Tracing paths users take through your website is often more useful than measuring the exact number of visitors. Image: Flickr / jOrg / CC-BY

The statistics available about visitors on a website can be completely overwhelming. It is possible to find and track just about any statistic imaginable. Yet it is most important to concern yourself with actionable metrics over pure statistics.

Defining an actionable metric

An actionable metric is a metric you can work with. The number of hits on your website, for example, is a statistic that does not fall under a webmaster’s full control. An actionable metric, however, is the number of people that come into your website on a target landing page to which you’ve directed traffic. Such an actionable metric can be tested and changed in very specific ways.

Finding an actionable metric

Finding actionable metrics means finding numbers that you can do something about. For apps or downloadable products, the number of active users is more useful information than the number of raw downloads. For a website with landing pages or conversion pages, the number of individuals that actually take a desired action from that webpage is an actionable metric. Rather than using a single link on pages, code links so they can be individually tracked. Even raw numbers, such as the number of visits on a website, can become actionable once you put them in the context of a full marketing plan or specific action. Good actionable metrics include:

• Actions of individual customers or segments
• Results of A/B split tests
• Life cycle results of individual customers, from registration to purchase
• Metrics of targeted keywords

Look for trends

When you start looking for actionable metrics, you should make sure to look for trends. Spikes in traffic and short-term gains or losses can be scary, but trend lines are what you should look for and act upon. The fact is that your actionable numbers will be much smaller than your raw numbers. A mere 10 to 30 percent of individuals who visit your website or “like” your social network pages will interact. If in doubt, split-testing is always a better way to make a decision than guessing.