Why Google Analytics is essential for your business…

So, you’ve finally set up this amazing website with all of the bells and whistles, now what? Sales and visitors are (hopefully) coming thick and fast, and you can probably gain a smidge of insight about these users from your website platform insight tools… BUT are you getting the insights that you NEED to know as a business?

– Can you see where your website visitors are dropping off?

– Can you see what kind of content your posting is converting?

– Can you see where and when your customers are converting on your site?

If you want transparency to these types of questions, it sounds like you may need Google Analytics! Google Analytics is a free (yes, FREE!) tool that Google offers where you’ll be able to learn all of the above and so much more! Given the quality of the data available, Google Analytics will allow you to optimise the user experience for website visitors. Having it installed is a no-brainer.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS TRACKS AND DIVIDES DATA INTO FOUR SECTIONS.

01) Audience

This section of Google Analytics is pretty self explanatory, in the sense it gives you fabulous insights into who exactly is visiting your site. You can see basic information like the age, gender and location of your audience, but you can also see perhaps more valuable data like what devices people are access your site on, what browser and what their interests are. Interests categories give you the ability to dive deep into the interests and shopping habits of your site visitors. In-market segments show you what kind of products they are actively researching. Affinity categories show you the users’ interest – are they foodies or shopaholics, travel buffs or TV lovers?

02) Acquisition

The way your website visitors and customers come to your site is like data bread and butter to us. Without this vital information, it’s impossible to greater and greater results out of your external channels. As such, the acquisition section is always our first stop when we get access to a new Google Analytics account. Is it through Google or Bing? Are they using a direct link, or have they come from a social platform or an EDM? Once you know where your visitors are coming from, you can refine your entire online approach to ensure your website is visible in all the right places.

03) Behaviour

The behaviour data tells you what your visitors do once they arrive. Are certain pages more popular than others? How long do they spend on each page? How long do they stay on your site? Where are users dropping off before converting?

This information tells you where you’re hooking your visitors and where they might be getting lost, so you can tweak your site accordingly and improve their user experience.

04) Conversions

Finally, the conversions section allows you to track if your website visitors are completing the actions you want them to. This works for regular sites and e-commerce sites alike, although there’s a lot more data to track if your site falls into the latter category.

You can easily align your business objectives with the conversion tracking if you have clearly defined KPIs and goals. Do you want people to sign-up to a newsletter, download a form, or purchase a product? Google Analytics will help you set goals for your website, so it’s easy to track the success of your marketing outputs and see what works to help convert visitors to customers.

Using the above sections combined will allow you to easily track the most common conversion path for your consumers. Most won’t be converted on their first visit – in fact, it takes an average of nine website visits for a purchase to be made or another desired action to be performed!

No matter what the end game is, Google Analytics will give you the data to properly and consistently refine your approach. So, if you need a hand at seeing how to get Google Analytics started for your business – don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Propel Digital team today!