TOP 10 things Your Association Should Measure In Google Analytics 1 weblinkinternational.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome.... 3 Metric 1 «Audience Location.... 4 Metric 2 «Audience Engagement....... 6 Metric 3 «Mobile Traffic Behavior...... 7 Metric 4 «Traffic Sources.... 8 Metric 5 «Social Media Traffic........ 9 Metric 6 «Site Content Trends.... 11 Metric 7 «Page Bounce Rates.... 12 Metric 8 «Site Search Behavior...... 13 Metric 9 «Events... 14 Metric 10 «Funnel Visualization..... 15 bonus tip «Use Shortcuts.... 16 upgrade tips «Universal Analytics 17 Weblink «About Weblink.... 19 2
Welcome using Basic metrics in Google Analytics is helpful, but learning to use the more advanced measurement tools will pay dividends. Association staff often perform multiple duties within their organizations and have an ever-growing list of tasks to complete each day. Often, the association website takes a backseat to other member relation activities. However, your website is the most accessible, farthest reaching communication tool for your association. It is available 24/7, is visible to members and prospects everywhere, and it provides opportunities to convey multiple targeted and segmented messages specific to your audience s needs. Without analytic tools, you have no data to determine whether your marketing messages are on point. Google Analytics can track your marketing efforts effectiveness and lead to better decisions on how to spend your limited time, resources, and money. If you re already using and are somewhat familiar with Google Analytics, you re ready to learn and implement the top 10 things your association should measure in Google Analytics. Throughout the ebook, we will refer to navigation in two ways. First, we place an image of a Google Analytics dashboard with the destination report name highlighted in blue at the beginning of each section. To find the audience location report that is highlighted in the dashboard image to the left, you would look under the Standard Reports section of your Google Analytics dashboard, click Audience, click Geo, and click Location. Instead of writing out each of these steps, the second way we refer to navigation is to abbreviate it. For example, the following shortened navigation format Standard Reports>Audience>gEO>Location refers to the audience location report in the Google Analytics dashboard image above. Let s get started! 3 Welcome
Metric 1 «Audience Location Standard Reports>Audience>gEO>Location Why you should measure audience location The audience location metric can help you determine whether you are reaching your intended audience. It may reveal a previously untapped or emerging audience. Using the location metric will allow you to target your marketing more effectively, saving you time and money. In the example below, a Maryland-based financial association receives most of its traffic locally, but it gets an unexpected portion of its traffic from other states. With no offices outside of Maryland, the association should investigate why they are getting this traffic. Traffic from neighboring states may simply indicate that the audience is made up of interstate commuters, or it may be a result of social sharing. If more local traffic is desired, the association could create more geo-specific marketing materials. Having web traffic from outside the target audience location does not necessarily mean the association should expand its marketing area. 4 Audience Location
Metric 1 «Audience Location In the example below, city metrics show a business association based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin receiving nearly half of its traffic from surrounding areas. The larger centers of concentration represented by the larger blue circles may indicate emerging markets. The association may benefit from networking and directing specific marketing materials to these markets. 5 Audience Location
Metric 2 «Audience Engagement Standard reports>audience>behavior>engagement Why you should measure audience engagement The audience engagement metric shows how effectively you are capturing and keeping your audience s attention. This metric allows you to see how much time a viewer spends on each page and how many pages they access. The page visit duration counts how long a person stays on a page before accessing another page. If a person goes to one page only and doesn t click to another page, the statistic will show as a zero to 10 second visit. If your site is article-based, such as a blog, it may have many zero to 10 second visits and a low page count per visit. Providing related posts and other calls to action on the landing page will entice the viewers to engage further and click to another page. This report shows the time spent on a news landing page, so a short visit duration is expected. However, placing calls to action and links on this landing page will encourage the user to visit more pages. 6 Audience Engagement
Metric 3 «Mobile Traffic Behavior Standard Reports>Audience>Mobile>overview Why you should measure mobile traffic behavior Mobile traffic behavior metrics reveal how the mobile market is affecting your association s website traffic. Mobile device internet searches have nearly doubled from 2012 to 2013, and Google has warned that sites without easy-to-use mobile sites may fall in its search rankings. Not catering to this burgeoning market could result in lost revenue. Mobile devices present a greater opportunity to reach people at times when they would otherwise be unreachable. The example below shows the year-over-year comparison of mobile traffic growth for a particular website. The mobile traffic increased over 200 percent in just one year showing that significantly more people are interested in accessing this site via mobile technology. However, the increase in mobile traffic alone does not mean that the website is mobile friendly.»» Mobile traffic behavior metrics can be important indicators of user experience on your site. Smartphone and tablet visitors will spend less time on a site that isn t optimized for their devices. A decrease in the time on site, Average Visit Duration, can be indicative of a site that isn t optimized for mobile. To get the most value from the mobile metric, this association should work to identify why the average visit duration decreased while the mobile traffic increased. 7 Mobile Traffic Behavior
Metric 4 «Traffic Sources Standard reports>acquisition>overview Why you should measure traffic sources The traffic source metrics indicate how people are finding your website. People can find your website directly, through social media, referrals, and organic searches. Measuring your traffic sources can help determine the strengths and opportunities for growth in your web marketing strategy. Direct traffic occurs when someone already knows who you are and enters your website url directly into their browser address window. If you re looking to grow your website presence quickly, direct traffic shouldn t be the leading source. It s difficult to make much impact on direct traffic in a short period of time because it requires a tremendous increase in brand recognition and offline marketing efforts. Growing your direct traffic should be a long-term website goal. Referral traffic occurs when someone clicks on a link to your website from another source, including social media and member websites. Referring links can also be difficult to grow quickly, but are key to search engine optimization because search engines will rank your site higher in its results if you have more links referring back to your content. Growing your referral link strategy should be a part of your intermediate to long term website goals. With such a small percentage of its traffic coming from social media, this association has the opportunity to significantly grow web traffic by increasing social networking. Search traffic occurs when someone performs any type of search on the internet and clicks onto your website. This is the greatest source of traffic for our association clients; typically 60 to 90 percent of their traffic comes from organic searches. This is the area where you have the biggest opportunity for growth in the shortest amount of time because you can affect your traffic fairly quickly with additional content, the right kinds of content, and by optimizing your site for search engines. Growing search traffic should be a part of your immediate website goals. 8 Traffic Sources
Metric 5 «Social Media Traffic Standard reports>acquisition>social>overview Why you should measure social media traffic The social media traffic metric reveals how social media drives your web traffic. All ages use social media. Of all internet users 18-29 years old, 89 percent use social networking sites, 78 percent in the 30-49 year-old range, and 60 percent of users in the 50-64 year-old group use social networking sites according to Pew Research Center s 2013 survey. According to a recent Experian Marketing Services survey, Americans spend 27 percent of their computer internet time on social media. Social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide your organization a much greater reach than your website alone. Identify the sources of your social media referrals, and determine where you want to primarily focus your efforts. It is better to focus on the few that work best for you than to try to do all of them and fail because you don t have the time or resources to be an active participant. This association receives more than half of its referrals from LinkedIn. As a proven source of traffic, LinkedIn activity should be continued. The association should also consider growing the other top referral sources. 9 Social Media Traffic
Metric 5 «Social Media Traffic For more sophisticated reporting on your social media traffic, download shared reports from Google Analytics Custom Report Sharing forum. You may also want to try any number of other analytic services to help you further measure your social media performance. Some, such as followerwonk, only measure Twitter. Others, like HootSuite and Klout, offer statistics on multiple social media networks. Search the term social media analytics to find other services. Klout assigns a score ranging from 1-100 based on metrics used to determine your influence across a variety of social media networks. 10 Social Media Traffic
Metric 6 «Site Content Trends Standard reports>behavior>site Content>all pages Why you should measure site content trends Measuring the performance for all pages over a period of time will show you trends in your site content. can help you maximize your site traffic with minimal effort. Doing a year-over-year comparison can show you trends over certain seasons, around annual events, or specific posts and promotions. Note: You may have to adjust the time period as Google Analytics typically defaults to a one month overview. In the example below, the association shows similar trends from year to year. However, there are spikes in activity that can be explained. Identify timeframes when the traffic is up and replicate or create similar efforts. When traffic is down, recreate special content that has proven successful in the past. 11 Site Content Trends
Metric 7 «Page Bounce Rates Standard reports>behavior>site Content>landing pages Why you should measure page bounce rates Landing page bounce rates indicate the success or failure of individual pages and are a better indicator of the website s performance than the overall site page bounce rate. The page bounce rate provides the opportunity to pinpoint areas of your site that need improvement. In the example below, the events start page has a low bounce rate because most people are intentionally going to the page to register for an event. Alternatively, the membership application page, at 81.91 percent has a high bounce rate and should be evaluated. Transform non-performing pages with calls to action, or other content that users typically find interesting. 12 Page Bounce Rates
METric 8 «Site Search Behavior Standard reports>behavior>site search>overview Why you should measure site search behavior The site search behavior metric measures your visitors intent. You ll know from this metric if your site is missing any key information that your audience is seeking. The site search usage report tells you how many of your site visits included search activity. Note: To use this feature, you must first set it up in your Google Analytics administration section. The search terms report will tell you exactly what people were seeking in their own words. Use these terms as a starting point for new content. Site search terms can also give you an idea of what to include in your search engine optimization keywords. The pages report will indicate which pages were searched and how they responded to the search results. If searches are being performed on landing pages, you may be missing important information on those pages. Create a call to action button or feature banner to showcase products and services that frequently appear in your search terms. If you don t have these products and services, consider adding them. 13 Site Search Behavior
MEtric 9 «Events Standard reports>behavior>events>overview Why you should measure events The events metric helps determine on-page activities for greater insight into user engagement, and using it can help to drive higher conversions. Events metrics help clarify bounce statistics. The visitor may have read all the way through a page and found exactly what they needed, or the person may have landed on your page and immediately left. Using a custom JavaScript and the events reports, you can tell if someone has seen all of the text on that particular page. The report below shows activity from users scrolling through the page. You can see at what point the page was loaded, if someone starts reading, reaches the bottom of your content, and scrolls to the bottom of the page. Note: This feature is only possible with a custom setup within your website. Use the events metric to test the best placement of calls to action. In the example below, multiple call to action locations were tested, and placement at the bottom of the page was clearly preferred. 14 Events
Metric 10 «Funnel Visualization Standard reports>conversions>goals>funnel visualization Why you should measure funnel visualization Google Analytics funnel visualization metric allows you to measure your strategy s effectiveness based on specific goals you have set. When visitors access your site, you should have goals for how you want them to respond. You may want a prospective member to read about your organization and the member benefits, and then join. Or you may want a current member to visit your events page, view your annual conference page, and register. With funnel visualization, you can tell if your users are responding according to your goals, and if not, where the process broke down. The goal funnel below shows the percent of visitors converting to the next step, and if they don t, where they went instead. Note: This feature is only possible with a custom setup within the Google Analytics administration area Increase conversions by finding and correcting break points in the desired user click stream. Think about your goals when you set up your website navigation. Making it easy for visitors to get from one step to the next will increase your conversion rates. The Association Financial Management funnel is the lowest performing page. It should be checked for possible confusing language, browser incompatibility, or other issues that may be preventing some users from proceeding to the next step. 15 Funnel Visualization
bonus tip «Use Shortcuts my stuff>shortcuts>overview Why you should use shortcuts Shortcuts add efficiency to your reporting. If you ve run a report with customizations that you want to maintain, use the shortcut feature to save and add the report to your shortcuts. Be sure to check the dates each time you use a shortcut because the date settings are not saved in shortcuts. Find and configure a report. Click Shortcut from the menu bar above the report. Enter a name for the shortcut to your report. Click OK to save, and you will be taken to the Shortcuts section in the left pane. To edit or delete shortcuts, access them in the Shortcuts section. 16 Use Shortcuts
upgrade tips «Universal Analytics Google analytics announced a new mandatory upgrade At their annual summit in October 2013, the Google Analytics team announced that all Google Analytics properties will be automatically upgraded to Google s new and improved analytics tool, Universal Analytics. Google Analytics gave no deadline, but said that the transition would happen in four phases in the coming months. They are currently in phase 1. WebLink is monitoring the changes and will update our materials accordingly. In the meantime, please see our tips and information for getting through the transition. what the upgrade means Simply put, the upgrade means that you will need to change every instance of your analytics tracking code on every page of your website that uses Google Analytics. Google is already automatically upgrading properties that are considered low risk. To see if your property has been automatically upgraded, go to the Admin section of your Google Anlaytics Account. Under Property, click on Tracking Info, and you will either see a prompt to upgrade, or see your new Universal Analytics code. Google automatically upgraded this property. It can currently use the previous version of Google Analytics, but will not be able to use the new features until the new tracking code is pasted into the company s webpages. 17 Universal Analytics
upgrade tips «Universal Analytics The new Analytics platform is available now for properties to upgrade themselves. For those who do not transfer, Google will automatically upgrade at some point. It is better to complete the transfer yourself so that you can plan the implementation. Do not upgrade until phase 3 if you use the dc.js javascript snippet because Universal Analytics will not support the dc.js javascript until then. This javascript snippet is used for Remarketing, Google Display Network Impression Reporting, DoubleClick Campaign Manager Reporting, and Google Analytics Demographics and Interests Reports. To find out if you are using the dc.js javascript snippet, navigate to your Google Analytics Admin section, and look at your tracking code. If you see dc.js, do not upgrade until phase 3. More information on all four phases of the upgrade can be found here on Google s Developer site. You will also see instructions on how to manage your own upgrade. benefits of the upgrade»» There are three new, more flexible data collection methods that let you track any digital device. The tracking code for these tools is easier to implement and customize. Cross domain tracking for websites is simpler and more accurate. This is your tracking code. Copy and paste it into the code of every page you want to track. <script type= text/javascript > var _gaq = _gaq []; _gaq.push([ _setaccount, UA-12345678-1 ]); _gaq.push([ _trackpageview ]); (function() { var ga = document.createelement( script ); ga.type = text/javascript ; ga.async = true; ga.src = ( https: == document.location.protocol? https://ssl : http:// www ) +.google-analytics.com/ga.js ; var s = document.getelementsbytagname( script )[0]; s.parentnode. insertbefore(ga, s); })(); </script> Universal Analytics gives you more configuration options in your Google Analytics account, so you don t have to adjust your tracking code to make modifications. With Universal Analytics, you can control these settings: organic search sources, session and campaign timeout handling, referral and search term exclusions. You will have custom dimensions and custom metrics with Universal Analytics. They are like default dimensions and metrics in your Analytics account, except you create and define them yourself, so they are tailored to your needs. You can use these tools to collect and segment data that Google Analytics doesn t automatically track, like product details, levels in games, or authors of content pages. Ongoing product updates and new features will only be available to Universal Analytics properties that recieve data from a Universal Analytics tracking code. Classic properties and properties receiving data from a previous version of Google Analytics tracking code (like the ga.js JavaScript library) will not receive any product updates or access to new features. 18 Universal Analytics
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