Everybody who owns a web site should have a goal to achieve. For non-transactional sites, the types of KPI and metrics will vary depending what the objective of the site is. Obviously, for non-transactional sites, you're probably not looking forward to convert for a higher sales (there are exceptional case, but out of scope for this article).
Some of the typical site objectives could be the following (not limited to):
- Increase exposure to certain contents, articles, products, information, etc.
- Sign up for newsletter.
- Register or opt-in for services.
- Acquire survey participation.
- Participate in online tools or games.
- Acquire traffic to landing pages and convert (register, participate, etc.)
Once you are clear at what objectives to tackle and measure the performance. Here are the typical KPI and metrics used to improve the site.
- Page Views: Popular pages and contents could be measured using page views. It is a count on how many times the page was requested from the server. The more the better.
- Page Views per Visit: Page views per Visit is a popular metrics to use to measure the site's content consumption per single visit. If it is only 1 page views per visit, obviously visitors are leaving after looking at one page. I would also recommend using this metrics across content areas to see which section of the site is more engaging than others. Good example of this is to measure difference between different article sections.
- Bounce Rate: You can measure the stickiness of the site/content and utilize the data to optimize the content to better serve what the visitors. I would recommend using it in combination to the keywords used to land on that page to better understand the intention of the visitors (if that is available and possible).
- Averag Time on Page/Content: Average time on site or page is not really an accurate metrics, but it could be used to gauge the difference across various parts of the site to see the trends. This data could give you a better insight to which contents aren't popular. Make sure to understand the time relevancy the actual time required to consume the info on that page.
- Retension and Funnel Analysis: Looking at the drop off from one form to the other could give you a good indication to where the conversion process is unsuccessful.
- Interaction Rate: I will avoid defining the exact calculation since this could vary on what interaction to measure. If it is for games or tools, it could be an [initial interaction count / total content impression or page views]. The data would be more useful when compared across different time and tools or games.
- Referrals: Where the visitors are coming from is an important data to utilize in improving the site. You might find certain visitor sources to convert more than the other. You can ask your self why and tackle the optimization and strategies.
- Keywords: I like this because it will tell you a lot about what the visitors are looking for. In combination with other metrics, it can tell you which pages are successful in terms of stickiness or popularity.
There are so many other methods and KPI/metrics to gauge, but these data points could be good place to kick off your analysis to improve your non-transactional site.
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