Google™ Analytics 2.0

Chapter 14. Visitor Loyalty

Visitor loyalty — it is one of the most sought after aspects of drawing visitors to your web site. And it’s not easy to accomplish. The Internet makes it really easy for users to pop into your site and then take off to find another if what they are looking for isn’t immediately apparent on your site.

It’s not at all like the “real world” where you might go into a store looking for something only to find that what you’re looking for is a little more expensive, or the store doesn’t carry the exact brand. Because you had to drive to the store, get out of your car, and find whatever it was you were looking for, you’re less likely to take off and go to another store if the exact product you’re looking for isn’t available. It’s just a pain to repeat that process all over again.

On the Internet, however, moving on is as simple as clicking a button. And users will move on for all kinds of reasons. If you have a web site that is slow to load, visitors go to the next web site on their list. If a user finds your site through a product or information search and what they were looking for isn’t right there as soon as they click into your site, they’ll move on. Any number of things can prompt a user to find another site.

It is also hugely expensive to continue drawing new customers to your site. If, however, you can build a core of loyal users — that would be users you know will return and will regularly be the source of a goal conversion for you — then you don’t have ...