6 Tips to Capture Every Site Visitor

Editor's Note: After an extended hiatus, Retail Online Integration's original blogger, Jim Gilbert, is back to give his irreverent take on all things related to retail marketing. Welcome back, Jim!

Hi folks, I'm back. After a two-year hiatus, I'm re-energized and writing again. I've used my time wisely, doing a lot of consulting and, therefore, I have lots of insights that I'll impart to you over the next weeks and months.

One of the universal truths I see is a lack of understanding by many marketers, from newbie to experienced, of what their website is really for. I know, I know, marketers always say the right thing: It's about conversion. When I look at their website and ask them what their site conversion rate is, I hear them proudly state, "I convert 2 percent, look how good I'm doing!" (And of course some marketers don't even know what their site conversion rate is.)

Here's a better goal: The objective of building a website is to have everybody who visits it raise their virtual hand in the air and identify themselves. Once they identify themselves, you can build a relationship with them until they're ready to make a purchase. In essence, you want to leave no stone unturned when it comes to providing web visitors ways to identify themselves to you.

There are other conversion key performance indicators to track too. Do you track web to Facebook, Twitter and opt-in email conversion beyond sales conversion? Those statistics are just as valid, especially in a socially driven world.

With that goal in mind, the question I always ask marketers is, "well, what are you doing about the other 98 percent of your site visitors?"

Typical response: "We have email newsletter sign up and our social icons".