Did you know that 90% of the data on Earth was generated in the last 2 years alone? No wonder business owners get overwhelmed at the thought of analyzing their website — especially on top of the hustle and bustle of everyday service. But if you have a plan for how to use that data to improve your restaurant, you’ll find that keeping on eye on your website’s performance may be a game-changer for your business. Website measurement programs like Google Analytics for restaurants can help you find meaning within this flurry of information. You just need to ask the right questions.
- What are your goals?
- Where are we today
- What is the right metric to measure success?
- Who were my visitors?
- What did they do when they visited?
- Where did they come from?
- When did they start arriving?
- How did they spend their time on my site?
Did you know that 90% of the data on Earth was generated in the last 2 years alone? No wonder business owners get overwhelmed at the thought of analyzing their website — especially on top of the hustle and bustle of everyday service. But if you have a plan for how to use that data to improve your restaurant, you’ll find that keeping on eye on your website’s performance may be a game-changer for your business. Website measurement programs like Google Analytics for restaurants can help you find meaning within this flurry of information. You just need to ask the right questions.
Sort through your top priorities — no more than three to start — and identify what a reasonable improvement would be over the next four seasons. If you take reservations directly through your site, one of those three goals should be an increase in that area. Reservations translate into dollars, and an increase in that measurement will likely lift your spirits immediately.
The key to success with your website is acquiring information that helps you create a plan of action and also reflects deeper interaction between you and your customers. Real insight comes from the overlap of analytics and the type of feedback you can get from online reviews, user testing, and just hearing what customers think about your website.
Are all of your web visitors local? How many are first-time visitors versus returning visitors? What types of devices did they view your site on? All of these questions can inform how you write and the type of content you may want to focus on.
How many pages did your average customer look at and for how long? What percentage of visitors looked at only one page and then left immediately?
High bounce rates (the percentage of users who visited one page and left) can be worrisome, but only if you aren’t digging into the data. A bounce rate of 75 percent from your home page is OK (maybe the visitor just needed a phone number or address), but bounce rates for menu pages probably should be much lower — around 40% or lower.
Do most of your customers simply type in your web address directly? What percentage of your visits comes from search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) versus referral (through a link on another website)?
Did a particular day or week show a huge spike in pageviews on your analytics report? Remember: it’s not the quantity of hits that’s important, but the difference between two numbers — your percentage increase — on a specific day or time that can be helpful. Maybe even actionable.
What happened on the day of the spike? Was it tied to an online event (a new blog article, opening reservations, a bonus offer) or an offline one (something in the news about you, the opening a new location)? Is it something you can repeat?
What are the most popular items on your website? Are pdf downloads or views of your menu really popular? Do you have more visits to one section of your drop down menu than any other? If so, it may be time to add more material to those sections.
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