8 TIPS FOR MAKING THE MOST OF GOOGLE ANALYTICS Brought to you by Geary LSF and Orbital Informatics
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Introduction 8 Tips for Google Analytics Don t let Google do the thinking for you Don t view data in isolation Do audit your site Do track the right actions Don t rely on last-touch attribution Do know which attribution model to use Don t treat all channels the same Do focus on your goals Turning digital ambitions into business results 2
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION Google Analytics is one of the best tools available for the digital marketer. It captures critical data and helps you gain valuable insight into your website traffic and usage patterns. Yet many marketers fail to leverage the full capabilities of this powerful tool. Google Analytics helps companies in all industries understand their position online and how they can improve their conversion rates. As a snapshot of your customers digital engagement path, analytics are at the center of a digital omni-channel marketing approach. Effective omni-channel marketing maximizes online performance across SEO, paid search, display, content marketing, social media and more, through a holistic cross-channel analytics information hub. Omni-channel analytics enable marketers to see the whole picture instead of individual silos. This allows strategic optimization of an entire channel mix to best meet audience needs and marketing objectives. Simply setting up a Google Analytics account and embedding a tracking script into your website isn t enough to realize the full benefits of the platform. There are several all-too-common mistakes that prevent marketers from collecting data accurately, interpreting data correctly, and implementing effective changes as a response to that interpretation. 4
8 TIPS FOR GOOGLE ANALYTICS
8 TIPS FOR GOOGLE ANALYTICS To help you get the best results from this powerful digital marketing tool, here are eight dos and don ts for making the most of Google Analytics from Geary LSF and Matt Browne, Founder, Orbital Informatics. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Don t let Google do the thinking for you Don t view data in isolation Do audit your site Do track the right actions Don t rely on last-touch attribution Do know which attribution model to use Don t treat all channels the same Do focus on your goals 6
1 TIP 1: DON T LET GOOGLE DO THE THINKING FOR YOU The biggest misconception about Google Analytics is that you can simply install it and the system will automatically give you valuable information. Google is deceptively easy to set up and the barrier to entry is low. This lures many marketers into letting Google do the thinking for them and ignoring many of the features that provide rich, actionable insights. As a result, they don t capture the data that is most meaningful to their business data that will give them the greatest understanding. Using Google Analytics standard settings means you ll get generic reports that may or may not be relevant to your business. Without information that reflects your business goals, you won t have any idea how to make changes that will improve your site and, ultimately, your conversion rate, however your business measures that. GEARY LSF TIP Don t implement the generic, one-size-fits-all reports. To get actionable insights, think about the importance of data as it relates to your business planning. What types of data do you need to collect? What types of actions will generate this data? Once you know what data you need, you can look at your site on a page-by-page basis, then a section-by-section basis, to identify each element that drives action on your site so that you can find out how each is performing. Getting your analytics configured properly may require some expert assistance. Start with your business question first and then press your implementation engineers to answer it. 7
TIP 2: DON T VIEW DATA IN ISOLATION Many marketers look at data linearly. They notice that a website visitor watched a video, commented on the blog, and visited a product page, but all of these actions are viewed in isolation rather than as the actions of a particular customer. GEARY LSF TIP 2 Good analysts group actions by customer profile based on your marketing funnel. Define customers by their level of brand awareness and engagement prospect, customer, repeat customer and identify which actions are typical of each. Then you can assign website visitors to a category based on the series of actions they perform on the site and get a holistic view of what s working and what s not for each type. 8
TIP 3: DO AUDIT YOUR SITE 3 Google Analytics offers many features and functionalities, but some marketers don t take advantage of them because they haven t done a proper website audit. An audit identifies where the problem areas are on your site and where the opportunities lie. Many marketers install Google analytics without first understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their site. An audit can answer questions such as: How do users travel through the site? Where are they spending time or not? Are the main conversion activities clear and understandable? Your audit should also include a look at your current analytics if you have them. If Google Analytics is installed, are the proper features and functionalities turned on? Is it capturing sufficient data? Are you leveraging attribution reporting? GEARY LSF TIP To maximize your opportunities, have the foresight to configure Google Analytics properly -- before you need the data. Visit your site as a user would and see if your conversion activities are obvious and if the data you need is being captured. An audit of your site and of your analytics can help you identify opportunities and capabilities that your company is not taking advantage of and helps you make a measurement plan. This plan lists the actions and elements you should be tracking, with marching orders for implementation for marketers and other stakeholders to act on the data. Do the work up front for a bigger reward later. 9
TIP 4: DO TRACK THE RIGHT ACTIONS 4 Often, marketers want to know whether a tactic is working but they haven t gathered the right metrics to gain insight. For example, many sites lead with a home page slider or video but fail to track it. As a result, the marketer doesn t know which banner people are clicking on or how a video view increases conversion. Also, many brands don t have any custom dimensions or have not configured events well. Without proper tracking, it s much harder to get usable data or actionable insights. GEARY LSF TIP To do a conversion rate optimization, you need to have visibility into any core user interactions. Be sure you have identified all elements that you want to track before implementing the analytics platform. Start by building a spreadsheet that lists the category, action and type of each element on your site every button, video, and whitepaper, etc. Decide how you want to measure performance by page, section, media type, theme, or some other way. Your strategy will be driven by what you want to look at in the broadest sense, supported by data. If there s a key piece of user interaction that you can t see data towards, press your analytics partner to tag the site. 10
5 TIP 5: DON T RELY ON LAST-TOUCH ATTRIBUTION Unless you indicate otherwise, Google Analytics uses last-touch attribution. This model credits one hundred percent of a conversion to the last channel the customer visited and ignores all previous touch points. For example, a customer in the market for a new pair of sunglasses may watch a video, read reviews after a Google search for best sunglasses, then visit a merchant site directly or type the brand name into search. Google Analytics does not take into account that the product review site says which sunglasses were the best or that the video made a great impression. The common belief among analytics pros is that last touch is the weakest model because your analytics platform does not tell the whole story. GEARY LSF TIP Proper attribution is critical to measure the true effectiveness of your marketing efforts. It s particularly important for marketers using an omnichannel approach. Omni-channel marketing means using many channels simultaneously. With cross-channel attribution, every touch point along the way brings value depending on what your marketing lifecycle is. When implementing Google Analytics, consider which channels you re using, how they re defined, and how you want to score credit to the channels that influenced the sale. 11
6 TIP 6: KNOW WHICH ATTRIBUTION MODEL TO USE Once you ve decided not to rely on last-touch attribution, there are a variety of other models to choose from. Deciding which one is right for you depends on the value of each customer and the level of insight you need into their actions. Dynamic attribution, which uses additional software on top of Google Analytics, treats every customer journey uniquely and credits each touch point depending on the time of touch. For example, Customer A searches for a brand and then searches for a coupon code before converting. Customer B searches for a coupon, reads a review, and then coverts. Dynamic attribution credits the coupon as contributing to both sales, even though Customer B converted later. Static attribution treats every visitor the same way but allows you to customize which touch points are counted and how heavily each is weighted. There is a spectrum of static attribution models. For example, you can give each touch point equal credit toward conversion (linear model). You can weight the first and last touch point more heavily than the others (position-based model). You can take the time between touches into consideration (time-decay model). Or you can customize any of these models to filter out particular sites. GEARY LSF TIP Best practices recommend evaluating three to five models before committing to one. Look at the data from each channel and see what the data reflects. Then choose a model that is reflective of the channels that are persuading customers to convert. 12
7 TIP 7: DON T TREAT ALL CHANNELS THE SAME Most marketers think of digital channels as paid search, email, display, social media, SEO, direct, etc. But many channels are not uniform. For example, within Facebook there are a number of different ad models. Also, search marketing encompasses paid search for brand name terms (Ray-Ban) and paid search for marketplace terms (sunglasses). Vague channel definition that is not representative of the true conversion path doesn t help you customize attribution properly. GEARY LSF TIP Attribution model and channel definition are the right and left arms of a cross-channel approach. When you define channels clearly and pair this definition with the appropriate attribution model, you begin to see patterns and understand the interoperability of those channels. This is actionable insight that allows you to refine and optimize marketing efforts. 13
TIP 8: DO FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS 8 Many marketers who have implemented Google Analytics have a false sense of security. They think their data needs are taken care of. But without critical planning steps, they re not taking full advantage of the platform. As a result, they aren t gathering the right data, they don t know how to interpret the data, and they can t make actionable decisions from the data. GEARY LSF TIP Google Analytics can be very informative if tuned the right way. Focus on your goals what you want people to accomplish on your website and how those actions roll up to a bigger action. For example, if you want a visitor to watch a video and share your Instagram posts, think about grouping those actions into an aggregate goal. Look at high value areas of your site that you are spending the most on and make sure you have the data that you need to find out how they re performing. 14
TURNING DIGITAL AMBITIONS INTO BUSINESS RESULTS
TURNING DIGITAL AMBITIONS INTO BUSINESS RESULTS Technology has created many possible opportunities for brand interactions today. Marketers must have a deep understanding of their target audience s habits, what their touch points are, where they fall in the decision-making cycle and what kind of impact they have in progressing customers closer to purchase. Google Analytics is a powerful tool for optimizing brand awareness, engagement and conversion. An omni-channel approach based on a strategic analytics hub allows you to deliver a well-defined media mix that takes your target audience on a journey through paid, owned, and earned media. This strategy can significantly improve campaign performance while maximizing consumer insight, ROI and conversion volumes. As the digital landscape and consumer purchase path evolve, Geary LSF recognizes the importance of a consumer-centric messaging strategy and performance optimization across all touch points. With a comprehensive omni-channel marketing approach, Geary LSF is turning its clients digital ambitions into business results. Whether you re a small e-retailer or a global brand, using Google Analytics to track your audience throughout its journey is essential for long-term success. To find out more about designing the best analytics strategy for your brand, contact Geary LSF at: (877) 616-8226 or email sales@gearylsf.com