A tutorial covering our recommended process, report, tools and KPIs to grow your business
By the time you read this, it's likely that Google Analytics 3 or Universal Analytics (UA), whatever you call it, will be no more. Switching to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) presents a big challenge for any business that wants to use a data-driven approach to improving their marketing. As the timeline shows, many of us have become very familiar with UA since we may have used it over the last 10+ years.
I'm excited about switching to GA4 since, I've been using Google Analytics since it was first created, when Google acquired Urchin, centreing my consulting, training and Smart Insights learning materials and templates on it as a practical tool to help improve digital marketing using a data-driven approach.
However, the differences between GA4 and UA mean it's a BIG change…
Unravel your customer journeys with Google Analytics clickstream analysis on forward and reverse paths
I don't know whether you have heard of the forward and reverse path clickstream analysis technique? It's a shame path analysis isn't so well known as say funnel analysis, since it's a strong analysis technique to help understand customer journeys on a site to identify inefficiencies.
Clickstream analysis can be used to review the quality and value of your REACH marketing activities, as well as informing crucial decision-making in the ACT and CONVERT stage of your customer conversion strategy.
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What is clickstream analysis?
Clickstream analysis is the strategic analytical activity of reviewing the order of URLs visited and the actions taken during your customers' journeys on your site. By analyzing their forward and reverse 'path' you can track patterns and trends in your conversion funnel, towards your goals.
In Google Analytics, use the "Navigation Summary" for paths…
10 ways to segment website visitors using Google Analytics
When I work on E-commerce projects to identify methods to increase conversion, I always start with a structured analysis of the current effectiveness of customer journeys for different segments, using Google Analytics to help identify potential improvements to site page templates to test.
Segments are powerful since they help you isolate and compare different traffic sources, so in the screengrab below we have selected organic traffic to just find out how these visitors behave, for example, which landing pages do they arrive on?
Note that to encourage usage of Advanced Segments, Google renamed them a couple of years ago to 'Segments' in order to make them less scary and encourage adoption amongst GA users who don't see themselves as advanced.
A key part of this approach is to go beyond the…
7 missed customization actions in your Google Analytics set-up that you can fix now
Google Analytics can sometimes be very overwhelming, I know, I’ve been there. Getting access to an account about 12 years ago, I remember just looking at all the reports and thinking “wow, look at all that data”. Like many others, I have talked to since I then used to report on top-level metrics assuming the set up was valid and my data solid.
It is only been in the last 5+ years that I can say I have really got a firm grasp on analytics and working with clients and teaching Google Analytics to marketers, business owners, and agencies I see the same stumbling blocks and issues come up time and time again.
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Set up an automated dashboard that will streamline your reporting process
Google Data Studio is a free reporting and data visualization tool which you can use to pull in data from multiple online data sources and present it via easy-to-read and interactive dashboards.
Launched by Google in mid-2016 and out of beta in October 2018, Data Studio offers far more flexibility than Google Analytics in terms of the type of dashboards you can create. While Google Analytics dashboards can only display data from within Analytics itself, with Data Studio you can pull together data from multiple sources and display it all in one place.
It’s tempting to dive straight in and start adding elements to the blank canvas that’s now in front of you. Before you do that, take some time to decide what data you need in your report and how you’re going to present it.
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Learn how to accurately track and attribute performance to ensure your channels and campaigns are getting the credit they deserve
Everyone can agree that tracking the success of your digital marketing activity and website is important, but exactly how you do that effectively can be a lot trickier. Even if you think you already have a comprehensive system set up, it’s likely that there’s areas of your Google Analytics conversion tracking or reporting which could be improved.
In this guide I’ll explore some of the main ways you can more accurately track and attribute performance, to ensure your channels and campaigns are getting the credit they deserve.
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Only a minority of users tend to go beyond the basics and utilize some of the more advanced features of Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a very powerful analytics tool that’s widely used in marketing departments around the world, with approximately 85% market share across all web traffic analysis tools. However, despite being ubiquitous across the industry, only a minority of users tend to go beyond the basics and utilize some of the more advanced features of the platform.
If you feel you may not be making the most of the tools available in Google Analytics then read on, as we’ll look at a few of the more intermediate and advanced features to help add even more meaningful data to your marketing reports.
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Learn how to use and transform data into actionable insights to improve your conversions for e-commerce
One of the reasons companies fail is that they are unaware of the changes in the economic environment. Statistics are showing that roughly 80% of new businesses survive past their first year of operation. These days, data is the primary currency and driver of growth. Using data and the proper tools to analyze it, we have the power to generate growth no matter the size or age of the business.
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Transforming data…
Automated website analysis, custom reports, integrations – you can make it possible implementing APIs into your working processes. Find out how marketers can benefit from API implementation techniques
All of us value time and always try to manage it rationally but I know very few marketers who are happy with how they optimize their working processes. With often insane amounts of data to analyze, we spend hours and hours trying to process and organize the results. Here comes the need to implement automation technique and API is exactly what can help you with this task.
API (application programming interface) is a set of subroutine definitions and functions that lets users access the specific features or components of a tool. API allows you to make requests and get data by using the tool’s interface and integrate the results into your custom programs.
So what’s in it for you? How will API help you deal…
Don't fall foul of these common Google Analytics mistakes
Google Analytics is a fantastically useful tool for businesses of all sizes. Rather helpfully for all the SMEs and SMBs out there, it's also free. That means anyone can start using Google analytics to study their web traffic in an attempt to tease out insights, to use to improve their sites.
This openness and low barriers to entry mean it's easy to launch yourself into Google Analytics before you actually have a handle on exactly what you are using for and how you should use it for your business. There's nothing wrong with getting stuck in and learning on the fly, but it can leave you vulnerable to making mistakes that could affect your bottom line. This post will introduce you to some of the basic mistakes people often make when setting up and using their Google Analytics. If you want…
