Digital Marketing
July 9, 2018
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5 Outcomes Of Business Website Traffic
Jason Call
Founder of Placer Digital
Creating revenue-generating outcomes from your website is hard.
Most businesses don’t generate a single lead or dollar in revenue from their website.
That’s not surprising, considering that 70% of businesses don’t have “call-to-action” buttons on their website. (What is a “call-to-action”?)
But how can we begin to analyze the effectiveness of a website if we don’t understand the various outcomes of our web traffic?
This article will explain to you the 5 different outcomes of your web traffic, and offer beginning insights and suggestions to improve the effectiveness of your website.
We will also evaluate each outcome in relation to the visitor’s purchase decision – assuming, of course, this visitor is exploring their options in buying a product or service that your business offers.
1. Traffic Turns To Leads
The best outcome from your web traffic is gaining a lead. This happens when a visitor fills out a contact form to request a consultation or more information.
This outcome is the grand-daddy, ultimate goal of your marketing efforts.
Think about it – why do you invest money in marketing your business? To fill your sales funnel with potential customers.
Thus, the outcome of receiving a name, email, and phone number of someone who is interested in your services is the ultimate marketing win.
A professional, strategically designed website will work 24/7 to fill your sales funnel. With this in mind, you can understand how your website is an asset that provides returns for your business.
Outcome summary: YOU WIN! Now the work falls on your sales funnel…
2. Email Capture
The second best outcome of your website traffic is capturing an email.
This is someone who is essentially saying: “I am interested in your business, and I would like you to market to me.” They want to be marketed to!
A visitor who trusts and likes you enough to give you their email is close to jumping into your sales funnel. A thoughtfully crafted email marketing strategy can take it from here.
Alternatively, you can capture an email by offering a value-piece in exchange for an email. As an example, I offer an actionable Google Business Page checklist to my website visitors. You can see how I implement this strategy here.
Visitors that exchange their email for my checklist are instantly qualified as an ideal client for my business. They are wanting to increase the effectiveness of their online marketing, and that’s exactly what I offer.
What value-piece could you offer your visitors online?
Outcome summary: You are a front-runner when it comes to your visitor making a purchase decision.
3. Make An Impression (Or Gain Social Follower)
The last desirable outcome for your website traffic is making an impression.
These visitors browse your website, and you leave an impression on them. They remember your business when they leave. They might even follow you on social media to get to know you a little better.
No, they didn’t fill out a contact form. No, they didn’t give you their email. But you did make a good impression! Though falling considerably shorter than the two previous outcomes, this is certainly a win.
Some questions to ask yourself here: What do visitors see right when they land on my website? What kind of experience do I provide on my home page? You’ve only got 6 seconds to make an impression, so make it count!
Note: from my personal business experience, this outcome can often lead to a sale if you have formed (or will form) a relationship with this visitor from your physical presence in your local community.
Outcome summary: These visitors will certainly consider you when making their purchase decision.
4. Inform (Brochure-Level Website)
Alas, we come to the infamous – and most popular website of choice – the “brochure website.”
You didn’t gain a lead, capture an email, or make an impression. You simply informed the visitor of your products/services.
This is the primary outcome of most business websites today. Unfortunate for the visitors, and fortunate for the businesses who invest in digital marketing.
Outcome summary: You may or may not be considered when your visitor makes a purchasing decision, and you better hope your competition is weak. Not an optimal outcome.
5. No Outcome
As the title alludes, there is no outcome here. The visitor came, and they promptly left.
Outcome Summary: You are almost certainly not being considered in your visitor’s purchase decision.
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