Making Better Decisions with

Google AnalyticsElliott Koppel

Director, Paid Search and AnalyticsVirante

@TheKoppel

Web Analytics

The measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.

Web Analytics 2.0 (Avinash Kaushik)

1.the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from your website and the competition,

2.to drive a continual improvement of the online experience that your customers, and potential customers have,

3.which translates into your desired outcomes (online and offline).

Too much information, where should I start?

Types of Goals

Destination – Specific Page Loads• E.g., Thank You Page• Registration, Lead or Purchase

Duration – Visit lasting a specific amount of time or longer • E.g., Visits lasting at least 5

minutes

Pages Per Visit – Visit including a specific number of pageviews• E.g., Visitor views at least 5 pages

Event

• User interaction with content that can be tracked independently from a page load

Event - Examples• PDF Download

• Video Play

• Social Recommendation

How to Set Up?

How to Set Up?

How to Set Up?

Goal Value

= Conversion Rate * Average Transaction Value

Goal Value

1,000 visitors100 complete lead form

20 convert into purchases ($2,000) Average value = $100

Goal Value = (20/100) * $100 = $20.00

Conversion Rate * Average Value

How Does This Help?

Page Value

The average value for a page that a user visited before landing on the goal page or completing an Ecommerce transaction (or both).

Page Value

Which page in your site contributed more to your site's goals

Page Value

Ecommerce Revenue + Total Goal ValueNumber of Unique Pageviews for Given Page

What else do we look for?

• High Bounce Rates

What else do we look for?

• High Exit Percentages

What else do we look for?

• Low Average Time on Page

Segment for greater insight

Page Value can vary greatly across segments

Page Value can vary greatly across segments

Conversion rate also varies across segments

Custom Advanced Segments• Visits with a Purchase• Mobile device is iPhone• Referral visits from Reddit• Visits from North Carolina• Visits after 5:00pm• Organic Branded Keywords

Setting up Custom Advanced Segments

Other Analytics Tools. . .

A/B Testing

Comparing one version of a web page against another identical page, except for one variation, to determine which has a greater conversion rate.

A/B Testing – 148% improvement

12.5% Conversion Rate 31.0% Conversion Rate

A/B Testing – 102% improvement

.99% Conversion Rate 2.0% Conversion Rate

Heat MapsGain a better understanding of the user experience to guide decisions on making improvements.

Heat Maps

Checklist for Analytics

Ensure Google Analytics is set up properly and is installed throughout your site. Track everything!

Set up goals with values (or Ecommerce tracking)

Segment, segment, segment

A/B testing to improve conversion rates

Heat Maps to understand the user experience

Common Problems with SetupBounce rate too good to be true (around 10%)Likely fix: Make sure there is only one instance of Google Analytics on each page

See your own website listed as a referral siteLikely fix: One or more of you pages doesn’t have the correct tracking code installed

“(not set)” showing up as keyword in search reportsLikely fix: Make sure that you have auto tagging enabled in your AdWords settings

Large spikes in Direct trafficLikely fix: Make sure that you are tagging email links with campaign parameters

Content Report showing unique URLs for content that is not uniqueLikely fix: Exclude URL query parameters under the Profile Settings