Will you still need web analytics in the future?

Intro

You will find any owner of a website agreeing without any hesitation that they would like to put more effort into finding out more about the visitors to their websites. One might want to determine the origin of the visitors, their engagement with the content, or the primary driver of the site's traffic.

But do you believe this kind of information would be of any significance in the days to come? In case such queries or any concerns about web tracking analysis are bothering you, you have come to the right place.

Why is web analytics important?

Our contemporary world has become data-driven, especially now that service providers can take advantage of online platforms to understand their customers better. And thankfully, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on this.

The availability of free web analytics tools now ensures you can access up-to-date traffic data for free, which can help you optimize your marketing strategies. Before we go any further, let us look at some reasons why web analytics might be here to stay.

Referring to a recent study by Gartner, about 65% of B2B businesses said they would be implementing data into their decisions by 2026. So, why would you want to be left out, especially now that doing business has become quite competitive? Imagine the trouble someone can have while spearfishing blindfolded. It is almost a similar case for businesses that are running online but do not consult their web data often.

For instance, how do you tell that your marketing efforts are bearing fruit if you don’t measure their progress? When you track how your campaigns are doing, you can always be sure to apply relevant measures if they are not yielding the desired fruits.

Actually, do you know that, according to the Social Shepherd, more than eighty percent (83.5%) of websites were using analytic tools to understand website visitors more? And with more businesses adopting these tools, the Analytics as a service market, which was initially valued at $10 billion, might grow to $69 billion by 2028, according to Edge Delta.

On top of that, analytics can help forecast trends and ensure customers’ expectations are met. That way, you can tell what future trends might look like and get prepared for the same. Plus, most customers now do research online before purchasing – which can be a good opportunity to penetrate new markets. According to Sales Lion, the percentage of such customers is about 81%.

If you are able to tell how these customers interact with your website, you can tailor your services to fit their preferences, enhancing your competitive edge.

The Place of SEO

What is the point of having a website that visitors cannot really access? You want users to be able to find you as quickly as possible as they make their searches. That is what SEO is all about – optimizing your content to perform well on search engines. After all, what data will you assess if no one is visiting your website?

And the obvious reason why you can’t ignore SEO is that more than 200 million websites are active on the World Wide Web as of 2024. If you rank high on Google search results, you can always be sure of higher click-through rates. In fact, a survey by Monster Insights found that pages that ranked in the first position were likely to receive up to 28% of all clicks. Those that accounted for the first five results on Google get about 70% of all the clicks.

Through analysis, you can discover how long someone dwells on your site or how soon they leave. Well, engines like Google prioritize ensuring that users find useful tips that align with their needs. But if they notice that users spend little time on your site, they can perceive your website as poor, which can affect your ranking. Therefore, through web analytics, you can identify such pitfalls and apply necessary corrective measures.

Another valuable aspect that you may want to pay attention to is your site’s speed. Google nowadays considers how long pages load when ranking them. Anyway, why would you want to spend all the while waiting for a website to load when you can find similar products on another platform that loads faster?

And if we were to consider statistics, 83% of customers actually expect websites to load in not more than three seconds. If this time increases to 10 seconds or more, you can increase bounce rates to more than 123%.

Assessing customer acquisition metrics

Understanding customer acquisition is important because it helps you determine how customers found you online and how they landed on your platform. It is not just all about spending your money on marketing campaigns; you should be able to tell how much of it is spent where,” noted Barbara Stern, business owner of wholesale textiles at Ottoman Textiles.

Think of this like the instruments in an airplane. Whether it is your altitude, horizon or fuel consumption, all these elements are very helpful in ensuring successful navigation. Let us consider a few metrics that can help you here.

Customer acquisition cost

How much are you spending to acquire just one new customer? How much goes into the program and marketing, bonuses, salaries and so on? All these costs add up to the customer acquisition cost. And to get a clear glimpse of such data, go for a platform that grants you such access.

Conversion rate optimization

Not all of the customers you are targeting will respond. But with the few that respond and take action, you can actually measure their percentage. This value is obtained by dividing the number of customers who respond by the total number of those who only view your campaign.

It doesn’t matter if you add all the leads you want but never optimize your CRO; they will never be as much helpful. So, you may want to consider incorporating the following:

• Calls to action to directly communicate to users what you want them to do after seeing your campaign.
• Landing pages to either convert visitors to leads or leads to loyal customers
• User experience enhancements to give users a positive experience at your platform.

Customer lifetime value

How much do you expect from a single customer in the course of your interaction with them? This is what the customer lifetime value is all about, and it is obtained by the anticipated customer value with the time you are likely to relate. If it is short, you might focus on acquiring more customers. But if it is high, focusing on retention might be more convenient.

The role of personalization

The whole idea of web analytics is actually to better understand your customers. That way, you can always be sure to provide experiences and products that perfectly align with what they are looking for. Can you imagine that more than 80% of customers will choose brands that personalize experiences over those that do not? Such statistics only cement the fact that personalization is not just a buzzword in e-commerce; it’s actually a trend that is here to stay.

In fact, 89% of marketers have confirmed that they saw a positive ROI after personalizing. That obviously means that we will likely see more of such experiences in the future. In another place, a study by Sender highlights that about 60% of shoppers who find tailored encounters claim that they can do business again with brands that offer such experiences. The reason for all these statistics is to prove to you that personalization is here to stay.

Different demographics will favor different formats, content and channels. For instance, in 2024, mobile traffic accounted for more than 60% of all internet traffic. And according to WiserNotify, those aged between 25 and 34 were at the forefront of using mobiles to shop. If your business mainly targets such an audience, you may want to ensure that your website is more mobile-friendly to enhance their experience. But how do you get such statistics? The answer lies in using web analytic tools.

Does analytics have a future?

Although web analytics seems to be the future of discovering customer behaviors online, businesses in some jurisdictions have been met with challenges. Australia, for instance, was the first to declare a popular analytic tool illegal in 2022. Other EU members, including France and Italy, followed suit with similar decisions.

According to the Cloud Act, US authorities can demand private data from Google and other US providers even if they operate in nations other than the states. And since most businesses use US-owned cloud services, these countries felt as though that would compromise their citizens’ data.

For businesses targeting European markets, such decisions are definitely important. But the question remains: Will such moves affect the future of the global analytics industry? Well, since such projections are just speculative, we can only continue watching how things might turn out.

Final thoughts

If you were wondering whether web analytics would still be necessary in the years to come, you should be having an answer by now. With numerous websites launching daily, it might be difficult to operate without one. It might even get worse if you do not have access to customer data.

We live in a time when customers do not just want to do business; they also want to be understood. Just like we have already hinted, more than 80% expect tailored experiences when they visit a platform. And if they don’t find such encounters, 74% will get discouraged and may turn to competitors, according to WiserNotify. Therefore, with web analytics, you can be able to measure, collect and analyze web data to optimize its usage.

That way, you can always be sure that your products are more customer-centric. But as many analytics tools emerge, another challenge sets in—government regulations. Governments like France have taken a tough stance on customer privacy, prohibiting the use of some tools. As the user privacy debates increase, we can only continue watching the industry to see what the future holds.