Google Analytics: Measurement Matters

Powered by Cirrus ABS and Element Three

DISCOVERELEMENTTHREECOM amp CIRRUSABSCOM

MEASURING THE RIGHT THINGS MATTERS

June 22nd 2011

Powered by Cirrus ABS and Element Three

kevinmullettcomtwittercomkmullettfacebookcomkevinmullettlinkedincominkevinmullettjust google ldquokevin mullettrdquo

director of product development

Measuring the Right Things Matters

ANALYTICS FACING THE REALITY OF ANALYTICStime + knowledge

keeping up and interpreting can be a full time job tool selection configuration interpretation amp reporting someone will know more about a specific uses goal is to get you thinking critically about marketing

measurement always changing

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ANALYTICS HIPPO HUNTING

hippo hunting with a bonus expert tag to fill

turning opinion into data hippo = highest paid persons opinion

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ANALYTICS DATA TRUMPS OPINION

Analytics will provide you with powerful data (ammo) capable of bringing down the largest hippos and experts when opinion starts to creep in to a conversation

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ANALYTICS WHY ANALYTICS MATTER

whatrsquos really working

SEO social media offline methods other

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ANALYTICS ARE WE CONNECTING THE DOTS

we need to knowhellip

which marketing methods promotions social channels and advertising work

where to allocate marketing dollars based on ROI

where do visitors really come from offline and online tracking of marketing

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ANALYTICS WHAT CAN ANALYTICS CAN TELL USwhat might not be working

human trafficvisitorssearch botsspidersgeneral performance and platform information

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ANALYTICS ARE THERE ISSUES

how is the performance ofhellip

keyword phrases we are found forour audience message (demographics)social activity changes message growthour site (browsers resolution platforms)pages and specifically calls to action

- does the copy call to actions or imagery need changedover all site issues (errors bounce rate)

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ANALYTICS HOW GRANULAR

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trends cause effect abnormalitieshellipdid it work

ANALYTICS THE DIFFERENT CHOICES

server level statistics (by host AW Stats WebTrends Urchin) CMS (specific to each content management system) third party (external to site services Google Analytics

Chartbeat Clicky Woopra crazyegg)

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ANALYTICS PLENTY OF OTHERS

aggregators (stats from multiple sources and services postrank) nichersquo (measure specific services like social networks or metrics

ClickTale Facebook Insights Buzz-Charts Twitalyzer)

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ANALYTICS NO GOOD IF NEVER SEEN

The best analytics package wont help if never reviewed deciphered and acted upon Set up automated reports or schedule reminders

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ANALYTICS POSTRANK SITES + SOCIAL

data from siteblog is matched with social channel engagement points (acquired by google)

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ANALYTICS TRACK YOUR LINKS

setup a bitly URL shortener account(i know of over 30 other url-shorteners but bitly is trusted

amp widely used) kmullett AnalyticsIndy

ANALYTICS TRACK CONTENT SHARES

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are those sharing buttons working

what caused the most sharesdid it bring any traffic back

ANALYTICS TRACK EMAIL CAMPAIGNS

how is the quality of this email list

open rates and click through

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ANALYTICS SO WHY GOOGLE ANALYTICS

in 2005 Google purchases Urchin Urchin was a top player in analytics simpler interface than most server analytics ties in with AdWords for campaign tracking it is free Google is taking over the world

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ANALYTICS WHY WOULD CIRRUS ABS CARE

Cirrus ABS needed a vehicle for proving the value of our process and solutions and how they differed from othersbull online marketing on the rise traditional marketing

decliningbull importance of search engine optimization

trafficvisibilitybull visitor centric sites with paths to conversion

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ANALYTICS BUT THE NUMBERS DONrsquoT MATCH

each software developer decides what metrics should be included and the criteria that make them up

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ANALYTICS CUSTOMIZING YOUR DASHBOARD

get the information you need quickly

1 browse to the report you want to add2 select the ldquoadd to dashboardrdquo button3 select the ldquoview dashboardrdquo link4 repeat for other reports you would like to add

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ANALYTICS REPORTS TO SHARE OR KEEP

exporting one time reports1 navigate to the report you want to create

example ldquocontentrdquo gt ldquotop contentrdquo2 select the ldquoexportrdquo drop down tab3 select the appropriate format

PDF (vector output for quality visual reference ease of sharing) XML (extensible markup language) CSV (comma separated value Excel) TSV (tabbed separated value Excel)

4 save (different per browser)

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ANALYTICS SCHEDULED ATTENTION

now letrsquos create an automated report1 navigate to the report you want to create

example ldquocontentrdquo raquo ldquotop contentrdquo

2 click the ldquoemailrdquo button3 click the ldquoschedulerdquo tab4 input emails andor check ldquosend to merdquo5 fill in the remaining fields6 select the desired format7 select daily weekly monthly quarterly8 optionally select to include

a ldquodate comparisonrdquo9 click ldquoschedulerdquo

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ANALYTICS DOOMED TO REPEAT THE PAST

comparing a specified date range to the past1 select a month (from the main dashboard)

2 check ldquocompare to pastrdquo and select a previous month3 click ldquoapplyrdquo

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ANALYTICS ANNOTATING KEY EVENTS

a favorite feature of Google Analytics is annotation1 select a date range (from the main dashboard)

2 click the dot that corresponds to a date of a known event3 type in the annotation and save

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ANALYTICS COMPARE METRICS

letrsquos compare some metrics for better insight1 click the ldquovisitsrdquo drop down tab2 click the ldquocompare two metricsrdquo

hover over points on the graph for more information select other metrics to compare

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ANALYTICS INBOUND SOCIAL

advanced segments help tell the story (regular expression)facebookcom|fbme|twittercom|tco|tinyurl|hootsuiteco

m|owly|bitly|htly|linkedincom|stumbleuponcom|supr|tumblrcom|slideshare|youtubecom|youtube|ningcom|dailyboothcom|flickrcom|flickr

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ANALYTICS BOUNCE RATES DEFINED

what is a bounce rate landed on and left from a given page (any page) on your site allowed their session to timeout (GArsquos session timeout is 30

minutes) upon returning from eating lunch a new session would start and the

previous one would be counted as a bounce a lost internet connection may count as a new session when restored

in some situations back button used to leave the site typed a new address into the address bar to leave closed the browser window or tab no further currently defined action took place

they might have called but unless you have a special phone numberhellip

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ANALYTICS WHY IS BOUNCE IMPORTANT

bounce as an indicator possible inadequate paths to action (next steps)

if they make it to ldquocontact usrdquo do they end up on ldquothank yourdquo

shows lost conversions or missed client acquisitions does the landing page match the marketing offer

spotlights visit quality and page relevancy to visitors wasted efforts attracting visitors for the wrong keyword phrases

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ANALYTICS EXCEPTIONS TO BOUNCE RULE

certain sitesvisits are likely to have higher bounce rates

blogs and news where the visitor is looking at a specific article informational searches (as opposed to navigational or transactional)

follow a search result for specific information sites with timely information on the homepage

event calendars and clubs

according to Avinash Kaushik a respected GArsquos expert an average

bounce rate is 40-60 ldquoIt is really had to get a bounce rate under 20 anything

over 35 is cause for concern 50 (above) is worryingrdquo Avinash Kaushik

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ANALYTICS TARGETED KEYWORD OR NOTlets see a keyword example for a given metric1 click ldquotraffic sources in the left nav2 select ldquokeywords 3 select non-paidrdquo

reasons for high keyword bounce rate incorrect keyword target for your site the landing page doesnrsquot fit the visitors needs unclear SEFurls meta descriptions or page titles found exactly what they needed and required no further

action

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ANALYTICS DEEPER KEYWORD RESEARCH

where are people searching from 1 click a keyword link 2 select ldquodimension source to see traffic by search engines

now we can investigate high bounces by term and search engine

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ANALYTICS MONITORING ON-SITE SEARCH

site search setup information if you have a search box on your site must know the parameters of each type edit via the Google Analytics profile

tracking how visitors search on your site1 click ldquocontentrdquo gt ldquosite searchrdquo in the left nav2 click ldquousagerdquo (is it trending up or down after a recent change)3 click ldquosearch termsrdquo (what are they looking for)

4 click ldquostart pagesrdquo (where they get lost most often)

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ANALYTICS CREATING GOALS

first time goal creation1 click ldquogoals in the left nav2 select ldquoset up goals and funnels 3 select ldquoadd goalrdquo4 name the goal ldquocontact usrdquo5 select the ldquourl destinationrdquo radio button6 go to your contact us page and copy

the url now paste that url into the ldquogoal urlrdquo box7 click ldquosave goalrdquo

note additional goals setup from ldquoanalytics settingsrdquo raquo ldquoeditrdquo raquo ldquo+ add goalrdquo

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ANALYTICS VISUALIZING GOALS

adding a funnel to the goal

1 click ldquoyes create a funnel for this goalrdquo2 enter the first url and name it3 click ldquoadd goal funnel steprdquo4 repeat step 2 and 3 until the funnel is

complete

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ANALYTICS DEPTH OF VISIT

how many pages do they visit

1 click ldquoVisitors in the left nav2 select ldquoVisitor Loyalty 3 select ldquoDepth of Visitrdquo

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ANALYTICS BRAND AWARENESS ANYONE

comparing new vs returning visitors1 click ldquoVisitors in the left nav2 select ldquoNew vs Returningldquo

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ANALYTICS TRACKING LOCATION AWARENESS

how did that awareness campaign work for us

1 click ldquovisitors from the left navigation2 select ldquomap overlayrdquo3 click the United Statesldquo4 click Indiana (on map or words)5 click Indianapolisrdquo (on map or words)6 make sure your date range matches

the promo dates

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ANALYTICS TRACKING LOCATION AWARENESS

awareness campaign by visitor type

now letrsquos select ldquonone visitor typeldquo this shows us how many ldquonew visitorsldquo our promo provided in this region

each column gives us a little insight how the promo worked monitoring this through the duration of the campaign would show

when you peak and start to hit diminishing returns this could be added to your dashboard exported to a report or

emailed through the duration of the campaign

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ANALYTICS TRACKING LOCATION AWARENESS

awareness campaign by source

go back to state level amp select ldquonone source (direct traffic vs SE traffic) was the promo effective for URL awareness if a large percentage come from search engines then they had to look for

you if shown as (direct) meaning they typed the URL into the browser they

remembered your domain name from the promo

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ANALYTICS REFERRING THE MOST TRAFFIC

which referring sites send you the most traffic1 select a date range if desired2 click ldquotraffic sourcesrdquo in left nav3 click ldquoreferring sitesrdquo

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