In the for-profit sector, websites generally have one goal: to covert. Ultimately, those businesses want visitors to turn into customers. For nonprofits, the goal is engagement in the form of donations, volunteering, or advocating.

In both cases, companies want a website visitor to take some action. Measuring how effective a website is at doing that is more involved than simply comparing purchases or donations over time.

Understanding your website’s performance requires a deeper dive, and while there are many metrics that come into play, three that every organization should key in on are Load Time, Conversion Rate, and Average Session Duration.

Basic Performance Metrics That Matter

Load Time — Load time, as the name implies, refers to the time it takes for your website or page to load. According to Google, the probability of a visitor bouncing (leaving the site after viewing or attempting to view only one page) increases 32% as a page’s load time increases from one second to three seconds. No doubt, we are impatient creatures. Nevertheless, we are also potential customers, donors, and volunteers.

So, what can be done to optimize load times? The answer is a lot. For starters, there are single elements on a page that have their own metrics. For example, the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures the speed it takes for the largest visible element on a page to load—it needs come in under 2.5 seconds for optimal results.

Compressing images is one of the main ways to quicken load times for the LCP and the page itself. You can also load images for the specific devices accessing the page. So, for example, if a visitor is on a smartphone, they will get an image size tailored for smartphones, while another visitor on a laptop may get a larger image size.

Reducing or correcting JavaScript, which is a programming language used by many websites to animate images and create dynamic content on a page, can help too. The same applies to the videos on your site. While videos are an essential part of most websites, if they are not optimized for the web, they can slow load times. Compressing videos, lowering resolution, and editing them to be shorter are the first steps to ensuring they only positively impact your business.

While slower load times may increase bounce rates, speed matters in other important ways, too. The average load speed of sites on the first page of Google’s search engine results page load in under two seconds. So, it can help with your Search Engine Optimization, as well.

Conversion Rate — For your site’s purposes, a conversion is essentially taking any action, such as filling out a form, submitting an email, or making a donation. Looking into conversion rates, which is the percentage of total visitors to a site or page that convert, can help you achieve your goals without necessarily increasing your total page visits. And if you can do both, then all the better.

As mentioned earlier, load times can affect conversion rates. But there are other factors that impact conversions, like the page layout. For example, if your call to action (CTA), which are the words encouraging someone to act, such as clicking a button to make a donation, is “below the fold” (a vestige of newspaper speak that refers to the area visible without scrolling), it may be viewed fewer times than you realize. And how many CTAs do you have? Giving a user too many options can cause them to choose none. At the same time, offering CTAs in a few different areas can increase the likelihood of someone converting. Even varying the text can improve conversions. For example, one button may ask someone to “donate’, while a button further down the page may implore them to “support the arts” or whatever the goal may be. Subtle differences can make a huge difference.

Using heatmaps, a tool that shows where and how users interact with a webpage by displaying mouse movements, clicks, and more, can help you better understand how users are interacting with your page’s content and will allow you to make adjustments where needed. There are numerous companies that offer the tool, including Hotjar, VWO, and Smartlook, and the one that best fits your needs will depend on the type and size of your organization.

Copy, too, can have a substantial impact on conversions. Is your copy clear and compelling? Is it broken up into digestible chunks or does it come across as a page from a Russian novel? What about the images? Are they interesting? Do they help tell whatever story you may be aiming to tell? And, for example, images with humans in them are generally more effective at converting than those without.

Average Session Duration (ASD) — How long are people interacting with your content? It’s clear that load times can greatly impact ASD. If your page or images are loading too slowly, visitors won’t spend the time you want them to on your site. But what might get overlooked is that simple elements like your site’s navigation and menu structure also play a role in ASD. Is the menu intuitive? Does it remove obstacles on a visitor’s journey?

Optimizing your site for mobile devices is another way to increase the time a visitor spends with your content. A smaller screen requires rethinking your navigation and font sizes, for example, to make the experience more pleasing for a visitor. And your copy should be broken up with bullet points, subheads, or bold callouts to allow for easier scanning. Just as important, your content needs to be compelling and relevant. Does it give visitors a reason to continue interacting with it? Does it hold our short attention spans?

Simply put, your website’s performance can be measured with many metrics, most of which can be monitored in Google Analytics. Ensuring it’s performing as it should is a continuous job. Whether your team monitors performance itself or outsources it to an experienced team like Beam & Hinge, staying vigilant can help ensure your business always stays relevant and at the top of its game.