We often use website analytics to determine how our blog content is performing. But did you know that you can also use analytics to help shape your web design? These numbers are telling you if and how people are interacting with your site. There are all kinds of nuggets of information in there.

Let's jump in!

5 Things Your Website Analytics Can Tell You

1. If People Are Spending Very Little Time on Your Page...

Do people landing on one of your web pages stay there for three seconds, and then bail?

This hurts our feelings.

This tells us that they're pretty quickly seeing something that's a major turn-off. That turn-off could be a number of things. If your page is top-to-bottom text, you might want to redesign it to incorporate some images or videos. This will help not only break up the text but keep people on the page longer — especially video.

If there are too many buttons that are too close together, that's something else to address. You can consider reducing the number of buttons on the page, and/or spacing them out. (Remember, having too many CTAs typically confuses the user, and they end up doing nothing.)

Or perhaps there's something clunky happening with the code, causing the page to load too slowly. That's a big no-no. A properly built website shouldn't have a ton of unnecessary code. Do you think this might be happening to you? We can help!

2. If the Engagement Rate is Low...

In GA4, engagement rate has replaced bounce rate. But we still want to talk about what happens when a person lands on your page and eventually leaves without exploring any other pages (read: people who "bounce").

First, let's make sure we're on the same page. If you're running a Facebook ad to a landing page, and that landing page is converting people (more on conversions in a minute), it might not be as big of a deal that the bounce rate (or engagement rate) isn't too stellar. The page is doing its job.

However, under most other circumstances, you really want people to sit down and get comfortable. You want them poking around your site and exploring other internal pages.

If they're not, then you need to consider if your website is making it too difficult for them to.

3. If Your Conversion Rate is Underwhelming...

Are people landing on your page but then not doing anything once they get there? This can be incredibly frustrating if you're trying to get visitors to take some sort of action — like purchase something or sign up for your email list.

If your website analytics are showing that people are indeed landing on a page and poking around but ultimately doing nothing, there are a few things you can consider testing on your website. For starters, how many clicks does it take for a user to accomplish that specific task? You want to help them get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible.

Have you tried testing pop-ups? Yes, they can be incredibly annoying. But they can also be incredibly effective. Consider an exit-intent pop-up, which will appear as a user is moving their mouse to close the page or go to another website. Offer your visitors something of value, something enticing that will incentivize them to continue interacting with you.

4. If Your Mobile Traffic is Depressing...

Are you website analytics telling you a sad story when it comes to your mobile users? You might want to look into this, because mobile is likely going to make up a huge chunk of your traffic. If these users aren't happy, you'll be missing out on a lot of opportunities to connect with them.

So, what do you do?

Stop reading this blog right now, and pull up your website on your phone.

We're serious. Stop reading this! Come back once you've checked your site.

All done? Now, what did you see? Are buttons too close together and hard to click? Are the images cropped or skewed, distorted or fuzzy? Do you have to scroll from side to side to read all the text?

These things will hold you back! People access the internet on their smartphones out of ease and convenience. If your mobile experience isn't easy or convenient, you need to chat with your web designers to make your site more mobile-friendly.

Pro tip: Think of how most people — likely yourself included — use their phones. They do most of the work with their thumb. So, you should make it easy for mobile users to click what you want them to click using their thumbs. This is something your web design agency should be able to do.

5. Bonus Tip: Check Your Heat Map

Put very simply, a heat map shows you where people are spending time on your page. We like this bit from Crazy Egg: "A heat map is data analysis software that uses color the way a bar graph uses height and width: as a data visualization tool. If you’re looking at a web page and you want to know which areas get the most attention, a heat map shows you in a visual way that’s easy to assimilate and make decisions from."

A heat map can be incredibly revealing. Is yours telling you that most people aren't spending time on a web page where you want them to? Then that's your signal to look into that page — and that section — to investigate what might be going wrong.

Your website design plays a huge role in your analytics. But we want to offer a gentle reminder: Your content does too! When you're able to combine both and really kick butt, that's when you're going to see amazing results.

Feeling overwhelmed? We get it. Let us help. LSM is standing by to assist you with all of your website and content needs. Book a free consultation today.