Boost Your Site's Success By Multiplying User Sessions by 3!

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Through diligent testing and market research I have determined that if you're reporting the user sessions that your analytics system, such as Omniture, is using you're way under reporting success.

By studying the average number of people standing behind a computer user in stock photos, it becomes very clear that you must multiply user sessions by a factor of three (the Average Bystander Session: ABS).  The ABS is often referred to as a passive user or collateral impression.

Example:
Omniture shows 21,000 sessions in May X 3 ABS = 63,000 TruSessions^TM

In order to come up with this rock solid, analytical approach to proving success we monitored the stock image market over pages upon pages of results to determine the TruSession factor of three (90% of relevant stock photos show a total of three persons huddled around a single computer).  However, our research has shown that for dinner parties a TruFactor of four is required; as shown in this example.

The TruFactor is really just a way to illustrate what may be happening on a site and does not reflect any true value to you, the owner or decision maker who needs to use this type of data.  So..what's the value of it? 

Answer, not all that much.  User sessions, impressions and other metrics have their place.  They are very valuable in determining the overall health of your site, traffic sources and popularity.  They do not show the client (this may be you) if your site is working.

It's Clear I'd be Reckless to Consider Using TruFactor.  So How Do I Judge Success?

Great question, we try to lead our clients to look at the real value metrics and not aggregate numbers.

I came up with the concept of TruFactor to illustrate the absurdity of some of the metrics I have heard people use over the years.  In truth, if your site is designed to transact any type of business the one key metric you should watch is... are you ready?

How Much Money Did Your Site Make!

Once you start measuring success based on a cost and return basis, all the other metrics make sense and you can then leverage your more traditional stats to improve the bottom line  watch how this works:

OLD:  My PPC campaign is great, I'm getting clicks at just $0.75.
NEW: I'm showing a return on ad spend (ROAS) of 571%  For every dollar I spend I'm seeing revenue of $5.71!  How can I make this even better?

OLD:  Wow, I got 20,000 visitors to my site last month, I'm super and smell great!
NEW: Hang on, I'm only seeing an average value of $0.10 per user on my site.  What type of on-site improvements can I make to increase the value of my user base?  Am I paying for traffic that's just not qualified?

I think you get the idea, when you put dollars into the equation, it makes all decisions much easier.  My plea to you is to stop making revenue decisions based on non-revenue based analytics.  Like Deep Throat said, "follow the money."

When you start following the money, you'll find plenty of business.

Disclaimer: TruFactor is complete BS and Fuel Interactive, it's employees, and subsidiaries do not recommend smoke and mirror type reporting.
We do recommend checking out Shutterstock for great prices on a wide selection of royalty free stock photography.