When Website Analytics Lie: Traffic Down, Leads Up?

In our previous post, we discussed a new white paper from FindLaw whose research shows how a law firm’s traffic performance might not be telling the whole truth. This time, we’ll look at a particular marketing issue that you and your firm might be encountering—one from which you could be drawing incorrect conclusions.

Here’s a real-life example from a FindLaw customer. The orange bars show the firm’s total website visits between January 2013 and July 2014:

You’ll note that during this period, monthly visits dropped from roughly 1,600 per month to around 1,000 per month. But the number of contacts (in blue) coming into this firm actually grew, from 30 to nearly 50 each month.

Suppose this graph reflects your own firm’s traffic patterns. What should you conclude? Actually, some positive things:

• Less of the wrong traffic is reaching your site
  As search engines get better at directing the right traffic to your site, you’ll see fewer visits but a higher quality of customer.
• Your digital marketing strategy isn’t relying on one tactic
  Your website may directly generate traffic and contacts, but it also may indirectly help attract new business by informing or supporting a different lead platform. And that could mean:
• Your potential clients are looking for you in different online spaces
  If someone finds you after, say, reading a recommendation on Twitter for an article you wrote and then decided to call after visiting your Google reviews, then your online marketing worked, even if a website visit didn’t play a direct role.

Next time, we’ll look at another confusing situation you might face—another one that might lead you to the wrong conclusions about your online marketing’s effectiveness.

Want to read the whole white paper? Download your free copy here and register for our upcoming webcast to hear it straight from the source.