google analytics fundamentals: set up and basics for measurement

Analytics FundamentalsSetup and Basics for Measurement

Andy Crestodina

Strategic Director | @crestodina

94.6%of top marketing sites use

Google Analytics

source: Orbit Media

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How Google Analytics Works

Javascript and Cookies

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How Google Analytics works

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How Google Analytics works

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How Google Analytics works

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How Google Analytics works

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How Google Analytics works

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1. No cookie? No data

2. JavaScript disabled? No data

3. Time on page? Or time on tab?

4. Same device, different user

5. Same user, different device / browser

When it doesn’t work

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Basic issues with GA

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First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty

This can be a problem...

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First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty

This can be a problem...

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URL problems...

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URL problems...

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URL problems...

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URL problems...

The click doesn’t count!

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Carousel / slideshow advancingAnchor/jump linksRollover contentDropdowns expandingOffsite links / social media buttonsSocial sharing buttonsVideo playsLivechat interactions

Embedded map interactionsTabsFiltersScrollingComment / review submissionMailto: linksPDF, PPT, Word downloadsLightbox interactions

GA Jargon

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Visitors are “Users”

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Visits are “Sessions”

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Analytics vs analytics

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Filter out traffic from yourself

...you are not your target audience

How accurate is this data?

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How accurate is this data?

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Exclude traffic from robots

...because they never convert

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Are there robots in my Analytics?

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These referring sites look strange...

How to excludetraffic from robots

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Top Pages

Which are my most popular pages?

Content! One of the most important reports in GA

Navigation Summary

Navigation Summary

Navigation Summary

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1. Add great calls to action

2. Add strong testimonials

3. Add links to your strongest content

4. Remove links to other websites

5. Polish! Add personality! Video! People!

5 Tips for Top Pages

Beware the “services” page...

The problem with multi-topic pages...

Analytics blind spot! ...and horrible SEO

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Beware the testimonials page

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Navigation Summaries

Where do they go from here?

Navigation Summary

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1. Any small links getting clicked a lot?

2. Any big buttons getting missed?

3. Are calls to action effective?

4. What gets clicked the most in the main nav?

5. What never gets clicked in the main nav?

5 Questions to ask your Navigation Summary

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“Everything you remove from a page

makes everything that’s left more prominent!”

Less is more (effective)

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Filters

Find things in the first column fast

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Advanced Filters

Find anything fast!

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“Which blog posts have bounce rates

of more than 80%”

Let’s answer this question...

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Setting up goals

...because GA doesn’t know what success looks like

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1. Leads

2. Subscribers

3. Ecommerce Customers

4. Event Registrants

5. Donors

5 types of conversions...

#winning

Thank you messages ...not good for Analytics

Email links...not good for Analytics

Forms / thank you pages...perfect for Analytics

Thank you!

Subscribers from ‘Thank You’ page

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What about event tracking?

That’ll work, right?

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Remember those

“non-pageview”

interactions?

...they are trackable

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41.4%of top marketing sites use

Google Tag Manager

source: Orbit Media

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...so let’s use thank you pages

...because that was kinda rough.

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1. They see a Thank you page (additional messaging)

2. They get an auto-response email

3. Saves to database or CRM

4. Sends an email notification to you

5. Records as a conversion in Analytics

5 Things that happen when visitors submit...

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The Goals report

The All Pages report

The All Pages report ...with page values

The Reverse Goal Path report

The Funnel Visualization report

Where you visitors are coming from

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The Channels report ...with conversion rates

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The Channels report ...with conversion rates

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Social channel conversions!

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1. Add “social proof” to your top pages

2. Make sure every page has a call to action

3. Add people and personality

4. Use short, simple forms

5. Answer visitors’ top questions

5 Tips for better conversion rates

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7 Things to add to your testimonials

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Campaign Tracking Code

Where are your email visitors hiding?

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Where are my email visitors?

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There they are!!

Where are my email visitors?

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Mediumbroadest origin of traffic

cpc

SourceSpecific origin of traffic

Facebook

Campaign NameSpecific marketing effort

spring_sale

Campaign tracking for a FB ad...

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Mediumbroadest origin of traffic

email

SourceSpecific origin of traffic

newsletter

Campaign NameSpecific marketing effort

april_newsletter

Campaign tracking for an email newsletter

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Mediumbroadest origin of traffic

cpm

SourceSpecific origin of traffic

Twitter

Campaign NameSpecific marketing effort

event_registration

Campaign tracking for Twitter campaign

Now we have campaign data!

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Site Search Setup

Does your site have a search box?

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See what they’re looking for!

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Secondary Dimensions

Add more data to any report!

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1. Search for each phrase yourself. Find it?

2. Better optimize your own pages

3. Publish more content on those topics

4. Adjust your navigation to help visitors find

things faster

4 Tips from the Search Terms report

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Putting it all together

Let’s combine all of our new skills!

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“Which pages get the most traffic from

social media visitors?”

Interesting question...

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Step 1: Go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages

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Step 2: Click on the “Secondary dimension” dropdown

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Step 3: Select “Medium” (find it by searching or clicking Acquisition > Medium)

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Step 4: Click to set an advanced filter (so we can filter by medium!)

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Step 5: Set filter so Medium contains “social” and click Apply

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A closer look at that advanced filter...

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Make a Shortcut

Save yourself some time...

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Analytics is useless!

...unless you share, make decisions and take action.

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Reporting is not analysis

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1. It answers questions

2. You share the insights

3. You make decisions based on those insights

4. You take action!

5. You measure the impact

Analytics is useful only if...

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Adding notes in GA

“Annotations” help tell stories.

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There’s a story behind the data...

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1. Sent an email campaign

2. Started, changed or stopped advertising

3. Press hit!

4. Changed website

5. Changed Analytics setup

5 Reasons to add Annotations

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Sharing data visually

...because text is weak

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“Six years ago, we didn’t have any mobile traffic.

Now 60% of our traffic is mobile.”

Text is kinda weak

@crestodina Thanks, Snagit!

Visuals are much more compelling

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Grab visuals from Analytics (Jing)

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Put that visual into a presentation!

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...or an email!

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There is more to life than Google Analytics

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The best things in life aren’t in GA

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The best things in life aren’t in GA

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The best things in life aren’t in GA

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1. How to set up Google Analytics

2. How to set up event tracking using Google Tag Manager

3. How to track campaigns using the Google URL Builder

4. Content Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content

Marketing (4th edition)

Notes / videos from this presentation

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1. Google Analytics Academy

2. Avinash Kaushik (Occam’s Razor)

3. Orbit Media’s Blog (Analytics section)

4. Annielytics Blog (Analytics section)

5. E-Nor’s Blog (Analytics section)

Want to learn more?

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Andy CrestodinaStrategic Director | @crestodina

THANK YOU!