Erin SteinbrueggeMarket STL Fall 2010

Free Yourself From Analysis Paralysis

erin@theloudfew.com@steinburglarlinkedin.com/in/erinsteinbrueggefacebook.com/erin.steinbruegge

How You Can Reach Me

Partner and Lead Marketing Strategist @theloudfew.

SEO and PPC Consultant and Instructor at Buzzhound Learning Labs.

Why Website Analytics is Important

Measure ROI

Troubleshoot issues

Gain business intelligence

Testing

Optimize performance

This is an EXCITING time for website analytics

Many great free options available

Programs are more robust and integrated than

before.

Website analytics isn’t just for websites anymore…

Everything from your phone to your TV is becoming more measurable

The Analytics Geek is Evolving into a Hero

events

referring websites

visits

exits

campaigns

bounce rate

conversions traffic sources

subscriptions

keywords

abandoned funnels

landing pages

PPC

newsletterblog

SEO

banners affiliates

mobile

But How Do You Make Sense of All of This Data?

5 Causes of Analysis ParalysisGoals are not clearly defined

You’re using “out of the box” reports

You aren’t focusing on actionable metrics

You aren’t testing or you are afraid to fail

Analytics was installed improperly or you

selected the wrong analytics program.

So How Do We Go from Analytics Zero to Hero?

Goals for Today:

Organize your analytics program

Focus on actionable metrics

Start testing and failing

Step 1: Get Organized

Define Website Goals

EVERY website has goals, EVERY campaign has goals

Set both short-term and long-term goals

Be specific and write them down

Define Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)

KPI’s are unique to each company

Interview business leaders and decision makers

Create a list of all KPI’s

Create a Measurement Dashboard

Track your progress towards goals

Set defined checkpoints for measurement

You can download a free analytics dashboard here: http://www.theloudfew.com/blog/web-analytics-dashboard/

Validate Your Installation & Analytics Program

Incorrect or incomplete installs are very common.

Compare reports with internal data such as server

logs, sales reports, etc.

Have you selected the right analytics program?

Analytics Programs Are Not 1-Size-Fits-All

Configure Custom Reports

Standard “out of the box” reports are not useful

Custom reports give you a quick view of actionable

metrics and important KPIs.

Google Analytics Custom Reports Example

Step 2: Learn to Focus on Actionable Metrics

3 Characteristics of Actionable Metrics

Don’t require an opinion

Highly relevant to your business goals

Required action is instantly obvious and useful

Stop Focusing on Visits

Hits, Visits and Sessions are all fairly useless metrics

Measure what people are doing on your website

Understand Conversions Rates

Default conversion formula = conversions/visits

But should it be conversions/unique visitors?

Conversion Rates Example

Many first visit conversions

Short buying cycle

Low commitment

Little research required

Small investment

Takes several visits to convert

Long buying cycle

High commitment

Much research required

Large investment

conversions / visits conversions / unique visitors

Use Event Tracking

Measure user events such as watching videos or

downloading whitepapers

Gain insight into the type of content your target

audience prefers

Event Tracking: Insight to Audience Behavior

Use Advanced Segments

Quickly isolate subsets of traffic for deeper insight

Slice data by organic vs paid traffic, visits worth a

certain $ value, etc.

Quickly answer questions from upper

management

Creating Advanced Segments

Advanced Segments Example

Bounce Rate is Beautiful

Bounce rate of top landing pages

Bounce rate by keywords

Bounce rate by campaign

= Massive Optimization Opportunity

Fix This Page!

Step 3: Test and Fail

Start A/B Testing Now!

A/B testing is critical to improving conversion rates

It’s a must that you test conversion pages and

landing pages for paid campaigns.

Less than 40% of Marketers Currently A/B Test

Hubspot: What’s Worth A/B Testing? Webinar 2010

What Elements Should You A/B Test?

Buttons and “call to action” links

Headlines

Copy

Offers

Images

Hubspot: What’s Worth A/B Testing? Webinar 2010

Examples of Some Tools That Help You A/B Test

Google Website Optimizer

SiteSpect

Omniture Test&Target

Your email marketing program

Final Tip: Fail Faster

The faster you fail, the faster you succeed

Give each test adequate budget and traffic

Understanding a fail is a victory

Additional Learning and Recommended Reading

Google Conversion University

Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik

Occum’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik (blog)

Google Analytics Youtube Channel

Thanks!

erin@theloudfew.com@steinburglar

linkedin.com/in/erinsteinbrueggefacebook.com/erin.steinbruegge