Mining Google Analytics for Marketing Insights

MINING GOOGLE ANALYTICS FOR

MARKETING INSIGHTSKash Dhanda | President of Ezra Digital

Web: www.EzraDigital.com Email: [email protected]

Phone: 412-465-0134

INTRODUCTION

3MINING GOOGLE ANALYTICS | Ezra Digital

WHY GOOGLE ANALYTICS?


REASON #1: FULLY FEATURED

Conversion tracking

Multi-channel attribution

Custom segments

Intelligence events

Real time monitoring

Custom dashboards

Funnel visualization

Custom variables


REASON #2: THE COMMUNITY


REASON #3: IT’S GOOGLE


REASON #4: FREE


WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH GA

Demonstrate financial value of marketing

Troubleshoot your website

Track the impact of email newsletters

Evaluate social media performance

Automate reporting to save time

Determine need for responsive design

Benchmark against your industry

Follow specific groups of visitors


OVERVIEW

The Magic Proper Account Setup

Generating Insights

Q&A

1 2 3 4


THE DASHBOARD


JARGON

• Visitor = Individual website visitor

• Session = Visit

• Pageview = Each individual page visit

• Segment = Segment of data, not traditional marketing segments

• Conversion = Action being taken

• Bounce rate = % of times a visitor left after seeing only one page

THE MAGIC


DEFINING WEB OBJECTIVES


DETERMINING YOUR WEB OBJECTIVES

• Why does your website exist?

• What job is your website doing?

• What is of value to the company?

• Ask other stakeholders


EXAMPLE OBJECTIVES

Build brand awareness

Showcase portfolio/case studies to build trust

Move prospects through the decision funnel

Establish authority or thought-leadership

Supplemental sales tool

Showcase press and awards

Find and recruit new talent

Nurture relationships with existing clients


GOALS IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS

• Actions/behaviors that are of value

• Flow from web objectives

• Manually created


3 EXAMPLE GOALS

1. Branding Websites: Visit DurationType: DurationCan be imprecise, so take with a grain of salt

2. Content Marketing Websites: Pages/VisitType: Pages/Screens per SessionValuable for sites with portfolios and/or a blog

3. Lead Generation Websites: URL DestinationType: DestinationTrack visits to form completion pages/brochure downloads


SETTING UP GOALS


GOAL TYPES


DETERMINING FINANCIAL VALUE

• Hypothetical financial value

• Evaluate how often the users who complete the goal become clients

• Use Average Client Size as a rough guide


EXAMPLE FINANCIAL VALUE REPORT


SPLITTING UP TRAFFIC WITH SEGMENTS

• Isolate and analyze subsets of your overall traffic

• Apply to individual reports

• Don’t change underlying data

• Compare whenever possible


EXAMPLE DEFAULT SEGMENTS


CUSTOM SEGMENTS


SETTING UP CUSTOM SEGMENTS


RECOMMENDED SEGMENT – BRAND INTEREST


RECOMMENDED SEGMENT – SERVICE/MARKET


RECOMMENDED SEGMENT – ENGAGED VISITORS


INTELLIGENCE EVENTS

• Monitor your website traffic to detect significant variations

• Automatic Alerts

• Custom Alerts


VIEWING AUTOMATIC ALERTS


SETTING UP CUSTOM INTELLIGENCE ALERTS


3 RECOMMENDED INTELLIGENCE EVENTS

1. Sessions Increases by 20% (Period: Daily)Pleasant pat-on-the-back

2. Sessions Decreases by 20% (Period: Weekly)Weekly to account for variability

3. Sessions Equals 0 (Period: Daily)Site and/or tracking code is down

PROPER ACCOUNT SETUP


GETTING AN ACCOUNT


ADDING OTHER USERS


GETTING YOUR TRACKING CODE


TRACKING CODE INSTALLATION

• Content Management System• Wordpress/Drupal/Joomla

Plugins• Squarespace

• Manual Insertion

• Google Tag Manager


THE DASHBOARD


GETTING AROUND: MENU SECTIONS


GETTING AROUND: DATE RANGES


GETTING GOOD DATA: TRACKING URLS

• Use Everywhere• Social media• Newsletters• Email signatures• Referral links• Case Study links

• URL Builder Tool• Gaconfig.com/google-

analytics-url-builder


GETTING GOOD DATA: CAMPAIGN TAGGING

• Parameters• High Level (ex. Government)• Type of Source (ex. Email)• Name of Source (ex.

Newsletter)• Optional Info 1 (ex.

September)• Optional Info 2

• More info: Annielytics.com/guides/definitive-guide-campaign-tagging-google-analytics/


3 COMMON SETUP MISTAKES

1. Not using the “new” Universal Tracking CodeMissing out on useful demographic and interest-based dataWill eventually be discontinued

2. Not turning on Site SearchGet actual Voice of Customer data

3. Not connecting to other Google ServicesAdwords for clean campaign dataWebmaster Tools for better keyword/SEO data

GENERATING MARKETING INSIGHTS


THE APPROACH

• Think through digital strategy

• Create a list of questions, the longer the better

• If you don’t know how to find the answer, Google is your friend


HOW DO VISITORS FIND MY SITE?Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium


WHAT DO VISITORS DO ON OUR SITE?Behavior > Site Content > All Pages


WHAT IS THE BUSINESS IMPACT OF THE WEBSITE?Conversions > Goals > Overview


WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK IS BEST?Acquisition > Social > Network Referrals


WHICH PROSPECTS ARE REALLY INTERESTED?Audience> Technology > Network


WHAT CONTENT SHOULD WE ADD TO THE SITE?

1. Site SearchBehavior > Site Search > Search Terms

2. Interest DataAudience > Interests > Overview

3. Top Attention GrabbersBehavior > Site Content > Landing Pages

4. Behavior FlowBehavior > Behavior Flow


OTHER QUESTIONS TO ASK

What is our most effective content?

Which channels are our unsung heroes?

What’s the worst content which causes people to leave?How do visitors move through the site?

Does our site work across all devices and browsers?

What other kinds of things are my visitors interested in?

What’s the first thing people see on our site?

Where do we have a following, geographically?

WRAPPING UP


ANALYSIS BEST PRACTICES

1. Compare trends over time using “Compare Dates”

2. Apply segments to reports whenever possible

3. Report in dollar amounts by adding financial values to goals


FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Slides available at: ezradigital.com/mining-google-analytics

• Analytics blogs:Kaushik.netAnnielytics.comAnalytics.blogspot.com

• Other resources:Google Analytics Youtube channelAnalytics Academy


EZRA DIGITAL ANALYTICS PACKAGE

Account setup

Custom dashboard creation

Strategy consultation

Website and account audit

Event tracking

Data-driven design suggestions

Referral spam blocking

Monthly reports

Questions?

Web: www.EzraDigital.com Email: [email protected]

Phone: 412-465-0134