Web Analytics Question Support System

Traffic is down, but it isn't a seasonal drop

Learned so far:

Site conversions are down
Both your and your competitors' traffic are down too
But it isn't seasonal, i.e. it is different from last year or period

Next steps:

This wizard ends here. But you should check the following

Ponder whether there are any external effects that could be to blame, e.g. a bad economy or unusual climate
Also ponder whether there is a new type of competitor (e.g. from a different category of products) which you haven't taken into account
Also focus on achieving more results with your remaining traffic, i.e.1.) site and ad optimization, and 2.) interactive marketing and targeting with individuals

See a flow chart view of this wizard so you can retrace your steps.

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Comments and thoughts that have been submitted on this wizard page:

Name: Akin
URL: http://multichannelmetrics.com
Comment:

Reflecting on a similar situation on the Yahoo! web analytics message board, Debora Geary wrote the following:
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Well, if the site hasn't made any changes, then I think you have to assume the drop in conversions is either seasonal (seems unusual)for this time of year, but maybe they sell bikinis), or due to something external to your site. My three favorite possibilities:

1) Change in desires, buying patterns, expectations, or disposable income of your visitor base.

2) Changes in the competitive landscape - site changes, pricing changes, marketing changes, product improvements etc by one of your competitors.

3) Changes in the offline behavior of your etailer (if they have one).

I think we web analysts sometimes begin to believe that conversion begins and ends with the site we work so hard to improve, but for many sites, the big bad world can have an awfully sizable impact too.

See http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/webanalytics/message/4649

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