October 22, 2015 at 11:18Analyze everything! Affordable Google Analytics
"And pour?" - The most common joke that sounds when the word “analytics” is mentioned. A little later, they begin to recall huge data sets, factor and correlation analysis, mathematical models and the complex organization of databases. In fact, analytics is the basis of any business. Decisions made not on the basis of data, but on the basis of conjecture, may not fully meet the goals of the company and lead to a dead end. It is especially important to collect and interpret data if the company has a website or an online store - this is the case when conservatism is inappropriate. Moreover, in the hands of modern business there are two unique free tools: Yandex.Metrica and Google Analytics.
But if Yandex.Metrica is used in companies, then Google Analytics (GA) is accessed much less frequently. But in vain.
By the way, quite recently, in June 2015, it was Yandex.Metrica that became an indicator of user attitudes towards GA. The new tool of the Russian IT giant caused a powerful wave of discussion in professional publics, where experts and users actively compared Google and Yandex solutions, coming to the obvious conclusion that Metric came close to GA. Yandex prudently left the possibility of switching to the old service interface, and we at Realweb would not be surprised if we learned that many continue to switch to this version.
Meanwhile, Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool and can serve the best. And that's why.
Even if you’re not ready to use the API, don’t be friends with Java Script to track onclick events and create unique goals, don’t want to track the external purchase page and conversions, everything is clear to you, GA is a system that knows a lot about your customers and is ready to give ideas for further development and development of relevant marketing offers. From the pages of our blog, the best Realweb experts have already talked about cohort analysis and attribution models , and today we have prepared a must-read-save-have-and-use list of GA functionality that will facilitate the work with the site.
In order for GA to start collecting data, you must install the analytics code on each page of the site that you are going to track. If you use the Google Tag Manager container, it’s better to put the analytics code with it. The GA code is asynchronous, so you do not risk that the page loading speed will increase or the data will be collected incorrectly.
We begin the story in the order corresponding to the location of the functional on the left sidebar. The first section shows visitors to the site, their location, traffic sources and content viewed in real time. Such information is perceived by many merchants exclusively as a fan, but it bears a utilitarian function if important content, news or a promotional event is launched, the results of which are important to monitor from the first minute of launch. In addition, this section produces an unchanged wow effect on investors when they see the site’s popularity at presentations.
The following sections are much more serious and provide data on which the marketing and sales system should be based. The first important section of the Audience tab is cohort analysis. We already wrote about it, so once again briefly indicate that this is a very useful tool that allows you to understand how long you manage to keep the attention of users to the site and during what periods.
Segmentation of users by language, analysis of the structure of visits (refusals, pages, duration of visit) are extremely important for sites whose activities are aimed at different countries. By the way, we advise you to pay attention to this report and those who work with the states of the former socialist camp. The fact is that English is actively used in the business turnover of many of these countries, which means that your site may not have enough English version of at least the main pages of the site.
Country Visit Analysispursues a similar goal, but in addition it allows you to understand the profile of the visit in each country of presence: traffic sources, audience age, etc. ... This makes it possible to build advertising and marketing campaigns using the geotargeting capabilities and your analytical data. And, as you know, the more accurately the solution reaches the audience, the cheaper it costs the company by reducing the cost of attracting each individual client.
Among the valuable data about the audience, you can view the report “New and Returning”, which shows the percentage of users who have already been to your site. The value of this indicator strongly depends on the orientation of the site, so you need to correlate it with your goals. For example, if the proportion of those returning to your site is large and you really offer goods or services that require multiple visits to the site, then it is quite possible to count on successful remarketing campaigns or mailings for your “regular” visitors.
Session depth and duration report (user engagement)also quite revealing. First of all, it gives information about how interesting your site is to visitors. If, as in our demo example, you see a large share of withdrawal within a few seconds, this indicates either a poor organization of the site or an uninteresting offer. In this case, it is worth considering whether you are communicating with the audience and consider the report in connection with the report data on the exit pages, which we will discuss below. However, long visits are also not always a good sign. Perhaps users are looking for something on the site for a long time and cannot find it. For a more detailed analysis, you should turn to reports on exit pages and ways of moving users around the site. For security, you can see the Yandex.Metrica click map - you will see why this or that situation has developed,
Everything is relative. In GA, you can compare your company not with individual competitors, but with the entire industry as a whole. Reports “Comparison” compares site statistics with data on the industry as a whole. This approach helps to set the right goals, monitor trends and evaluate their competitiveness by one or another indicator. You can view reports on traffic sources or devices in the selected geographical area and see where the company wins in the industry as a whole, and where it lags significantly. For example, our invented company in the screenshot is measured by indicators with the high-tech industry and obviously lags far behind in terms of traffic from social networks. At the same time, you can see that in the industry as a whole, social networks are in demand, which means that it is time to start developing them.
The modern audience is used to looking for what is needed here and now, going to the browser from mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops. However, the share of mobile visits is very different from company to company. So, for example, a site for searching for entertainment or ordering pizza has a wide audience of visitors, and for a site of a major developer of corporate systems this share is no more than two percent. Knowledge of the technologies used by site visitors provides a business basis for making important commercial decisions.
The next group of reports on traffic sources is no coincidence highly appreciated by almost all managers and representatives of commercial services. It makes it possible to receive the most detailed information on traffic sources : new visits, sessions, refusals, visited pages, session duration in the context of URL, user filters (selected with one click) and goals.
If you use Google AdWords for advertising campaigns, GA will provide information on campaign activity taking into account the time of day, keywords, user searches, etc. ... Also, through Analytics, you can track shopping campaigns and video campaigns. In fact, traffic sources reflect the effectiveness of all the actions that you carry out online: from e-mail to partisan publications with links to them.
Whoever came across SEO-promotion of the site already knows for sure that just look for search queriesfrom which organic transitions to the site occurred, is not so simple. The search engine optimization section in GA provides the ability to see queries and login pages, but for this you need to confirm your right to the site in a special search console (a five-minute matter even for the most advanced site admin host).
Social functions display traffic from social networks, user activity by resource. You need to remember that often something goes wrong and specific links to your posts on social networks are not shown. This problem can be solved easily - just put UTM tags on all published URLs. Speaking of UTM tags (creating them is easy) All campaigns, paid and free, that are flagged, fall into the Campaigns section. As for the social functions, they even allow you to track the placed plugins of social networks, however, the inclusion of this feature requires changing the GA code posted on the site.
The next section discusses user behavior on the site.. Using this group of reports, you can track user paths and determine how many of them left the site at each transition. You can deeply analyze the content of the site, the entry and exit pages, evaluate failures, entrances, exits and views for each individual page of the site. In the same section, you can get information about the speed of loading the site - be sure to pay attention to this indicator in conjunction with the bounce rate, often the failure is due to the slow loading of pages. In this case, you should immediately take up the elimination of the problem, since a slow response is included in the group of behavioral factors and affects search engine optimization. If you have a search on the site, you can also track it and find out which content on the site is most in demand and needs to be brought to the forefront.
The final section is about conversions . In it you can track goals (you can just set a URL, without specifying a value), the path to the goal (user steps on the site), electronic commerce, if it is supposed to be on the site. The attribution models that we talked about earlier help to identify how visitors come to a commercial action on the site. Probably the most favorite tool of analysts and marketers in this section is the visualization of goals - in fact, a sales funnel showing the outflow and outflow pages of users at each stage. It needs to be pre-configured in the view, but it's worth it. In general, the entire conversion section requires minimal settings, and if you contain an online store or a website with a purchase page, you need to make them.
This is how the most general Google Analytics functionality looks, capable of providing any business with a good block of information for analysis and interpretation. Learn to pay attention to web analytics and you yourself won’t notice how you start using the API, make friends with Java Script to track onclick events and create unique goals. Well, if web analytics becomes scarce or does not want to spend time and effort setting up, you can turn to Realweb for help . We guarantee professionalism.
By the way, quite recently, in June 2015, it was Yandex.Metrica that became an indicator of user attitudes towards GA. The new tool of the Russian IT giant caused a powerful wave of discussion in professional publics, where experts and users actively compared Google and Yandex solutions, coming to the obvious conclusion that Metric came close to GA. Yandex prudently left the possibility of switching to the old service interface, and we at Realweb would not be surprised if we learned that many continue to switch to this version.
Meanwhile, Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool and can serve the best. And that's why.
- Using GA, you can track the profile of each user, create segments and cohorts, on the basis of which you can create highly targeted product solutions and promotional events.
- GA gives an understanding of the structure of site visits, the bounce rate and the paths to the site. This information helps to make informed steps for changes in the structure and content of the site.
- GA tracks visits to relevant pages on which commercially important goals can be set.
- Using GA, the owner of the site receives the most detailed information about traffic sources, including social networks.
- In GA, you can connect and use ready-made free presentation reports prepared by experts. You simply connect them and get the data in the right context.
- GA has tools for conducting A / B testing, which is necessary if you want to identify the most effective solution by comparing two landing pages, two ways of organizing a price list, purchase page, etc.
Even if you’re not ready to use the API, don’t be friends with Java Script to track onclick events and create unique goals, don’t want to track the external purchase page and conversions, everything is clear to you, GA is a system that knows a lot about your customers and is ready to give ideas for further development and development of relevant marketing offers. From the pages of our blog, the best Realweb experts have already talked about cohort analysis and attribution models , and today we have prepared a must-read-save-have-and-use list of GA functionality that will facilitate the work with the site.
In order for GA to start collecting data, you must install the analytics code on each page of the site that you are going to track. If you use the Google Tag Manager container, it’s better to put the analytics code with it. The GA code is asynchronous, so you do not risk that the page loading speed will increase or the data will be collected incorrectly.
We begin the story in the order corresponding to the location of the functional on the left sidebar. The first section shows visitors to the site, their location, traffic sources and content viewed in real time. Such information is perceived by many merchants exclusively as a fan, but it bears a utilitarian function if important content, news or a promotional event is launched, the results of which are important to monitor from the first minute of launch. In addition, this section produces an unchanged wow effect on investors when they see the site’s popularity at presentations.
The following sections are much more serious and provide data on which the marketing and sales system should be based. The first important section of the Audience tab is cohort analysis. We already wrote about it, so once again briefly indicate that this is a very useful tool that allows you to understand how long you manage to keep the attention of users to the site and during what periods.
Segmentation of users by language, analysis of the structure of visits (refusals, pages, duration of visit) are extremely important for sites whose activities are aimed at different countries. By the way, we advise you to pay attention to this report and those who work with the states of the former socialist camp. The fact is that English is actively used in the business turnover of many of these countries, which means that your site may not have enough English version of at least the main pages of the site.
Country Visit Analysispursues a similar goal, but in addition it allows you to understand the profile of the visit in each country of presence: traffic sources, audience age, etc. ... This makes it possible to build advertising and marketing campaigns using the geotargeting capabilities and your analytical data. And, as you know, the more accurately the solution reaches the audience, the cheaper it costs the company by reducing the cost of attracting each individual client.
Among the valuable data about the audience, you can view the report “New and Returning”, which shows the percentage of users who have already been to your site. The value of this indicator strongly depends on the orientation of the site, so you need to correlate it with your goals. For example, if the proportion of those returning to your site is large and you really offer goods or services that require multiple visits to the site, then it is quite possible to count on successful remarketing campaigns or mailings for your “regular” visitors.
Session depth and duration report (user engagement)also quite revealing. First of all, it gives information about how interesting your site is to visitors. If, as in our demo example, you see a large share of withdrawal within a few seconds, this indicates either a poor organization of the site or an uninteresting offer. In this case, it is worth considering whether you are communicating with the audience and consider the report in connection with the report data on the exit pages, which we will discuss below. However, long visits are also not always a good sign. Perhaps users are looking for something on the site for a long time and cannot find it. For a more detailed analysis, you should turn to reports on exit pages and ways of moving users around the site. For security, you can see the Yandex.Metrica click map - you will see why this or that situation has developed,
Everything is relative. In GA, you can compare your company not with individual competitors, but with the entire industry as a whole. Reports “Comparison” compares site statistics with data on the industry as a whole. This approach helps to set the right goals, monitor trends and evaluate their competitiveness by one or another indicator. You can view reports on traffic sources or devices in the selected geographical area and see where the company wins in the industry as a whole, and where it lags significantly. For example, our invented company in the screenshot is measured by indicators with the high-tech industry and obviously lags far behind in terms of traffic from social networks. At the same time, you can see that in the industry as a whole, social networks are in demand, which means that it is time to start developing them.
The modern audience is used to looking for what is needed here and now, going to the browser from mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops. However, the share of mobile visits is very different from company to company. So, for example, a site for searching for entertainment or ordering pizza has a wide audience of visitors, and for a site of a major developer of corporate systems this share is no more than two percent. Knowledge of the technologies used by site visitors provides a business basis for making important commercial decisions.
- For which mobile platform to develop the application in the first place - this conclusion can be made based on statistics on the devices used.
- Whether a mobile version of the site is necessary in principle, or a few percent of visitors will not pay back the costs of changing the site and development.
- If the traffic is distributed relatively evenly between desktop, mobile, tablet, then the failure rate and the visit profile will tell how comfortable visitors are on the mobile site.
The next group of reports on traffic sources is no coincidence highly appreciated by almost all managers and representatives of commercial services. It makes it possible to receive the most detailed information on traffic sources : new visits, sessions, refusals, visited pages, session duration in the context of URL, user filters (selected with one click) and goals.
If you use Google AdWords for advertising campaigns, GA will provide information on campaign activity taking into account the time of day, keywords, user searches, etc. ... Also, through Analytics, you can track shopping campaigns and video campaigns. In fact, traffic sources reflect the effectiveness of all the actions that you carry out online: from e-mail to partisan publications with links to them.
Whoever came across SEO-promotion of the site already knows for sure that just look for search queriesfrom which organic transitions to the site occurred, is not so simple. The search engine optimization section in GA provides the ability to see queries and login pages, but for this you need to confirm your right to the site in a special search console (a five-minute matter even for the most advanced site admin host).
Social functions display traffic from social networks, user activity by resource. You need to remember that often something goes wrong and specific links to your posts on social networks are not shown. This problem can be solved easily - just put UTM tags on all published URLs. Speaking of UTM tags (creating them is easy) All campaigns, paid and free, that are flagged, fall into the Campaigns section. As for the social functions, they even allow you to track the placed plugins of social networks, however, the inclusion of this feature requires changing the GA code posted on the site.
The next section discusses user behavior on the site.. Using this group of reports, you can track user paths and determine how many of them left the site at each transition. You can deeply analyze the content of the site, the entry and exit pages, evaluate failures, entrances, exits and views for each individual page of the site. In the same section, you can get information about the speed of loading the site - be sure to pay attention to this indicator in conjunction with the bounce rate, often the failure is due to the slow loading of pages. In this case, you should immediately take up the elimination of the problem, since a slow response is included in the group of behavioral factors and affects search engine optimization. If you have a search on the site, you can also track it and find out which content on the site is most in demand and needs to be brought to the forefront.
The final section is about conversions . In it you can track goals (you can just set a URL, without specifying a value), the path to the goal (user steps on the site), electronic commerce, if it is supposed to be on the site. The attribution models that we talked about earlier help to identify how visitors come to a commercial action on the site. Probably the most favorite tool of analysts and marketers in this section is the visualization of goals - in fact, a sales funnel showing the outflow and outflow pages of users at each stage. It needs to be pre-configured in the view, but it's worth it. In general, the entire conversion section requires minimal settings, and if you contain an online store or a website with a purchase page, you need to make them.
This is how the most general Google Analytics functionality looks, capable of providing any business with a good block of information for analysis and interpretation. Learn to pay attention to web analytics and you yourself won’t notice how you start using the API, make friends with Java Script to track onclick events and create unique goals. Well, if web analytics becomes scarce or does not want to spend time and effort setting up, you can turn to Realweb for help . We guarantee professionalism.