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• How to Increase Conversions With Form Analysis

  30 janvier 2024, par Erin

  Forms are one of the most important elements of your website. They are also one of the most difficult elements to analyse and improve. 

  Unlike a webpage, forms aren’t all that easy to analyse with standard web analytics tools. You need to learn how to conduct form analysis if you want to improve your forms’ conversion rates and increase revenue. 

  In this article, we’ll explain what form analysis is and why conducting a thorough form analysis is so important. 

  What is form analysis ?

  Form analysis is a process that measures the effectiveness of your forms. Form analysis uses several tools and techniques like a form analytics platform, heatmaps, and session recordings to collect user data and understand how visitors behave when filling in forms. 

  The goal is to improve the design and effectiveness of your forms, reducing abandonment rate and encouraging more users to submit them. 

  There are plenty of reasons visitors could be having trouble with your forms, from confusing form fields to poor design and lengthy verification processes. Form analytics can help you pinpoint why your form’s conversion rate is so low or why so many users abandon your form halfway through filling it in. 

  Why is form analysis important ?

  Website forms have some of the highest bounce rates and abandonments of any website element. By analysing your forms, you can achieve the following outcomes :

  

  Reduce form abandonment

  When it’s tough enough to get users to start filling in your form, the last thing you want them to do is abandon it halfway through. But that’s probably what your users are doing more than you’d like to think. 

  Why are they abandoning it ? Even if you’re humble enough to admit you didn’t create the greatest form the world’s ever seen, it can still be incredibly difficult to pin down why users give up on your form.

  That’s unless you conduct a form analysis. By analysing metrics and user behaviour, you can pinpoint and rectify the issues that cause users to abandon your form. 

  Improve the user experience

  Best practices will only take you so far. How users behave when filling in a form on your website may be completely different to how they behave on another site. That’s why you need to use form analysis to understand how users behave specifically on your website — and then use that information to optimise the design, layout, and content of the form to better suit them. 

  If one field is regularly left empty, for example, you can delete it. If users spend several minutes filling out a form with a high abandonment rate, you could shorten it. 

  The goal isn’t to make the best form ever but to make the best form for your audience. 

  Increase conversions

  Ultimately, form analysis helps you improve your form’s most important metric : conversions. Reducing your abandonment rate will naturally lead to more completions, but so will taking advantage of other optimisation opportunities that only become clear with form analysis. This can include optimisations like :

  • Moving the form higher up on the page
  • Shortening the form
  • Changing the heading and CTAs
  • Renaming field labels 

  A thorough form analysis process can ensure your forms generate as many conversions as possible. 

  Why do users abandon forms ?

  Are you already suffering from high form abandonment rates ? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Marketers regularly make the same mistakes when creating forms that cause users to give up halfway through completion.

  Here are some of the most common reasons for form abandonment :

  • There are too many steps. If you’re telling users they’ve just completed step 2 of 12, you can bet they won’t bother finishing your form. 
  • They ask for too much information. No one wants to fill out a long form, and often, users won’t have the information on hand if you ask for too much. Just look at the rate left blank from the Unneeded Fields report in the screenshot below :

  

  • The form is confusing. Unclear form fields or directions can put users off. 
  • All the fields are free text and time-consuming. Filling out forms with long text fields takes too much time. To speed things up, use dropdown options in the fields, but keep the options to a minimum. This not only helps users finish the form faster but also makes it easier to analyse the data later because it keeps the data format consistent so you can organise the information more efficiently. 
  • Users don’t trust the form. This is a particular problem on checkout pages where users are entering sensitive information.

  How to conduct form analysis

  You need to collect user behaviour data to effectively analyse your forms. But a lot of traditional website analytics tools won’t have the required functionality. 

  Matomo is different. Our web analytics solution offers comprehensive web analytics as well as additional features like Heatmaps, Session Recordings, A/B Testing, and Form Analytics to provide all the functionality you need. 

  Now if you don’t use Matomo, you can try it free for 21 days (no credit card required) to see if it’s the right tool for you.

  Whether you use Matomo or not is up to you. But, once you have a suitable tool in place, just follow the steps below to conduct a form analysis. 

  Check your analytics

  Tracking and analysing specific form metrics should be the first place you start. We recommend collecting data on the following metrics :

  • Form starter rate : the percentage of visitors who actually start to fill in your form
  • Completion rate : the percentage of visitors who complete the form
  • Form abandonment rate : the percentage of users who gave up filling in your form
  • Time spent completing your form : the average length of time users spend on your form

  Let’s look at these metrics are in Matomo’s Form Analytics :

  

  The dashboard shows an overview of these metrics over a given period, allowing you to see at a glance whether there are issues you need to rectify. 

  Next, deep dive into the performance of each form to see things like :

  • Drop off fields
  • Unused fields
  • Entry field
  • Most corrected fields 

  You can even use Matomo’s visitor log to see who’s behind every submission.

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  Use a heatmap

  A heatmap is a colour-based graphical representation of data. A heatmap will show what users to do on your website, including : 

  • How far they scroll
  • Which buttons they click on
  • Where they focus their attention

  When used on a webpage with a form, you’ll be able to see how often users interact with your form based on the heatmap colour, with warmer colours representing greater engagement levels.

  Let’s look at a heatmap in Matomo :

  

  This heatmap is showing us how far down users have scrolled. It’s clear that only 63% of visitors are reaching the point above our call to action to see all features. We might want to consider moving that call to action up in order to get more engagement. 

  A heatmap is a great way to see whether your form’s placement gets the level of attention you want from visitors and to what extent visitors interact with your field.

  Record user sessions

  Session replays go even further than heatmaps, recording a real-life user interacting with your site. It’s like looking over a visitor’s shoulder while they use your site.

  

  With Matomo, you can record any sessions where the user takes a certain action (like starting to fill in a form), allowing you to build a rich library of qualitative data. 

  You can then replay a recorded session at your leisure to understand exactly how users interact with your forms.

  Segment users

  If you really want to understand how visitors use your forms, then it’s essential to segment your data. 

  You can segment all Form Analytics reports by over 100 pre-built segments in Matomo.

  

  One way to segment your data is by comparing the average time on form of those who completed the form with those who abandoned it. 

  If users abandon a form quickly, that could indicate your form is irrelevant to this audience or too long. If users spend a lot of time on the form, however, it’s probably safe to assume that it is relevant but there is something wrong with the form itself. 

  Looking at the Field Timings report will help you pinpoint which field visitors are spending the most time on and causing frustration. 

  

  The Field Timings example report in Matomo above, it’s evident that the “Overview of your needs” field takes up the most time (avg. time spent is 1 min 40s). To improve this, we might want to change it to a dropdown field. This way, users can quickly select options, and if necessary, provide additional details.

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  Another way is to segment data by traffic source and compare each source’s conversion rate. This will show whether one traffic source converts better than another or if one source isn’t interested in your form at all.

  How to optimise web forms

  Want to implement what you’ve learnt from your form analysis ? Follow these steps to optimise your existing web forms. 

  Define your form’s purpose

  The first step in optimising your existing web forms is to give a clear and definitive purpose to every single one. 

  When you have a defined goal, creating a form users will complete is much easier. After all, if you don’t know why people should fill in one of your forms, how would a visitor possibly know ?

  Take a look at one of our forms below :

  

  The purpose of this form is to get users to sign up for a free trial of our web analytics platform, and every element works towards that goal :

  • The headline directs the user to take action
  • The copy explains that it’s a free trial that doesn’t require credit card details
  • The green call-to-action button reinforces the action and benefit 
  • There is validation to support this under the form – “Trusted on over 1 million websites in over 190+ countries”

  Our clear instructions leave users no doubt about why they should fill in the form or what will happen. 

  Choose the right type of form

  You can use several forms on your website, each with different designs, form fields, and goals.

  For example :

  • Registration forms are fairly minimalist and designed to collect the least amount of data possible. 
  • Contact forms are concise so that it’s easy for potential customers to reach your team. 
  • Checkout forms balance a need to collect important data with a streamlined design that doesn’t put users off.
  • Lead generation forms are compelling and usually include qualifying questions so sales teams can score leads.

  Make sure you are using the right type of form to avoid abandonments and other issues. For example, requiring users to fill in a lengthy lead generation-style form when you want them to sign up for a free trial will probably kill your conversion rate. 

  Test form elements

  If your form analysis has shed light on one or two issues, you can use A/B or multivariate testing to trial new elements or designs and see how they compare.

  There’s no shortage of elements you can test, including the form’s :

  • Headline
  • Placement
  • Design
  • CTA button
  • Colour-scheme
  • Length
  • Form fields

  

  Matomo makes it easy to create and run A/B tests on your website’s forms. 

  Move your form above the fold

  One of the simplest ways to optimise your web form is to move it above the fold — that’s the section of the screen users see when they load your page. 

  Why ? Well, the more people who see your form, the more people will fill it in. And when it’s above the fold, users can’t help but see it.

  Conclusion

  Forms are one of the most important elements on your website, so why not treat them as such and regularly run a thorough form analysis ? By doing so, you’ll identify ways to optimise your form, improve the user experience, and improve conversions. 

  Matomo is the best platform for conducting form analysis. Our combination of web analytics, Form Analytics, Session Recordings, and Heatmaps means you have all the tools you need to learn exactly how visitors interact with your forms. 

  See just how powerful Matomo’s tools are by starting a free 21-day trial, no credit card required. 

  Try Matomo for Free

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  
  

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  Start improving your websites now

  

• Ffmpeg input seeking - "Invalid NAL unit size"

  30 janvier 2024, par Dimitris

  I'm trying to use ffmpeg to get a 10-second clip from the middle of a video. The execution time of the command is important, that's why I've decided to use combined input & output seeking (as illustrated here).
The input video file is a CMAF with fragmented MP4, duration of 10 minutes.

  


  I'm testing on a Mac, Ffmpeg version is 6.1.1.

  


  This is the command that I'm using :

  


  ffmpeg -nostdin -y -ss 290 -copyts -start_at_zero -i https://devcdn.flowplayer.com/5f07362e-c358-41d0-857a-c64302a3fcc9/cmaf/17bdb16d-71d1-414c-a291-a028bd45b9ec/playlist_360.m3u8 -ss 300.0 -t 10 -vcodec libwebp -lossless 0 -quality 60 -compression_level 2 -loop 0 -an -sn output.webp


  


  Result : no output file is created.

  


  From what I understand it fails to seek position "290" in the video, probably due to "Invalid NAL unit size" errors.

  


  Here's the output :

  


  ffmpeg version N-106797-g580fb6a8c9-tessus Copyright (c) 2000-2022 the FFmpeg developersbuilt with Apple clang version 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.17)configuration: --cc=/usr/bin/clang --prefix=/opt/ffmpeg --extra-version=tessus --enable-avisynth --enable-fontconfig --enable-gpl --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenh264 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-version3 --pkg-config-flags=--static --disable-ffplaylibavutil      57. 24.101 / 57. 24.101libavcodec     59. 27.100 / 59. 27.100libavformat    59. 23.100 / 59. 23.100libavdevice    59.  6.100 / 59.  6.100libavfilter     8. 37.100 /  8. 37.100libswscale      6.  6.100 /  6.  6.100libswresample   4.  6.100 /  4.  6.100libpostproc    56.  5.100 / 56.  5.100Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'https://devcdn.flowplayer.com/5f07362e-c358-41d0-857a-c64302a3fcc9/cmaf/17bdb16d-71d1-414c-a291-a028bd45b9ec/playlist_360.cmfv':Metadata:major_brand     : isomminor_version   : 1compatible_brands: isomavc1dashcmfccreation_time   : 2024-01-30T07:41:03.000000ZDuration: 00:09:56.54, start: 0.083333, bitrate: 458 kb/sStream #0:0[0x1](und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 640x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 1 kb/s, 24 fps, 24 tbr, 90k tbn (default)Metadata:creation_time   : 2024-01-30T07:41:03.000000Zhandler_name    : ETI ISO Video Media Handlervendor_id       : [0][0][0]ffmpeg version 6.1.1-tessus  https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/  Copyright (c) 2000-2023 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple clang version 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.17)
  configuration: --cc=/usr/bin/clang --prefix=/opt/ffmpeg --extra-version=tessus --enable-avisynth --enable-fontconfig --enable-gpl --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenh264 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-version3 --pkg-config-flags=--static --disable-ffplay
  libavutil      58. 29.100 / 58. 29.100
  libavcodec     60. 31.102 / 60. 31.102
  libavformat    60. 16.100 / 60. 16.100
  libavdevice    60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100
  libavfilter     9. 12.100 /  9. 12.100
  libswscale      7.  5.100 /  7.  5.100
  libswresample   4. 12.100 /  4. 12.100
  libpostproc    57.  3.100 / 57.  3.100
[hls @ 0x7fc7bb904280] Skip ('#EXT-X-VERSION:6')
[hls @ 0x7fc7bb904280] Opening 'https://devcdn.flowplayer.com/5f07362e-c358-41d0-857a-c64302a3fcc9/cmaf/17bdb16d-71d1-414c-a291-a028bd45b9ec/playlist_360.cmfv' for reading
    Last message repeated 2 times
Input #0, hls, from '[**]/playlist_360.m3u8':
  Duration: 00:09:56.46, start: 0.083333, bitrate: 0 kb/s
  Program 0 
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
  Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 640x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 1 kb/s, 24 fps, 24 tbr, 90k tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
      compatible_brands: isomavc1dashcmfc
      handler_name    : ETI ISO Video Media Handler
      vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
      encoder         : Elemental H.264
      major_brand     : isom
      minor_version   : 1
      creation_time   : 2024-01-30T07:41:03.000000Z
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> webp (libwebp))
[hls @ 0x7fc7bb904280] Opening 'https://devcdn.flowplayer.com/5f07362e-c358-41d0-857a-c64302a3fcc9/cmaf/17bdb16d-71d1-414c-a291-a028bd45b9ec/playlist_360.cmfv' for reading
    Last message repeated 2 times
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1772342253 > 1534).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1538
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-1977545460 > 1481).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1485
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1694403391 > 1582).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1586
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-1404850266 > 1661).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1665
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (703351242 > 1680).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1684
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-836978648 > 1751).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1755
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (752797651 > 1867).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1871
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-1831058223 > 1833).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 1837
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-1238958831 > 2067).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2071
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (435683248 > 2090).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2094
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (2136335178 > 2229).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2233
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-1468707300 > 2203).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2207
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (482758774 > 2402).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2406
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-1079612217 > 2417).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2421
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-608087491 > 2546).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2550
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-1457748625 > 2527).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2531
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1933919710 > 2734).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2738
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1004643870 > 2803).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2807
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-207765435 > 2988).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2992
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-196888537 > 2306).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2310
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1118966683 > 2620).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2624
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1325583054 > 2715).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2719
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-2003602869 > 2906).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2910
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1666330272 > 3085).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 3089
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (-742329993 > 2593).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2597
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (1326266794 > 2347).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2351
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] Invalid NAL unit size (2459776 > 2155).
[NULL @ 0x7fc7bb804f40] missing picture in access unit with size 2159
[https @ 0x7fc7ba022a00] Opening 'https://devcdn.flowplayer.com/5f07362e-c358-41d0-857a-c64302a3fcc9/cmaf/17bdb16d-71d1-414c-a291-a028bd45b9ec/playlist_360.cmfv' for reading
[...]
[vost#0:0/libwebp @ 0x7fc7bbb05780] No filtered frames for output stream, trying to initialize anyway.
Output #0, webp, to 'output.webp':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf60.16.100
  Stream #0:0(und): Video: webp, yuv420p(progressive), 640x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 24 fps, 1k tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 0
      compatible_brands: isomavc1dashcmfc
      handler_name    : ETI ISO Video Media Handler
      vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
      creation_time   : 2024-01-30T07:41:03.000000Z
      major_brand     : isom
      minor_version   : 1
      encoder         : Lavc60.31.102 libwebp
[out#0/webp @ 0x7fc7bbb04900] video:0kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: unknown
[out#0/webp @ 0x7fc7bbb04900] Output file is empty, nothing was encoded(check -ss / -t / -frames parameters if used)
frame=    0 fps=0.0 q=0.0 Lsize=       0kB time=N/A bitrate=N/A speed=N/A 


  


  What I've tried so far :

  


  


  1. Downloaded the input file to a local directory and used it as input to ffmpeg - same results.

     


  


  2. Used the mp4 file from the playlist directly as an input to ffmpeg - worked but execution time is very slow

     


  


  3. Emmited the input seeking part (-ss 290 -copyts -start_at_zero) from the command - worked but also very slow in terms of execution time

     


  


  


  Any ideas on why I'm getting "Invalid NAL unit size" and how to make the command work with input seeking ?

  


• Web Analytics : The Quick Start Guide

  25 janvier 2024, par Erin

  You’ve spent ages carefully designing your website, crafting copy to encourage as many users as possible to purchase your product. 

  But they aren’t. And you don’t know why. 

  The good news is you don’t have to remain in the dark. Collecting and analysing web analytics lets you understand how your users behave on your site and why they aren’t converting. 

  But before you can do that, you need to know what those metrics and KPIs mean. That’s why this article is taking things back to basics. Below, we’ll show you which metrics to track, what they mean and how to choose the best web analytics platform. 

  What is web analytics ?

  Web analytics is the process of collecting, analysing and reporting website data to understand how users behave on your website. Web analytics platforms like Matomo collect this data by adding a code line to every site page. 

  Why is it important to track web analytics ?

  There are plenty of reasons you should start tracking web analytics, including the following :

  

  Analyse user behaviour

  Being able to analyse user behaviour is the most important reason to track website analytics. After all, you can’t improve your website’s conversion rate if you don’t know what users do on your site.

  A web analytics platform can show you how users move around your site, the links they click on and the forms they fill in. 

  Improve site experience

  Web analytics is a fantastic way to identify issues and find areas where your site could improve. You could look at your site’s exit pages, for example, and see why so many users leave your site when viewing one of these pages and what you can do to fix it.

  It can also teach you about your user’s preferences so you can improve the user experience in the future. Maybe they always click a certain type of button or prefer one page’s design over another. Whatever the case, you can use the data to make your site more user-friendly and increase conversions.

  Boost marketing efforts

  Web analytics is one of the best ways to understand your marketing efforts and learn how to improve them.

  A good platform can collect valuable data about your marketing campaigns, including :

  • Where users came from
  • What actions these users take on your site
  • Which traffic sources create the most conversions

  This information can help you decide which marketing campaigns send the best users to your site and generate the highest ROI. 

  Make informed decisions

  Ultimately, web analytics simplifies decision-making for your website and marketing efforts by relying on concrete data instead of guesswork.

  Rather than wonder why users aren’t adding products to their shopping cart or signing up for your newsletter, you can analyse how they behave and use that information to hypothesise how you can improve conversions. Web analytics will even give you the data to confirm whether you were right or wrong. 

  What are the key metrics you should track ?

  Getting your head around web analytics means knowing the most important metrics to track. Below are seven key metrics and how to track them using Matomo. 

  Traffic

  Traffic is the number of people visiting your website over a period of time. It is the lifeblood of your website since the more visits your site receives, the more revenue it stands to generate.

  However, simply having a high volume of visitors does not guarantee substantial revenue. To maximise your success, focus on attracting your ideal customers and generating quality traffic from those who are most likely to engage with your offerings.

  Ideally, you should be seeing an upward trend in traffic over time though. The longer your website has been published and the more quality and targeted content you create, the more traffic you should receive. 

  Matomo offers multiple ways to check your website’s traffic :

  • Visits log report
  • Real-time visitor map
  • Visits in real-time report

  The visits log report in Matomo is perfect if you want a granular view of your visitors.

  

  It shows you each user session and get a detailed picture of each user, including :

  • Their geographic location
  • The number of actions they took
  • How they found your site
  • The length of time they stayed
  • Their device type
  • What browser they are using
  • The keyword they used to find your site

  Traffic sources

  Traffic sources show how users access your website. They can enter via a range of traffic sources, including search engines, email and direct visits, for instance.

  Matomo has five default traffic source types :

  • Search engine – visitors from search platforms (like Google, Bing, etc.)
  • Direct traffic – individuals who directly type your website’s URL into their browser or have it bookmarked, bypassing search engines or external links
  • Websites – visits from other external sites
  • Campaigns – traffic resulting from specific marketing initiatives (like a newsletter or ad campaign, for instance)
  • Social networks  – visitors who access your website through various social media platforms (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. etc.)

  But each of these can be broken into more granular sources. Take organic traffic from search engines, for example :

  

  Matomo tracks visits from each search engine, showing you how many visits you had in total, how many actions those visitors took, and the average amount of time those visitors spent on your site. 

  You can even integrate Google, Bing and Yahoo search consoles to monitor keyword performance and enhance your search engine optimisation efforts.

  Pageviews

  Whenever a browser loads a page, your web analytics tool records a pageview. This term, pageview, represents the count of unique times a page on your website is loaded.

  You can track pageviews in Matomo by opening the Pages tab in the Behaviour section of the main navigation. 

  

  You can quickly see your site’s most visited pages in this report in Matomo. 

  Be careful of deriving too much meaning from pageviews. Just because a page has lots of views, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s quality or valuable. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, the page might be confusing, so users have to keep revisiting it to understand the content. Second, it could be the default page most visitors land on when they enter your site, like the homepage. 

  While pageviews offer insights, it’s important to dig deeper into user behaviour and other metrics to truly gauge a page’s importance and impact.

  Average time on page

  Time on page is the amount of time users spend on the page on average. You can see average time on page in Matomo’s page analytics report.

  A low time on page score isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Users will naturally spend less time on gateway pages and checkout pages. A short time spent on checkout pages, especially if users are successfully completing their transactions, indicates that the checkout process is easy and seamless.

  Conversely, a longer time on blog posts is a positive indicator. It suggests that readers are genuinely engaged with the content.

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  Returning visitors

  Returning visitors measures the number of people who visit your site more than once. It can be expressed as a number or a percentage. 

  While some analytics tools only show returning visitors as a percentage, Matomo lets you learn more about each of them in the Visitor profile report. 

  

  This report offers a full summary of a user’s previous actions, including :

  • How many times they’ve visited your site
  • The pages they viewed on each visit
  • Where they visited from
  • The devices they used
  • How quickly pages loaded

  When people keep coming back to a website, it’s usually a positive sign and means they like the service, content or products. But, it depends on the type of website. If it’s the kind of site where people make one-off purchases, the focus might not be on getting visitors to return. For a site like this, a high number of returning visitors could indicate that the website is confusing or difficult to use. 

  It’s all about the context – different websites have different goals, and it’s important to keep this in mind when analysing your site.

  Conversions

  A conversion is when a user takes a desired action on your website. This could be :

  • Making a purchase
  • Subscribing to your newsletter
  • Signing up for a webinar

  You can track virtually any action as a conversion in Matomo by setting goals and analysing the goals report.

  

  As you can see in the screenshot above, Matomo shows your conversions plotted over time. You can also see your conversion rate to get a complete picture and assign a value to each conversion to calculate how much revenue each conversion generates. 

  Bounce rate

  A visitor bounces when they leave your website without taking an action or visiting another page. 

  Typically, you want bounce rate to be low because it means people are engaged with your site and more likely to convert. However, in some cases, a high bounce rate isn’t necessarily bad. It might mean that visitors found what they needed on the first page and didn’t feel the need to look further. 

  The impact of bounce rate depends on your website’s purpose and goals.

  You can view your website’s bounce rate using Matomo’s page analytics report — the same report that shows pageviews.

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  Web analytics best practices

  You should follow several best practices to get the most from website analytics data. 

  Choose metrics that align with your goals

  Only some metrics your analytics platform tracks will be relevant to your business. So don’t waste time analysing all of them.

  Instead, focus on the ones that matter most to your business. A marketer for an e-commerce store, for example, might focus on conversion-related metrics like conversion rate and total number of transactions. They might also want to look at campaign-related metrics, like traffic sources and bounce rates, so they can optimise paid ad campaigns accordingly. 

  A marketer looking to improve their site’s SEO, on the other hand, will want to track SEO web analytics like bounce rate and broken links.

  Add context to your data

  Don’t take your data at face value. There could be dozens of factors that impact how visitors access and use your site — many of which are outside your control. 

  For example, you may think an update to your site has sent your conversions crashing when, in reality, a Google algorithm update has negatively impacted your search traffic.

  Adding annotations within Matomo can provide invaluable context to your data. These annotations can be used to highlight specific events, changes or external factors that might influence your website metrics.

  

  By documenting significant occurrences, such as website updates, marketing campaigns or algorithm changes, you create a timeline that helps explain fluctuations in your data.

  Go further with advanced web analytics features

  It’s clear that a web analytics platform is a necessary tool to understand your website’s performance.

  However, if you want greater confidence in decision-making, quicker insights and better use of budget and resources, you need an advanced solution with behavioural analytics features like heatmaps, A/B testing and session recordings. 

  Most web analytics solutions don’t offer these advanced features, but Matomo does, so we’ll be showcasing Matomo’s behavioural analytics features.

  Now, if you don’t have a Matomo account, you can try it free for 21-days to see if it’s the right tool for you.

  

  A heatmap, like the example above, makes it easy to discover where your users pay attention, which part of your site they have problems with, and how they convert. It adds a layer of qualitative data to the facts offered by your web analytics tool.

  Similarly, session recordings will offer you real-time playbacks of user interactions, helping you understand their navigation patterns, identify pain points and gain insights into the user experience.

  Then you can run experiments bu using A/B testing to compare different versions of your website or specific elements, allowing you to make informed decisions based on actual user preferences and behaviour. For instance, you can compare different headlines, images, page layouts or call-to-action buttons to see which resonates better with your audience. 

  Together, these advanced features will give you the confidence to optimise your website, improve user satisfaction and make data-driven decisions that positively impact your business.

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  How to choose a web analytics tool

  A web analytics tool is the best way to track the above metrics. Choose the best one for your company by following the steps below. 

  Look for the right features

  Most popular web analytics platforms, like Google Analytics, will offer the same core features like tracking website traffic, monitoring conversions and generating reports. 

  But it’s the added features that set great tools apart. Do you need specific tools to measure the performance of your e-commerce store, for example ? What about paid ad performance, A/B testing or form analytics ?

  By understanding exactly what you need from an analytics platform, you can make an informed choice. 

  Think about data accuracy

  Data accuracy is one of the biggest issues with analytics tools. Many users block cookies or opt out of tracking, making it difficult to get a clear picture of user behaviour — and meaning that you have to think about how your user data will be collected with your chosen platform.

  Google Analytics, for instance, uses data sampling to make assumptions about traffic levels rather than relying on accurate data. This can lead to inaccurate reports and false conclusions. 

  It’s why Matomo doesn’t use data sampling and provides 100% accurate data. 

  Understand how you’ll deal with data privacy

  Data privacy is another big concern for analytics users. Several major analytics platforms aren’t compatible with regional data privacy laws like GDPR, which can impact your ability to collect data in these regions. 

  It’s why many companies trust privacy-focused analytics tools that abide by regulations without impacting your ability to collect data. Matomo is a market leader in this respect and is one of the few web analytics tools that the Centre for Data Privacy Protection in France has said is exempt from tracking consent requirements.

  Many government agencies across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, including organisations like the United Nations and European Commission, rely on Matomo for web analytics.

  Conclusion

  Web analytics is a powerful tool that helps you better understand your users, improve your site’s performance and boost your marketing efforts. 

  If you want a platform that offers advanced features, 100% accurate data and protects your users’ privacy, then look no further than Matomo. 

  Try Matomo free for 21 days, no credit card required. 

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