So you created your website, you have something to sell, and you started producing content for it. What now? How do you learn what makes your website better and what makes users run away? There are a variety of tools that turn this witchcraft into a science. Below, there are variety handful of types of tools that should send your web performance skyrocketing.
A Webpage Heat Map (Crazy Egg)
Crazy Egg is a popular heat map web tool is used by Etsy, Dell and Yahoo! just to name a few. This tool will give you access to a variety of maps on your website that gives you access to what users are doing when they enter and navigate your website.
There are a range of plans from the basic plan, which starts out at $9 per month and can cost as much a $99 per year.
But the best part is that all plans come with a free 30-day trial. So you don’t have to make a commitment right away and you can likely see the benefits long before you purchase.
This tool is a favorite because it features a quick, visual representation of what parts of your pages are getting the most attention. It doesn’t actually matter whether you have a link in a place or not, Crazy Egg will show if a lot of people are clicking in a place that doesn’t go anywhere.
This will let you know that your buttons and CTAs are in the proper location or not.
Part of the pay scale is how many pages you want to tool to look at. Put it on your main webpages and you’ll be able to see what your users are doing when they first enter and start navigating your website.
A Live Chat Service (Olark)
If your users don’t have the ability to live chat with you, then you are missing out on the opportunity to speak with someone that is either actively interested or struggling with your website.
This is better than a customer service line because, let’s face it, who wants to call one of those? It’s a commitment and usually involves navigating a variety of menus through a keypad. So instead of just giving up on whatever they are struggling with (meaning you lose potential business) live chat gives users the option to resolve the issues they are having.
Olark starts off with a limited free plan and scales up from there. If you want to try more than just the free plan, each of the plans come with a free 14-day trial so you can ensure that you are happy with the service.
But there are countless options for live chat services. There is Liveperson, which comes jam-packed with features and brand recognition for the hefty price of $99 per month.
Then there is Comm100. It is simple and easy to use, a good fit for someone just starting out.
For an extensive list of live chat options, Crazy Egg has put together a good mix of the best products with reviews.
A Survey Tool (Survey Monkey)
I never even considered using survey tools or Survey Monkey as tool for marketing, despite the number of surveys I’ve filled out that were undoubtedly created for that purpose. Ask your current costumers a list of key questions (the ones that marketers are always told to ask themselves when creating buyer personas).
Ask them what they want from your company, what stories they want to hear from you, what products they think you should sell.
Instead of struggling to learn what your customers want from you, just ask them. Distribute the survey – perhaps with some sort of reward for completing it – and watch your questions get answered. Keep some of the questions open-ended and let your audience draw attention to things you might not have thought of.
A Search Bar (Google Site Search)
If you’re curious why someone is visiting your website, then you likely want a search bar. This is where visitors to your website can tell you exactly why they’re there. You might find out that people are coming to your website for something entirely different than you can provide. Or they may be looking for content that you can provide but don’t have yet. Consider adding it based on these recommendations.
Additionally, you can see when visitors are searching for content that does exist. You can see if they found it or if you need to tweak your content to fit what they are searching for. If visitors are searching frequently for something that’s on your website, it may be an indicator that your navigation to the content is confusing.
Google Site Search is one of the most commonly used tools and for the basics there is a free option.
These tools are simple, easy and generally pretty cheap. Most plans start free and end up costing you very little (with the increase in conversation rates, many could make you money). I’ve provided suggestions for tools for each, but definitely research the available options. You never know what tool will be the perfect fit. You have to know what works and what doesn’t. These tools will help you figure out what is happening on your website and allow you to make simple, measurable changes to boost your web performance and increase your conversion rates.
Did you like this list? Did we miss anything critical? What are you favorite tools? Let us know in the comments section.
