Business owners have used online data collection and web analytics to cater to customer tastes for awhile now; but these days there’s much more data available, and you don’t have to pay a lot of money to get it, the New York Times reports.
By using free tools like Google Analytics and Bing Webmaster Tools, small businesses can collect complex data and analysis that only big business had access to in the past.
For example, some customers browse an online store and put an item in a virtual shopping cart – but then leave before completing the purchase because they get distracted or they’re still thinking about it. Experts say those shoppers are more likely to make a purchase in the future than a visitor who spends time on the site without selecting a product. To try to encourage them to complete a purchase, a web development company like the Richard Group – automatically asks the customers by e-mail if they would like to complete the purchases they started. About 15 percent of them come back to the site and do so.
Read about an array of new tools other small business owners are using at the N. Y. Times.