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• Accessibility Testing: Why It Matters and How to Get Started

  7 May 2024, by Erin

  Nearly 96% of website homepages had failures with meeting web accessibility criteria in 2024. Aside from not complying with web accessibility laws and regulations, companies are failing a growing number of users with accessibility needs.

  With disabilities, chronic illnesses and ageing populations all rising, brands need to take accessibility more seriously. 

  In this article, we explain why accessibility testing is so important and how you can get started today.

  What is accessibility testing?

  Accessibility testing optimises digital experiences to make them accessible for users with a range of disabilities and impairments. This includes users with vision impairments, hearing loss, neurodivergence, motor disabilities and cognitive conditions.

  The goal is to create inclusive experiences for everyone by implementing UX principles that address the usability needs of diverse audiences.

  To help developers create accessible experiences, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The international WCAG standards define the Four Principles of Accessibility:

  • Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they perceive.

  • Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.

  • Understandable: Information and the operation of user interfaces must be understandable.
  • Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by various user agents, including assistive technologies.

  

  The current version of WCAG (2.2) contains 86 success criteria with three grades representing conformance levels:

  • Level A is the minimum conformance rating, indicating that web content is accessible to most users.

  • Level AA is the recommended conformance level to make content accessible to almost everyone, including users with severe disabilities.
  • Level AAA is the highest conformance rating, making content accessible to everyone, regardless of disability.

  

  Why is accessibility testing important?

  With record numbers of lawsuits over online accessibility cases, it’s clear that companies underestimate the importance of accessibility testing. Here are seven key reasons you should pay more attention to it:

  1. Create inclusive experiences: Above all, accessibility testing creates inclusive experiences for all users.
  2. Adhere to accessibility regulations: Accessibility laws in most major markets — including the EU web accessibility policy — make it illegal for companies to discriminate against users with disabilities.
  3. Social responsibility: Companies have an ethical responsibility to cater to all users and consumers. 57% say they’re more loyal to brands that commit to addressing social inequities.
  4. Accessibility needs are growing: 16% of the world’s population (1 in 6) experience significant disability and the number will continue to grow as ageing populations rise.
  5. Improve experiences for everyone: Accessibility improves experiences for all users — for example, 80% of UK viewers aged 18-25 (2021) watch content with subtitles enabled.
  6. Maximise marketing reach: Platforms like Google prioritise accessibility yearly, making accessible content and experiences more visible.
  7. Accessibility is profitable: Inclusive companies earn 1.6x more revenue, 2.6x more net income and 2x more profit, according to Accenture (PDF).

  

  Who needs inclusive UX?

  Accessibility testing starts with understanding the usability needs of audiences with disabilities and impairments. Here’s a quick summary of the most common impairments and some of the needs they have in common:

  • Visual impairments: Users may rely on screen readers, magnification software, braille displays, etc. or require certain levels of contrast, text sizes and colour combinations to aid visibility.
  • Hearing impairments: Users may rely on closed captions and subtitles for video content, transcripts for multimedia content and visual alerts/notifications for updates.
  • Motor or mobility impairments: Users might rely on adaptive keyboards, voice recognition and other assistive devices.
  • Cognitive and neurological impairments: Users may rely on technologies like text-to-speech software or require simplified user interfaces, contrast designs, etc., to aid comprehension.
  • Speech impairments: Users may rely on speech recognition and dictation software for any interaction that requires them to speak (e.g., automated customer service machines).

  While accessibility tools can alleviate certain accessibility challenges, inclusive design can remove much of the burden from users. This can involve using plenty of contrast, careful font selection, increasing whitespace and plenty of other design choices.

  Refer to the latest version of the WCAG for further guidance.

  How to run accessibility testing

  Now that we’ve emphasised the importance of accessibility, let’s explain how you can implement your own accessibility testing strategy.

  Create your accessibility testing plan

  Careful planning is crucial for making accessibility testing affordable and profitable. This starts with identifying the assets you need to test and optimise. This may include:

  • Website or web app
  • Mobile app
  • Videos
  • Podcasts and audio
  • PDFs
  • Marketing emails

  Map out all the assets your target audience interacts with and bring them into your accessibility testing plan. Optimising your website for screen readers is great, but you don’t want to forget your marketing emails and exclude vision-impaired users.

  Once you’ve got a complete list of assets, identify the elements and interactions with each one that require accessibility testing. For example, on your website, you should optimise navigation, user interfaces, layouts, web forms, etc.

  You also need to consider the impact of device types. For example, how touchscreens change the experience for motor impairments.

  Now that you know the scope of your testing strategy, it’s time to define your accessibility standards. Use external frameworks like WCAG guidelines and relevant legal requirements to create an internal set of standards.

  Once your accessibility standards are complete, train your staff at every level. This includes designers, developers, and content creators — everyone who works on assets is included in your accessibility testing strategy.

  Implement your accessibility standards throughout the design and development phases. Aim to create the most inclusive experiences possible before the accessibility testing stage.

  Implement accessibility practices at every level

  Treating accessibility as an afterthought is the biggest mistake you can make. Aside from neglecting the importance of accessibility, it’s simply not affordable to create assets and then optimise them for accessibility.

  Instead, you need to implement accessibility standards in every design and development stage. This way, you create inclusive assets from the beginning, and accessibility testing flags minor fixes rather than overhauls.

  By extension, you can take lessons from accessibility tests and update your accessibility standards to improve the quality of future assets.

  Set clear specifications in your accessibility standards for everyone to follow. For example, content publishers should be responsible for adding alt-text to all images. Make designers responsible for following contrast guidelines when optimising elements like CTA buttons.

  

  Next, managers can review assets and check for accessibility standards before anything is signed off. This way, you achieve higher test accessibility scores, and most fixes should be minor.

  This is the key to making accessibility testing manageable and profitable.

  Automate accessibility testing

  Automation is the other big factor in making accessibility efficient. With the right tools, you can run tests periodically without any manual workload, collecting data and flagging potential issues at almost no cost.

  For example, you can run automated accessibility tests on your website every month to check for common issues. This might flag up pages without alt-text for images, colour issues on a new batch of landing pages or a sudden drop in mobile loading times.

  Every automated test you can run reduces the manual workload of optimising accessibility. This frees up more time for the manual tests that require the attention of accessibility experts. 

  • Free up time for accessibility tasks that require manual testing
  • Identify issues with new content, assets, code, etc. faster
  • Run automated accessibility testing on new CRO changes

  Schedule manual accessibility reviews

  While it’s important to automate as much accessibility testing as possible, most accessibility standards require some form of manual testing. If we use the WCAG standards as a guideline, more than 70% of success require manual review and verification, including:

  • Testing websites with a screen reader
  • Navigating apps by only using a keyword
  • Quality assessing closed captions and subtitles
  • Testing web forms for people using speech input
  • Checking conversion actions for users with mobility issues (CTAs, forms, payments, etc.)

  Yes, you can automatically check all images for alt-text, but simply providing alt-text isn’t enough. You also have to review alt-text to make sure they’re descriptive, accurate and informative about the experience.

  Once again, the best way to minimise your time spent on manual testing is to implement accessibility standards throughout design and development. Train your content publishers to create alt-text that meets your criteria and editors to review them before pieces are signed off. 

  This way, you should always have the required alt-text before the content reaches the accessibility testing stage. The same applies to video transcriptions, web forms, website navigation, etc.

  Building a culture of accessibility makes the testing process as efficient as possible.

  What tools do you need for accessibility testing?

  Now that we’ve covered the key essentials of accessibility testing, let’s look at some of the best accessibility testing tools to help you implement your strategy.

  accessiBe: AI-powered accessibility testing automation

  accessiBe is an accessibility testing automation and management system. It incorporates two core products: accessWidget for automating UI accessibility and accessFlow as an all-in-one solution for developers.

  

  Key features:

  • Automated accessibility testing
  • Accessibility widget for easy optimisation
  • Product accessibility for web, mobile and native apps
  • AI-powered accessibility insights
  • Compliance with WCAG, EAA and more

  As explained earlier, automation is crucial for making accessibility testing efficient and profitable. With accessiBe, you can automate the first line of accessibility checks so testers only need to get involved when manual action is necessary.

  Maze: Intelligent usability testing software

  Maze is a usability testing system that uses AI and automation to enhance traditional qualitative testing. You can run automated tests on live websites, capture survey feedback and recruit users to test experiences with real people.

  

  Key features:

  • Live website testing
  • Feedback surveys
  • Usability interviews
  • Test recruitment
  • Automated analysis

  While traditional usability interviews can provide in-depth insights, they’re expensive, time-consuming and difficult to run at scale. Maze’s solution is a hybrid testing system that automates data capture and analysis while supporting real user testing in one system.

  Matomo: Empowering people with ethical web analytics

  Matomo is a web analytics solution that gives you 100% data ownership while respecting user privacy. Think of this as a Google Analytics alternative that doesn’t use your visitors’ data for advertising purposes.

  

  Key features:

  • Privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant tracking
  • Conversion rate optimisation features like heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing and more
  • Accurate, unsampled data – see 40-60% more data than other analytics tools that sample data
  • Open-source

  Accessibility starts with creating quality experiences for everyone. Matomo reliably captures 100% of the data you need to optimise experiences without losing their trust. Instead of handing their personal info to Google or other tech giants, you retain full data ownership — fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, etc.

  Try Matomo free for 21-days (no credit card required), or speak to our sales team for more info on how Matomo can enhance your site’s user experience and support your accessibility testing strategy.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  UserTesting: Video-based user testing software

  UserTesting is the more traditional system for running usability tests with real people. The platform helps you recruit users and manage usability tests with a series of sessions and video interviews.

  

  Key features:

  • Usability testing
  • Test recruitment
  • Live interviews
  • AI-powered insights
  • Usability services

  UserTesting is a slower, more expensive approach to testing experiences, but its video-based interviews allow you to have meaningful conversations with real users.

  Siteimprove: WCAG compliance testing

  Siteimprove automates website testing, accessibility and optimisation. It includes dedicated tools for checking WCAG and DCI compliance with an automated scoring system. This helps you keep track of scores and identify any accessibility and usability issues faster.

  

  Key features:

  • Automated accessibility checks
  • Inclusivity scores
  • Accessibility recommendations
  • Accessibility tracking
  • Marketing and revenue attribution
  • Usability insights

  Siteimprove provides a first line of accessibility testing with automated checks and practical recommendations. It also tracks accessibility scores, including ratings for all three WCAG compliance levels (A, AA and AAA).

  Find the value in accessibility testing

  Accessibility testing isn’t only a moral obligation; it’s good business. Aside from avoiding fines and lawsuits, inclusive experiences are increasingly profitable. User bases with accessibility needs are only growing while non-disabled audiences are using accessibility resources like subtitles and transcripts in greater numbers.

  Accessibility improves everyone’s experiences, and this only does good things for conversion rates, revenue and profit.

  Start building your datasets for accessibility testing today with a Matomo 21-day free trial — no credit card required. Gain 100% ownership over your analytics data while complying with GDPR and other data privacy regulations.

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• Open Banking Security 101: Is open banking safe?

  3 December 2024, by Daniel Crough — Banking and Financial Services

  Open banking is changing the financial industry. Statista reports that open banking transactions hit $57 billion worldwide in 2023 and will likely reach $330 billion by 2027. According to ACI, global real-time payment (RTP) transactions are expected to exceed $575 billion by 2028.

  Open banking is changing how banking works, but is it safe? And what are the data privacy and security implications for global financial service providers?

  This post explains the essentials of open banking security and addresses critical data protection and compliance questions. We’ll explore how a privacy-first approach to data analytics can help you meet regulatory requirements, build customer trust and ultimately thrive in the open banking market while offering innovative financial products.

   

  

  

  EU Financial Services Analytics Maturity Report

  Discover trends, strategies, and opportunities to balance compliance and competitiveness.

  Download the report now

  What is open banking?

  Open banking is a system that connects banks, authorised third-party providers and technology, empowering customers to securely share their financial data with other companies. At the same time, it unlocks access to more innovative and personalised financial products and services like spend management solutions, tailored budgeting apps and more convenient payment gateways. 

  With open banking, consumers have greater choice and control over their financial data, ultimately fostering a more competitive financial industry, supporting technological innovation and paving the way for a more customer-centric financial future.

  Imagine offering your clients a service that analyses spending habits across all accounts — no matter the institution — and automatically finds ways to save them money. Envision providing personalised financial advice tailored to individual needs or enabling customers to apply for a mortgage with just a few taps on their phone. That’s the power of open banking.

  Embracing this technology is an opportunity for banks and fintech companies to build new solutions for customers who are eager for a more transparent and personalised digital experience.

  How is open banking different from traditional banking?

  In traditional banking, consumers’ financial data is locked away and siloed within each bank’s systems, accessible only to the bank and the account holder. While account holders could manually aggregate and share this data, the process is cumbersome and prone to errors.

  With open banking, users can choose what data to share and with whom, allowing trusted third-party providers to access their financial information directly from the source. 

  

  How does open banking work?

  The technology that makes open banking possible is the application programming interface (API). Think of banking APIs as digital translators for different software systems; instead of translating languages, they translate data and code.

  The bank creates and publishes APIs that provide secure access to specific types of customer data, like credit card transaction history and account balances. The open banking API acts like a friendly librarian, ready to assist apps in accessing the information they need in a secure and organised way.

  Third-party providers, like fintech companies, use these APIs to build their applications and services. Some tech companies also act as intermediaries between fintechs and banks to simplify connections to multiple APIs simultaneously.

  For example, banks like BBVA (Spain) and Capital One (USA) offer secure API platforms. Fintechs like Plaid and TrueLayer use those banking APIs as a bridge to users’ financial data. This bridge gives other service providers like Venmo, Robinhood and Coinbase access to customer data, allowing them to offer new payment gateways and investment tools that traditional banks don’t provide.

  Is open banking safe for global financial services?

  Yes, open banking is designed from the ground up to be safe for global financial services.

  Open banking doesn’t make customer financial data publicly available. Instead, it uses a secure, regulated framework for sharing information. This framework relies on strong security measures and regulatory oversight to protect user data and ensure responsible access by authorised third-party providers.

  In the following sections, we’ll explore the key security features and banking regulations that make this technology safe and reliable.

  Regulatory compliance in open banking

  Regulatory oversight is a cornerstone of open banking security.

  In the UK and the EU, strict regulations govern how companies access and use customer data. The revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) in Europe mandates strong customer authentication and secure communication, promoting a high level of security for open banking services.

  To offer open banking services, companies must register with their respective regulatory bodies and comply with all applicable data protection laws.

  For example, third-party service providers in the UK must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and listed on the Financial Services Register. Depending on the service they provide, they must get an Account Information Service Provider (AISP) or a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) license.

  Similar regulations and registries exist across Europe, enforced by the European National Competent Authority, like BaFin in Germany and the ACPR in France.

  In the United States, open banking providers don’t require a special federal license. However, this will soon change, as the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) unveiled a series of rules on 22 October 2024 to establish a regulatory framework for open banking.

  These regulations ensure that only trusted providers can participate in the open banking ecosystem. Anyone can check if a company is a trusted provider on public databases like the Regulated Providers registry on openbanking.org.uk. While being registered doesn’t guarantee fair play, it adds a layer of safety for consumers and banks.

  Key open banking security features that make it safe for global financial services

  Open banking is built on a foundation of solid security measures. Let’s explore five key features that make it safe and reliable for financial institutions and their customers.

  

  Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)

  Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a security principle that protects against unauthorised access to user financial data. It’s a regulated and legally required form of multi-factor authentication (MFA) within the European Economic Area.

  SCA mandates that users verify their identity using at least two of the following three factors:

  • Something they know (a password, PIN, security question, etc.)
  • Something they have (a mobile phone, a hardware token or a bank card)
  • Something they are (a fingerprint, facial recognition or voice recognition)

  This type of authentication helps reduce the risk of fraud and unauthorised transactions.

  API security

  PSD2 regulations mandate that banks provide open APIs, giving consumers the right to use any third-party service provider for their online banking services. According to McKinsey research, this has led to a surge in API adoption within the banking sector, with the largest banks allocating 14% of their IT budget to APIs. 

  To ensure API security, banks and financial service providers implement several measures, including:

  • API gateways, which act as a central point of control for all API traffic, enforcing security policies and preventing unauthorised access
  • API keys and tokens to authenticate and authorise API requests (the equivalent of a library card for apps)
  • Rate limiting to prevent denial-of-service attacks by limiting the number of requests a third-party application can make within a specific timeframe
  • Regular security audits and penetration testing to identify and address potential vulnerabilities in the API infrastructure

  Data minimisation and purpose limitation

  Data minimisation and purpose limitation are fundamental principles of data protection that contribute significantly to open banking safety.

  Data minimisation means third parties will collect and process only the data necessary to provide their service. Purpose limitation requires them to use the collected data only for its original purpose.

  For example, a budgeting app that helps users track their spending only needs access to transaction history and account balances. It doesn’t need access to the user’s full transaction details, investment portfolio or loan applications.

  Limiting the data collected from individual banks significantly reduces the risk of potential misuse or exposure in a data breach.

  Encryption

  Encryption is a security method that protects data in transit and at rest. It scrambles data into an unreadable format, making it useless to anyone without the decryption key.

  In open banking, encryption protects users’ data as it travels between the bank and the third-party provider’s systems via the API. It also protects data stored on the bank’s and the provider’s servers. Encryption ensures that even if a breach occurs, user data remains confidential.

  Explicit consent

  In open banking, before a third-party provider can access user data, it must first inform the user what data it will pull and why. The customer must then give their explicit consent to the third party collecting and processing that data.

  This transparency and control are essential for building trust and ensuring customers feel safe using third-party services.

  But beyond that, from the bank’s perspective, explicit customer consent is also vital for compliance with GDPR and other data protection regulations. It can also help limit the bank’s liability in case of a data breach.

  Explicit consent goes beyond sharing financial data. It’s also part of new data privacy regulations around tracking user behaviour online. This is where an ethical web analytics solution like Matomo can be invaluable. Matomo fully complies with some of the world’s strictest privacy regulations, like GDPR, lGPD and HIPAA. With Matomo, you get peace of mind knowing you can continue gathering valuable insights to improve your services and user experience while respecting user privacy and adhering to regulations.

  Risks of open banking for global financial services

  While open banking offers significant benefits, it’s crucial to acknowledge the associated risks. Understanding these risks allows financial institutions to implement safeguards and protect themselves and their customers.

  

  Risk of data breaches

  By its nature, open banking is like adding more doors and windows to your house. It’s convenient but also gives burglars more ways to break in.

  Open banking increases what cybersecurity professionals call the “attack surface,” or the number of potential points of vulnerability for hackers to steal financial data.

  Data breaches are a serious threat to banks and financial institutions. According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, each breach costs companies in the US an average of $4.88 million. Therefore, banks and fintechs must prioritise strong security measures and data protection protocols to mitigate these risks.

  Risk of third-party access

  By definition, open banking involves granting third-party providers access to customer financial information. This introduces a level of risk outside the bank’s direct control.

  Financial institutions must carefully vet third-party providers, ensuring they meet stringent security standards and comply with all relevant data protection regulations.

  Risk of user account takeover

  Open banking can increase the risk of user account takeover if adequate security measures are not in place. For example, if a malicious third-party provider gains unauthorised access to a user’s bank login details, they could take control of the user’s account and make fraudulent bank transactions.

  A proactive approach to security, continuous monitoring and a commitment to evolving best practices and security protocols are crucial for navigating the open banking landscape.

  Open banking and data analytics: A balancing act for financial institutions

  The additional data exchanged through open banking unveils deeper insights into customer behaviour and preferences. This data can fuel innovation, enabling the development of personalised products and services and improved risk management strategies.

  However, using this data responsibly requires a careful balancing act.

  Too much reliance on data without proper safeguards can erode trust and invite regulatory issues. The opposite can stifle innovation and limit the technology’s potential.

  Matomo Analytics derisks web and app environments by giving full control over what data is tracked and how it is stored. The platform prioritises user data privacy and security while providing valuable data and analytics that will be familiar to anyone who has used Google Analytics.

  Open banking, data privacy and AI

  The future of open banking is entangled with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These technologies significantly enhance open banking analytics, personalise services, and automate financial tasks.

  Several banks, credit unions and financial service providers are already exploring AI’s potential in open banking. For example, HSBC developed the AI-enabled FX Prompt in 2023 to improve forex trading. The bank processed 823 million client API calls, many of which were open banking.

  However, using AI in open banking raises important data privacy considerations. As the American Bar Association highlights, balancing personalisation with responsible AI use is crucial for open banking’s future. Financial institutions must ensure that AI-driven solutions are developed and implemented ethically, respecting customer privacy and data protection.

  Conclusion

  Open banking presents a significant opportunity for innovation and growth in the financial services industry. While it’s important to acknowledge the associated risks, security measures like explicit customer consent, encryption and regulatory frameworks make open banking a safe and reliable system for banks and their clients.

  Financial service providers must adopt a multifaceted approach to data privacy, implementing privacy-centred solutions across all aspects of their business, from open banking to online services and web analytics.

  By prioritising data privacy and security, financial institutions can build customer trust, unlock the full potential of open banking and thrive in today’s changing financial environment.

• Top Conversion Metrics to Track in 2024

  22 January 2024, by Erin

  2023 boasts  2.64 billion online shoppers worldwide; that’s more than a third of the global population. With these numbers on an upward trajectory in 2024, conversion metrics are more important than ever to help marketers optimise the online shopping experience. 

  In this article, we’ll provide predictions for the most important conversion metrics you should keep track of in 2024. We’ll also examine how social media can make or break your brand engagement strategy. Keep reading to stay ahead of the competition for 2024 and gain tips and tricks for improving conversion performance.

  What are conversion metrics?

  In technical terms, conversion metrics are the quantifiable measurements used to track the success of specific outcomes on a website or marketing campaign. Conversion metrics demonstrate how well your website prompts visitors to take desirable actions, like signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or filling out a form, for instance.

  Let’s say you’re running a lemonade stand, and you want to compare the number of cups sold to the number of people who approached your stand (your conversion rate). This ratio of cups sold to the total number of people can help you reassess your sales approach. If the ratio is low, you might reconsider your approach; if it’s high, you can analyse what makes your technique successful and double down.

  

  In 2023, we saw the average conversion rate for online shopping grow by 5.53% compared to the previous year. An increase in conversion rate typically indicates a higher percentage of website visitors converting to buyers. It can also be a good sign for marketing teams that marketing campaigns are more effective, and website experiences are more user-friendly than the previous year. 

  Conversion metrics are a marketers’ bread and butter. Whether it’s through measuring the efficacy of campaigns, honing in on the most effective marketing channels or understanding customer behaviour — don’t underestimate the power of conversion metrics. 

  Conversion rate vs. conversion value 

  Before we dive into the top conversion metrics to track in 2024, let’s clear up any confusion about the difference between conversion rate and conversion value. Conversion rate is a metric that measures the ratio of website visitors/users who complete a conversion action to the total number of website visitors/users. Conversion rates are communicated as percentages.

  A conversion action can mean many different things depending on your product or service. Some examples of conversion actions that website visitors can take include: 

  • Making a purchase
  • Filling out a form
  • Subscribing to a newsletter
  • Any other predefined goal

  Conversion rate is arguably one of the most valuable conversion metrics if you want to pinpoint areas for improvement in your marketing strategy and user experience (UX).

  A good conversion rate completely depends on the type of conversion being measured. Shopify has reported that the average e-commerce conversion rate will be 2.5%-3% in 2023, so if you fall anywhere in this range, you’re in good shape. Below is a visual aid for how you can calculate conversion rate depending on which conversion actions you decide to track:

  

  Conversion value is also a quantifiable metric, but there’s a key difference: conversion value assigns a numerical value to each conversion based on the monetary value of the completed conversion action. Conversion value is not calculated with a formula but is assigned based on revenue generated from the conversion. Conversion value is important for calculating marketing efforts’ return on investment (ROI) and is often used to allocate marketing budgets better. 

  Both conversion rate and conversion value are vital metrics in digital marketing. When used in tandem, they can provide a holistic perspective on your marketing efforts’ financial impact and success. 

  9 important conversion metrics to track in 2024

  Based on research and results from 2023, we have compiled this list of predictions for the most important metrics to track in 2024. 

  

  1. Conversion rate 

  To start things out strong, we’ve got the timeless and indispensable conversion rate. As we discussed in the previous section, conversion rate measures how successfully your website convinces visitors to take important actions, like making purchases or signing up for newsletters. 

  An easy-to-use web analytics solution like Matomo can help in tracking conversion rates. Matomo automatically calculates conversion rates of individual pages, overall website and on a goal-by-goal basis. So you can compare the conversion rate of your newsletter sign up goal vs a form submission goal on your site and see what is underperforming and requires improvement.

  

  In the example above in Matomo, it’s clear that our goal of getting users to comment is not doing well, with only a 0.03% conversion rate. To improve our website’s overall conversion rate, we should focus our efforts on improving the user commenting experience.

  For 2024, we predict that the conversion rate will be just as important to track as in 2023. 

  2. Average visit duration

  This key metric tracks how long users spend on your website. A session typically starts when a user lands on your website and ends when they close the browser or have been inactive for some time ( 30 minutes). Tracking the average visit duration can help you determine how well your content captures users’ attention or how engaged users are when navigating your website. 

  Average Visit Duration = Total Time Spent / Number of Visits

  

  Web analytics tools like Matomo help in monitoring conversion rate metrics like average visit duration. Timestamps are assigned to each interaction within a visit, so that average visit duration can be calculated. Analysing website visit information like average visit duration allows you to evaluate the relevance of your content with your target audience. 

  3. Starter rate

  If your business relies on getting leads through forms, paying attention to Form Analytics is crucial for improving conversion rates. The “starter rate” metric is particularly important—it indicates the number of who people start filling out the form, after seeing it. 

  When you’re working to increase conversion rates and capture more leads, keeping an eye on the starter rate helps you understand where users might encounter issues or lose interest early in the form-filling process. Addressing these issues can simplify the form-filling experience and increase the likelihood of successful lead captures.

  Try Matomo for Free

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  Concrete CMS tripled their leads using Form Analytics in Matomo—see how in their case study.

  4. Bounce rate

  Bounce rate reflects the percentage of visitors who exit your site after interacting with a single page. Bounce rate is an important metric for understanding how relevant your content is to visitors or how optimised your user experience is. A high bounce rate can indicate that visitors are having trouble navigating your website or not finding what they’re looking for. 

  Matomo automatically calculates bounce rate on each page and for your overall website.

  

  Bounce Rate = (# of Single-Page Sessions / Total # of Sessions) * 100

  5. Cost-per-conversion

  This metric quantifies the average cost incurred for each conversion action (i.e., sale, acquired lead, sign-up, etc.). Marketers use cost-per-conversion to assess the cost efficiency of a marketing campaign. You want to aim for a lower cost-per-conversion, meaning your advertising efforts aren’t breaking the bank. A high cost-per-conversion could be acceptable in luxury industries, but it often indicates a low marketing ROI. 

  Cost-per-Conversion = Ad Spend / # of Conversions

  By connecting your Matomo with Google Ads through Advertising Conversion Export feature in Matomo, you can keep tabs on your conversions right within the advertising platform. This feature also works with Microsoft Advertising and Yandex Ads.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  6. Average order value (AOV)

  AOV is a conversion metric that calculates the average monetary value of each order. AOV is crucial for helping e-commerce businesses understand the value of their transactions. A high AOV means buyers spend more per transaction and could be more easily influenced by upselling or cross-selling. Low AOV isn’t necessarily bad — you can compensate for a low AOV by boosting transaction volume. 

  

  AOV = Total Revenue / Total # of Orders 

  Matomo automatically tracks important e-commerce metrics such as AOV, the percentage of visits with abandoned carts and the conversion rate for e-commerce orders.

  7. Exit rate

  Exit rate measures the percentage of visitors who leave a specific webpage after viewing it. Exit rate differs from bounce rate in that it focuses on the last page visitors view before leaving the site. A high exit rate should be examined to identify issues with visitors abandoning the specific page. 

  Exit Rate = (# of Exits from a Page / Total # of Pageviews for that Page) * 100

  

  In the Matomo report above, it’s clear that 77% of visits to the diving page ended after viewing it (exit rate), while 23% continued exploring. 

  On the other hand, our products page shows a lower exit rate at 36%, suggesting that more visitors continue navigating through the site after checking out the products.

  How to improve your conversion performance 

  If you’re curious about improving your conversion performance, this section is designed to guide you through that exact process.

  

  Understand your target audience and their behaviour

  You may need to return to the drawing board if you’re noticing high bounce rates or a lack of brand engagement. In-depth audience analysis can unveil user demographics, preferences and behaviours. This type of user data is crucial for building user personas, segmenting your visitors and targeting marketing campaigns accordingly.

  You can segment your website visitors in a number of web analytics solutions, but for the example below, we’ll look at segmenting in Matomo. 

  

  In this instance, we’ve segmented visitors by mobile users. This helps us see how mobile users are doing with our newsletter signup goal and identify the countries where they convert the most. It also shows how well mobile users are doing with our conversion goal over time.

  It’s clear that our mobile users are converting at a very low rate—just 0.01%. This suggests there’s room for improvement in the mobile experience on our site.

  Optimise website design, landing pages, page loading speed and UX

  A slow page loading speed can result in high exit rates, user dissatisfaction and lost revenue. Advanced web analytics solutions like Matomo, which provides heatmaps and session recordings, can help you find problems in your website design and understand how users interact with it.

  Making a website that focuses on users and has an easy-to-follow layout will make the user experience smooth and enjoyable.

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  Create compelling calls-to-action (CTA)

  Research shows that a strategically placed and relevant CTA can significantly increase your revenue. CTAs guide prospects toward conversion and must have a compelling and clear message. 

  You can optimise CTAs by analysing how users interact with them — this helps you tailor them to better resonate with your target audience. 

  A/B testing

  A/B testing can improve your conversion performance by allowing you to experiment with different versions of a web page. By comparing the impact of different web page elements on conversions, you can optimise your website with confidence. 

  Key conversion metrics takeaways

  Whether understanding user behaviour to develop a more intuitive user experience or guessing which marketing channel is the most effective, conversion metrics can be a marketer’s best friend. Conversion metrics help you save time, money and headaches when making your campaigns and website as effective as possible. 

  Make improving conversion rates easier with Matomo, a user-friendly all-in-one solution. Matomo ensures reliable insights by delivering accurate data while prioritising compliance and privacy.

  Get quality insights from your conversion metrics by trying Matomo free for 21 days. No credit card required.