STAMFORD, CT — The No. 1 metric that Internet marketers need to know is how long the average user stays at a Web site, according to the keynote speaker yesterday at the second annual Business Mailers Co-op and E-Com Marketing Conference.
Amy Africa, president of Creative Results, Williston, VT, said 80 percent of transactions occur after 12 minutes on a business-to-business Web site. But , she said, the average user stays for only about five minutes.
The four essential components that make a Web site work and keep user attention, Africa said, are the entry page — but not necessarily the home page, because visitors can enter through other links; the shopping cart; navigation and search function, which account for 40 percent of success online; and a back-end e-mail program.
The conference was sponsored by MeritDirect.
