Wolfgang Digital’s annual report for e-commerce website performance has launched, lifting the lid on data that has remained largely unreported until now.
The importance of encouraging return visits plus social media’s purchasing influence are among the key insights to be gleaned from the study.
Off-site interactions are proving to significantly sway online sales.
The multi award-winning digital marketing agency analysed 250 million e-commerce website sessions and €500 million in online revenue to find out what drives today’s consumer to click and buy.
For the first time, the study delved into Facebook’s analytics conversion data, merging it with Google analytics and an online survey, to give a more accurate picture of a person’s path to purchase.
Commenting, study author and Wolfgang Digital founder and CEO, Alan Coleman said: “For this study we’ve gone bigger and broader with our data set to produce some really interesting findings. We’ve filled some holes in Google Analytics by tapping into Facebook’s new analytics tool to see which patterns of user behaviour, on and off-site, correlate with higher than average e-commerce revenues. This year we’ve some of the strongest correlation scores seen yet.”
The key findings are:
The value of the returning visitor. The strongest trend the study has ever seen is the value of the returning visitor. Websites that attract a user back time and time again are thundering ahead of their one-click-wonder competitors when it comes to sales. The more visits per user, the higher the revenues. Currently, e-commerce websites are averaging 1.5 visits over 12 months. Anything you can do to increase this return visit rate is about the best marketing you can do.
The true value of social revealed. It’s not just user interactions on your website that count. Facebook analytics reveal a social media engager is TWICE as likely to buy from you than a website visit (4.4 per cent conversion versus 1.8 per cent). Messenger was notable for having extraordinarily high conversion rates (9.9 per cent).
Facebook’s advocacy advantage. 48 per cent of people are more likely to buy from a brand they see a friend or family member interact with. With the average Facebook user having 338 friends, a single share can bring you up to 162 eager potential customers in an instant.
Average conversion rate is 1.8 per cent. Travel websites average 2 per cent, retail websites averaged1.7 per cent, with online-only converting 11 per cent more than their multi-channel counterparts.
Big ticket travel purchases are harder to convert. Hotel websites convert three times the number of customers than package holiday websites (1.99 per cent conversion rate versus 0.68 per cent), perhaps due to the much higher Average Order Values – €378 for hotels and €1074 for package holidays.
Mobile’s a big mover. Revenues for purchases on mobile devices is the big mover, growing by 23 per cent to account for 32 per cent of overall revenue. Mobile dominates as a traffic source with 53 per cent coming from a smartphone, versus 37 per cent for desktop and 10 per cent for tablets. Big ticket purchases are still more likely to take place on desktop or tablet.
Google dominates but share of pie declines. Google delivers the majority of traffic (60 per cent) and revenue (56 per cent). However, its share continues to drop, with still no visibility from Google Analytics into who’s winning that share.
Websites slow down. Average page load times were 6.8 seconds, far slower than Google’s recommended 2-second threshold for e-commerce websites.
UK tops conversion rates. European conversion rates (1.5 per cent) are higher than the US (1.3 per cent) . The UK is streets ahead of the two. (1.8 per cent).
When asked what’s the one piece of advice he’d give digital marketers Coleman said:
“Attract that visitor back. Think of each as a multi-step relationship rather than a point-in-time transaction. Create an itinerary of digital media touchpoints which transport them from interested clicker to loyal customer. Each interaction should add a new layer of value and reach them on a new channel.”
The Wolfgang Digital E-commerce KPI Benchmark report is available to download for free on the company website.
Media Contact: Bernice Burnside, Bvisible, +353 87 2337366, +353 1 8452401
Digital Marketing Scientists, Wolfgang Digital consists of a gang of digital marketing nerds who are particularly passionate about performance. Recent award wins include “Best Large Integrated Agency” with the European Search Awards 2018 and the “Grand Prix” prize with the Global Landy Awards 2018. This brings to 5 the number of award wins on 2018 alone, with the company winning 17 international awards in total.
Notes to Editors:
- Participant websites analysed between July 2017 and June 2018.
- Facebook analytics was launched earlier this year with the study focusing specifically on Facebook conversion data. Google Analytics provides no visibility into conversion metrics for social media platforms.
- Statistic averages are on a per-website basis, so that websites with high levels of traffic don’t skew the stats.
- Retail contributors: A broad range of retail contributors in fashion, furniture, sports & leisure, department stores, health and beauty, electrical goods, jewellery, and gifts were analysed. Data is broken out to cover “online only” retailers and “multichannel retailers” who have an online and offline presence.
- Travel contributors: Travel contributors are broken down to cover ‘hotel’ websites and ‘package holiday’ website or tour operators, with a small number of visitor centres/attractions included.