Many times, the retailers who come to work with us have some degree of frustration with their existing website. Many times, these websites look great – they’re aesthetically pleasing, with a sensible retail design – but the sales just aren’t happening.

It’s important to determine the cause of the problem.

How do we do that?

When you visit the doctor, they look at test results and lab reports to determine what’s going on with your health. That’s the data they use to determine a diagnosis – the first step in making you feel better. When your website’s not up to snuff, data is equally important. For most retailers, that data is to be found in Google Analytics.

Examining the data is important because the data is the only wholly objective record of what’s happening on your website. Everyone’s got an opinion about website design, and you might hear 100 opinions about changing site navigation or your product showcases or call to action buttons. The data isn’t an opinion: it’s a report of what actually did or didn’t happen.

Assuming Google Analytics is configured properly, it takes a month to capture an accurate picture of what’s happening on your website over the course of time. This is a preliminary map of the customer journey; it is possible to determine where your traffic is coming from, how they move around your website, including critical failure points that lead to visitor departure. Some problems are immediately apparent; remedying them in a controlled, systemic fashion is the best way to assess the effectiveness of each effort.

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Doctors prescribe follow up visits for a reason: they want to assess your progress after a suggested course of treatment has been completed and help you reach a state of optimum health. In much the same way, ongoing data review is essential to the health of your business website. A quarterly review provides for enough time to assess the impact of implemented repairs and upgrades, as well to identify emerging issues.