There was an increase in ecommerce conversion rates between January and June this year, it has been found.

 

Analytics research from Screen Pages has revealed that the level increased by 3.2 per cent from 2.18 per cent to 2.25 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

 

A rise was also experienced with regard to returning customers, with rates emerging nine per cent higher at 3.89 per cent.

 

However, email traffic to retail sites saw a dip, as well as new customer conversions, which saw a 16 per cent fall.

 

Meanwhile, it was found that search engines provide the most effective source of web activity at 63 per cent, with direct traffic yielding 16 per cent of views and a further 11 per cent from referrals.

 

In addition, 43 per cent of all searches are brand-related, with people typing in the name of a website into an engine, entering its URL or responding to an email.

 

Google recently launched a new guide to help web developers use analytics in order to assess how visits correspond with events.

 

The search engine announced that thise using its Google Analytics services can now measure page views and the time spent on an event-related website and compare the data to overall figures.