Measuring the success of an e-commerce website is reasonably straightforward. The electronic cash register has the last word. However, measuring the success of a website with no direct transactions is a completely different story. Such is the case of the Bradford College website (www.bradford.adelaide.edu.au), which we recently redesigned. Visitors are not expected to perform a specific transaction online. Neither are they even expected to take action by impulse, as an online store would. Instead, they will research, compare and ultimately apply through a strict offline selection process.
Hence the question: When and how can a website without online transactions measure value?
There is no one-size-fits-all recipe, but in this case engagement was the name of the game. We use Average Page Views per Visit and Bounce Rate (i.e. the percentage of visitors who leave after just one page view) as indicators of the website’s ability to retain users. Right after releasing the new version, average page views jumped 27% and bounce rate went down by 10%. In other words, people browse more and are less likely to abandon immediately. Both indicators show a cleaner, strategic design will go a long way in engaging users.
Congratulations Bradford College for these preliminary results!
Tips to measure web value:
1. Have a clear strategy in place
2. Focus on your KPIs
3. Measure, measure, measure