Convert Every Click: Make More Money Online with Holistic Conversion Rate Optimization

Chapter Five

How to Gather Data

When we start working with a new conversion rate optimization client at my firm, we spend some time gathering data before we start making any recommendations about their website or other marketing. The holistic or big picture perspective of a business is made up of little details, which we can measure using various tools and analytics programs. By gathering data at the start, we can get closer to a complete picture of what’s happening in their business and what their funnel looks like, as well as the more granular details that prove useful.

The data gathering phase brings together all the pieces that make up a business, so we can analyze what the prospects and customers are doing before, during, and after an interaction with your website or business. The more you know about what’s happening in all three of those phases, the easier it is to find places to start optimizing. Generally speaking, there are two different kinds of data—quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data includes anything that can be measured or expressed in numbers, such as how many people convert from one step to another, how many steps there are, how much traffic they have, and so on. When it comes to quantitative data, I see people commonly setting up tracking tools like Google Analytics, but data means nothing if you don’t analyze it. You enter the next level of sophistication when you go beyond basic tracking and start creating intentional quantitative data through processes ...