Prioritize Usability Testing and Web Analytics

"If you've performed usability tests and tried to reconcile those results with your current site metrics, you've probably been left scratching your head. Usability respondents find something wrong on a particular page, yet the same 'problem' isn't evident in the site analytics.

This leaves you with a rather big question: How do you justify Web analytics and usability, and what role does each play in the conversion equation?

Although both attempt to measure a site's ability to convert, Web analytics and usability testing actually measure two entirely distinct aspects of a site.

Web analytics measure visitor intent and persuasive momentum, as well as the site's ability to move visitors through a conversion scenario. Usability examines the site's interface and process barriers that keep visitors from accomplishing a conversion task. "