Not selling online? Measure task completion anyway

If you are a retailer who doesn't sell online, you might be asking yourself: "Why should I measure task completion? Isn't satisfaction enough?" Because there is no cut-and-dry "conversion" activity on the website, it's assumed that only softer metrics like satisfaction and engagement will yield useful visitor data.

As it turns out, however, task completion can function as an extremely powerful predictor of future offline conversion. Data from webValidator website surveys running for durable goods retailers who do not sell online (and where the websites are essentially glorified product catalogs) illustrate this point. Visitors who complete their onsite tasks (browsing, researching, viewing visuals, etc.) are significantly more likely to express higher offline purchasing likelihood than visitors who don't complete their primary tasks. The trend is especially pronounced among visitors who are deep into their purchasing cycles (see table).

So, even if you don't sell online, keep an eye on your task completion numbers. As you get better at creating effective and successful visit experiences, you'll drive more people to your store and your bottom lines will growth in a very healthy fashion.