How do I know that my e-commerce site is successful?
Obviously,
if orders are coming in and you are making money via your website, you have
accomplished your main goal. In order to continue this successful venture and
to improve upon it, it is important to offer excellent customer service, make
your customer comfortable with his/her purchase, and to have repeat visitors.
You want your site to be "sticky." This means that you are giving your readers
what they want —
and
giving them a reason to stay on the site. For some suggestions on how to do
this, visit http://html.about.com/compute/html/library/weekly/aa051500a.htm.
Another way to measure your effectiveness is to monitor the traffic to your site. You should track the effectiveness of your website while learning as much about the visitors as you can. You can determine what type of computer they are using, what browser, what language, their IP address, referring page (where they came from), resolution of their monitor, which plug-ins they have installed, and their geographic location. To track information like this, use a tracking program like Web Trends.
Here are some FREE services you may want to use to monitor your web traffic:
You may also try advertising some special offering on your website that will notify you which customers came to you via your website. For example, include a coupon which must be printed from your site or offer discounts for customers who mention code words or phrases from your site.
And finally, you will know if your web site is successful if you are meeting the overall objectives that you determined when first deciding to have an e-commerce site (e.g, increased sales volumes, more awareness of your company, etc.).
Related link
"How to Track Your Marketing Response" discusses how to monitor your marketing efforts.
Back to e-Business Resource Guide homepage
Find a word in the glossary
Contact an SBTDC counselor
Return to the SBTDC homepage
