3 Google analytics that turn visitors into spa clients–depending on how familiar you are with the tool Google Analytics, spa owners, you’re either pumped to hear what our resident digital marketing expert has to say… or have already broken into a cold sweat at the thought of having to delve into any kind of metrics!

As spa owners, we know that most of you hate metrics, hate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and want to avoid them as much as possible because they’re overwhelming. If you’re already thinking, “Kirsten, there’s no way this topic’s for me; I don’t even really know what I’m looking at when I bring up my metrics,” then don’t worry. This topic is actually specifically curated for you!

Here at Kirsten Foss Coaching, we simplify spa ownership… and we’re doing the exact same for your Google analytics process today. Let’s jump right in:

What is Google Analytics?

Firstly, what is Google Analytics? How does it differ from the lowercase “analytics” we’ve also mentioned?

Delia, our leader of all things digital marketing, puts it best: “Google Analytics is a free tool that you connect to your website. There’s a little bit of code that needs to be added, and what that does is collect the data from your website.

“It gives you tons of metrics–and lots of tools–to help you understand your website, your traffic, how it’s working for you, and what isn’t working. You get given the ability to take those insights and turn them into actions… so if you find you’re struggling with getting visitors to your site and converting them into actual clients, there’s definitely some data that you can take a look at to help you make those decisions.”

Why’s this so valuable? Well, just like other areas of your spa business, you can’t make decisions based on what you think is happening– corrective actions need to be based on what’s actually happening. Numbers don’t lie!

And if you’re bored by metrics? Trust us when we say that, once you realize what you’re looking at, they suddenly become a lot more interesting… because you can see what areas of your marketing are working, and which ones may be holding your biz back.

While there are loads of metrics in Google Analytics, we’re taking a deep-dive into three of the easiest to identify on your own that yield huge results when acted on.

Google Analytics for Spas #1: Bounce Rate

First up is your website’s Bounce Rate.

Defined as a metric that tracks how many visitors are coming to your website, how long they stay, and which pages they frequent the most, Bounce Rate is crucial for determining the following:

• How well your website is loading on both mobile and desktop
• If your headlines, calls-to-action (CTAs), and service pages are easy to find  and attention-grabbing
• Which pages visitors actively search for and stay on for the longest amount of time

The average Bounce Rate is between 41% and 55%, with the “High” range being around 70%. For the spa industry, we define any Bounce Rate between 26% and 40% to be ideal.

If your Bounce Rate is 70% or higher? Well, that’s your signal that you need to take action to make your pages faster-loading and more engaging–ASAP!

Google Analytics for Spas #2: Traffic Referrals

Do you know where your website traffic comes from, spa owners?

If you’re shaking your head, you’re far from the only one!

There are four core types of traffic referrals:

• Direct links
• Organic website searches (Googling)
• Through social media
• Via backlinks (websites that provide links to your website)

Ideally, you should be drawing traffic from each of these avenues; it’s how you know your website, email, and social media are working in conjunction to effectively drive traffic to your site.

However, if you check out these metrics and notice that–even though you’re pouring all of your time into DIYing your spa’s social media presence–no one is visiting your website through your posts, it’s time to reevaluate your strategy.

On the flipside, if you’re expecting social media to drive 100% of your traffic then you should know that, even if you’re not seeing the big avalanche of traffic you’ve been hoping for, it doesn’t mean that your efforts have been wasted: social media is just one cog in the large wheel of digital marketing.

Google Analytics for Spas #3: User Demographics

Let’s say you’re based in Oakville,Ontario. If you see that you’re getting a flood of interest in your website–but that it’s because the search time “oak trees” or “oak”–is leading to your site, then those great traffic metrics are all for naught. (Or, if you only offer in-spa services but find that all your Users are looking you up from the other side of the world! Not helpful for converting them into paying clients, right?)

“When it comes to converting visitors into clients, you really have to look at where visitors are coming from,” Delia explains. “You want to make sure that your country and city are getting the most traffic. You’re likely going to see that some other countries have Users that are visiting your site, and that’s okay–but if the main traffic-drivers are cities and countries that aren’t yours, that’s another big indicator that you’ve got search engine optimization issues that need to be resolved.

“We actually have a Website Rehab client of ours, Lilac and Flint, that were having a big problem with getting tons of traffic… for lilac flowers! We were able to fix that through search engine optimization best practices, resolve the issue, and make it so that consumers are getting traffic for skin care instead of flowers!”

Leverage These 3 Google Analytics That Turn Visitors Into Spa Clients Today

Already have Google Analytics connected to your site? Log into it, find these metrics, and shoot us a message about what you find–we’d love to hear about it!

And if you don’t have Google Analytics set up yet? Know that you’re missing a lot of make-or-break metrics when it comes to bumping up your spa’s income. Hand it over to the professionals today to get it sorted on your behalf.