.

3. Account or Email Sign-Ups

Aside from sales, another goal for your website may be to get users to sign up for a mailing list or create an account on your website. It’s easy to track your sign-up numbers and, more specifically, track the percentage of unique visitors who sign up.

Whether or not this KPI is critical depends entirely on your business model and the goals of your website. For example, if email plays a significant role in your marketing plan—and in most cases, it probably should—then a high sign-up rate is a clear indication that your website is helping you accomplish your goals.

4. New Visitor Percentage

This KPI is an important indication of whether you’re getting a lot of new leads. If a high percentage of the visitors on your website are first-time visitors, it’s a clear indication that your reach is expanding. This is a great sign if your business model is based primarily on gaining new customers as opposed to returning customers. 

While it’s true that new customers are almost always a good thing, in some instances, you may prefer to see more returning customers than new ones. This is especially true if you have a subscription product or service that is heavily reliant on customers maintaining an active subscription. 

5. Return Visitor Percentage

In opposition to new visitor percentage, you may also be interested in specifically tracking return visitor percentage. A high rate of return visitors may be a sign of a loyal customer base. When you have many people visiting your website multiple times, you can at least rest assured that your site has done its job of keeping your business in the minds of its visitors.

Still, you need to combine this KPI with some others to really get a full view of how well your website is performing. For example, if your return visitor percentage is very high but sales numbers are low, then it’s an indication that customers are considering your product or service but there may be an issue with your sales page that is preventing them from pulling the trigger.

Key Takeaway: Track KPIs Based on Your Specific Goals

Your website is a massive part of your business, and the more KPIs you track, the better you will be able to gauge its performance. By combining various data points, you can not only determine whether your website is performing as it should, but you can also gain insights into why it may not be performing as well as expected.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with KPI tracking or just need help to improve a website that isn’t performing in alignment with expectations, you can always contact the team of experienced professionals at Camber Creative.