Remember that line from Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come?”
Well, you built your site, and the visitors certainly came. Not only that, but they’ve left behind all kinds of data for you to access.
You have so much data that you could fill an entire cornfield baseball diamond and then some. In fact, you’re going through data overload.
Take a deep breath and stand back for a second. You don’t need all of that data, but you do need some of it. Cut through the excess and pick out the data you need to increase your conversions.
What Data Do You Need?
You’ll probably be surprised to find out you don’t need nearly as much data as you thought. The basics you need are:
- Demographics
- Email addresses
- Website usage
- Visitor intent
Related: What is Inbound Marketing and How Does it Work?
Demographic Data
So your product is intended for women over 50, but your site mainly attracts women under 30. What do you do? You would need to change your messaging or create content to match the needs of your intended audience. Of course, if women under 30 are also becoming customers, that’s great! Be sure to tailor your messaging for that segment, as well.
In this scenario, you’ve learned a great deal about your audience and can implement changes to make your website stronger and more attractive to the right customers. But you would never know what’s going on unless you collect social demographic data. Collect the age, gender and location of your visitors to ensure you’re marketing to your buyer personas.
Email Addresses
The email address is one of the most powerful pieces of information you can collect. Email addresses are like the phone numbers of yesteryear, so be sure to ask for them. By collecting this information, you can follow up with customers about their purchase, send ongoing marketing emails to potential customers, keep blog subscribers up to date with your latest posts and get the word out about any special deals or promotions you are running.
Related: An Email Resurrection: Rekindle a Dwindling List
Website Usage
Website usage lets you know what your customers do when they visit your site. You can see if they stop by and stay a while or leave quickly. You can see how they found you, if they download or share your content, abandon items in the shopping cart, and more. Some software platforms will also let you track a visitor’s complete journey so you can learn how people navigate through your pages and products. This information will help you fine-tune your website and marketing messages.
Visitor Intent
If you intend to use personalized marketing (and you should), you need to know your customers’ intent. This allows you to segment your email lists and other marketing materials based on the reason the visitor came to your site. You can nurture and cultivate leads for those who are still researching products while selling to those who are ready to buy.
Related: How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Getting Your Data
Now you know what data you need, but how do you get it? You have two options for gathering data, and you need to use both.
Gathering Data Through Customized Forms
Customized forms are an excellent way to gather data, especially demographics, email addresses, and intent. Create a form with questions that will give you a better picture of each visitor.
Include questions like:
- What is your age?
- What is your gender?
- Where are you located?
- What is your email address?
- Which best describes your visit:
- Browsing but not ready to make a purchase
- Ready to buy today
- Conducting research and will buy in the next:
- Year
- Six months
- Month
- Week
Collecting Data Through Your CMS
The right CMS makes it easy to build forms, but that’s not all - you can also track user behavior. Most CMS systems include activity logs you can use to see your visitors’ actions when on your site.
Related: 6 Must-Have Elements of a Great Website design
Start Collecting Data Today
Now you are ready to start gathering data. Create forms and use your CMS to track the necessary data.
Do you have a headache thinking of all the data you have to track? Let Ironmark do it for you. We do all the heavy lifting, so you can sit back and watch the conversions roll in. Schedule a chat to find out how our experts can help you.
