Remember the “Why” When Measuring Site Performance: Voice of Customer Methods & Tools
With all that can be learned from clickstream web analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Yahoo! Web Analytics, and Omniture Site Catalyst, it’s important to remember those tools reveal the “what” of your site visitor sessions, but not much about the “why.” Did your visitors see the pages they wanted to see? Were they able to complete their tasks? Is a high page-per-visit rate a result of an engaged visit, or visitors unsuccessfully browsing through pages not finding what they’re looking for? Voice of customer tools are an important component to any website and web analytics initiative and can provide valuable “Aha!” moments.
In this post we’ll take a look at some of the most popular tools and the best ways to utilize them.
SURVEYS
We’re all familiar with surveys, however they come in all shapes and sizes and selecting the right one can be challenging. Some do a great job of collecting and segmenting results, others are annoying and drive your visitors crazy! It’s very important to evaluate not only the technical capabilities of your survey tool, but its user experience as well.
When redesigning a site, ensure survey integration is part of the overall technology set. The benefits of making surveys readily available include:
- They can be always on and serve as a continuous listening methodology. Surveys don’t always need to be sent out. They can be prominently featured on the site so visitors know they can leave feedback if they’re so inclined.
- Both qualitative and quantitative data can be collected
- Feedback can come in real-time so you can evaluate the positive or negative impact of newly-added site features or content
- A small sample size of responses can still yield valuable insights
- Surveys have evolved beyond the simple pop up to use cookies and conditional logic as well as integrate with clickstream data
Site-Level Surveys
You’ve likely come across these types of surveys that often fall under the “annoying” category. They are presented either as a popup, or pop under window and ask general questions about your overall experience using the site. Another option is the permission based survey. Upon entering a site, you’re presented with an invitation to take a short survey at the end of your visit.
If you use this approach, be sure to select a vendor that utilizes cookies so that repeat visitors are not invited each time they come to the site. For instance, visitors should only be invited to take the survey once every three months.
iPerceptions offers a great free site-level survey tool called 4Q which asks only the following four crucial questions:
- What is the purpose of your visit to our website today?
- Were you able to complete your task?
- If you were not able to complete your task today, why not?
- Based on today’s visit how would you rate your site experience overall?
With answers to these questions, you get a great macro-level view of your site’s performance. Also, you can calculate a valuable metric: Task Completion Rate by Purpose of Visit. There’s almost no clearer indication of whether your site’s doing what it’s supposed to do.
Also, consider prompting users to take the survey from locations other than just the homepage. Be contextual and get segmented data by creating surveys for specific sections of the site. You’ll be more likely to get responses from visitors who have a vested interest in the quality of content and/or features that they use regularly. Used this way, site-level surveys can function closer to (often preferable) page-level surveys.
Other great site-level survey tools include:
Page-Level Surveys
Page-level surveys courteously sit in not-too-obtrusive places waiting for a user to take advantage of them. They often sit at the end of a browser, either on the right or left side or in a bottom corner. They are less likely to annoy visitors and provide the excellent benefit of highly contextual feedback which is the key to actionable data. You’ll hear from your most engaged or upset visitors and will be able to directly attribute their comments to specific elements of your website. This is a great compliment to A/B and Multivariate testing (another form of “what”).
An important thing to remember whether you’re using site-level or page-level surveys is to keep them short! The longer your survey, the less likely your visitors will complete it. Value your users’ time and only ask the questions they need in order to submit feedback.
Great page-level tools include UserVoice and Kampyle.
POLLS
Polls are essentially mini page-level surveys. These are great for quickly taking the temperature of your customers and visitors. They can be easily embedded in a sidebar or even within an email. The best polling tools allow someone to see the results of the poll after taking it. For example, a poll can be displayed in a user account area to solicit votes on which potential features would be most appreciated.
Polling tools:
RATING SYSTEMS
While most commonly featured on ecommerce sites in the form of product ratings, these tools can be used on non-transactional sites as well. A simple YES/NO answer to the question, “Did this [article/FAQ/video] help you?” can quickly let you know if certain content isn’t pulling its weight. More sophisticated sites use this information to dynamically sort content so the best rises to the top of lists.
A nice and inexpensive rating tool is RatingSystem.
Whatever tool or approach you select, make sure it’s appropriate for your site visitors and takes users, content, and context into account. Balance the “what” of your data with the “why” for truly actionable insights.
Let your voice be heard here! What tools, methods, and approaches have brought you success or challenges?
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