Google Analytics Workshop In today’s session we’re going to be covering a lot of information. I’m going to attempt to dive into both high level concepts and strategies as well as provide technical explanation as to how to specifically set-up many important features that will allow you to get the most out of your website analytics data.

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, and reporting of web site traffic data Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that collects and processes huge amounts of data and provides 100s of standard and customizable reports Measurement of website traffic is crucial to improve your website’s and marketing initiatives’ performance

All Marketing Drives Traffic All marketing initiatives potentially lead people to your website.

Most Companies Use Google Analytics

How Companies Use Google Analytics

Methodology It’s important to have a high level understanding of how data is collected and processed before you see it in a report.

Four Main Components

Collection Javascript code is placed on every page of the website you want to track When a user visits a page, the code collects information: The page itself (which URL and what time) Information about the user (web browser, geographic location, device, operating system) Referral information, where the user came from All data is stored on a Google Analytics server (the cloud).

Processing Converts raw data into something more useful, for example, processing categorizes users’ devices as desktop, mobile, and tablets.

Configuration At the same time Google Analytics applies your configuration settings to the raw data. For example, you can choose to filter certain types of data, like excluding traffic coming from your own employees. After data is processed and configured, it is added to a database. Important note: once the data has been added to the database it can not be changed. So if the configuration is wrong important data will be lost forever.

Reporting This is what users see in the interface at google.com/analytics. Important to note: this works for websites regardless of what device people are using. You can also track activity on mobile apps, there are some subtle differences but the overall process is the same.

Data Collection All data is sent to the Google Analytics server in a long series of text information Google Analytics uses first-party cookies to identify web browsers No personally identifiable information is captured by Google Analytics http://www.googleanalytics.com/__utm.gif?utmwv=4&utmn=769876874&utmhn=example.com&utmcs=ISO-8859-1&utmsr=1280x1024&utmsc=32-bit&utmul=en-zs&utmje=1&utmfl=9.0%20%20r115&utmcn=1&utmdt=GATC012%20setting%20variables&utmhid=2059107202&utmr=0&utmp=/auto/GATC012.html?utm_source=www.gatc012.org&utm_campaign=campaign+gatc012&utm_term=keywords+gatc012&utm_content=content+gatc012&utm_medium=medium+gatc012&utmac=UA-30138-1&utmcc=__utma%3D97315849.1774621898.1207701397.1207701397.1207701397.1%3B... This text includes information from the browser (screen resolution, operating system, device type) Also information from the website (page title) Also time stamp data

Why It Matters Users can disable javascript and/or first-party cookies from their browser, making it impossible to track them Google Analytics is focused on visitor privacy and allows visitors to have that choice The majority of people using the web have both features enabled Due to these limitations, Google Analytics will always under-report data Consider this when developing and viewing reports, concentrate more on trending and less on hard numbers

Set-up I assume that you already have a Google Analytics account. You can always create new accounts by going to google.com/analytics

Account Structure Account Level Manage user access Property Level Each website or mobile app, all data stored there Profile Level Define unique properties for your data Use configuration settings in account to define each view Use multiple views for each property for different stakeholders

Create at Least Three Views Remember: once data is processed it can never be reprocessed New views will only collect data from the day it’s created onward

Creating Filters Filters can… Exclude data Include data Change data Actually change how the data looks in the reports

Creating Filters Filters can… Exclude data Include data Change data Google Analytics is case sensitive. You can set up a lower case filter to force all URLs into lower case. This actually changes the data to something more meaningful.

Setting Up Filters Filters are rules that transform the data, the rules are called conditions. Let’s look at how you do this.

Setting Up Filters You can create a new view. You can create a filter.

Setting Up Filters Start by selecting a specific filter field. Common ones are user IP address, device type, or geographic location. Next specify the condition (or rules) (there are many different types of conditions) Finally choose an action

Filter Library Once a filter is created it is added to the filter library for the full account so you can reuse filters for any view.

Measuring Objectives Your website should help your company achieve specific business objectives Ask yourself: “What is the purpose(s) of our web site?” Once business objectives are established you can determine how to measure success by assigning KPIs What are visitors doing on our site? What aren’t visitors doing on our site? Different stakeholders within the organization will have different objectives It’s important to measure success against each objective, determine benchmarks and set expectations This is one of the most important takeaways from today.

Let’s look at some examples of KPIs.

Using Conversions to Measure Success It’s important to measure both macro and micro so you’re equipped with behavioral data to understand what customer experiences help drive the desired outcomes.

Creating Goals Setting up goals to measure conversions is the most important part of implementation. Goals are the way we map data collected in Google Analytics with the KPIs we determined based on our business objectives.

Creating Goals Always measure both micro conversions and macro conversions. Macro conversions measure your primary business objectives. Micro conversions are relationship building activities that lead up to a macro conversion.

Features of Goals Goals are configured at the view level There are four types of goals Destination (ex: thank-you.html) Event (ex: played a video) Duration (ex: 5 minutes or more) Pages per session (ex: 3 pages or more) All goals require a slightly different set-up.

Destination Track a specific page that is loaded after a user takes a specific action.

Event Event tracking needs to be set-up separately in order to track PDF downloads, video views, or other events.

User Engagement Goals

Creating Goals

Creating a Destination Goal You only need the request URI, not the entire URL. You’ll want to set up separate confirmation / thank you pages for each action that you’re tracking in order to break them out separately.

Creating a Destination Goal The name you give the goal is what will appear in your reports.

Calculating ROI Advertising ROI and average per visit value help you understand the monetary value of a non-ecommerce website. Value is based on the sales team’s close ratio and average value per lead.

eCommerce You can also turn on ecommerce goal tracking to view sales activity and performance. This will require a developer creating specific code that will be added to the GA code. This will pull in product names as well as product transactions, revenue, etc. More on ecommerce reports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEpq3nYeZBc

Terminology

Terminology There are two types of data. Dimensions describes characteristics of the users, their sessions, and actions. Metrics describe quantitative measurements of the dimensions and are expressed as numerical values.

Typical Report List of the corresponding metrics List of values for one dimension Typical report will show a table with a list of values for one particular dimension. The rest of the columns display the corresponding metrics.

Dimension Examples Transition: Metrics help you understand the behavior of your users.

Metrics Examples Transition: Metrics help you understand the behavior of your users. Metrics can be quantitative (how many) like total visitors Metrics can be qualitative (averages) like pages per visit or conversion rate

Dimension Terminology The number of unique visitors who visit your site during a certain time period Used to understand the overall size of your audience.

Dimension Terminology Can be segmented in new or returning users.

Dimension Terminology Sessions (used to be visits) are a period of consecutive activity by the same user A session persists until a user stops interacting with the site for 30 minutes (default setting) This can be customized in configuration settings

Dimension Terminology If you have a video site with long form videos you would want to change your configuration so that sessions didn’t time out after 30 minutes

Metric Terminology Pageviews – most basic tracking, each time a page is viewed it is counted as one pageview This will count correctly when the code is placed on each page of the site

Metric Terminology Events – other interactions, like watching a video or downloading a PDF Tracking Events requires additional customizations to implementation Google Analytics can track other interactions like watching a video. Pageviews and events are the two dimensions that keep a session active.

Metric Terminology All time-based metrics rely on the stream of user activity in order to be calculated properly. Google Analytics tracks the time of each interaction in order to calculate time metrics.

Metric Terminology Bounce Rate – the percentage of sessions with only one user interaction (pageview)

Metric Terminology Important to note – it does not matter how long a user stays on a page Since Google Analytics does not have a second interaction to use for calculation of session duration or time on page, we don’t know how long bounce visitors spent on the site.

Metric Terminology Question: Is a high bounce rate bad? Answer: It depends.

Reports Now that we understand how data is compiled and the terminology used in reports let’s look at some of the standard reports available in GA.

Standard Reports Optional: Using shortcuts provides fast access to your most commonly viewed reports straight from the Home tab. When you save your report as a shortcut, all of the report configurations will be stored as well. This can include applied filters, advanced segments, dimensions, and more. Intelligence creates an alert when a metric (such as conversion rate) for a segment (such as AdWords traffic) deviates from the expected range. Automatic alerts (in orange, or blue for automatic AdWords related alerts) are generated without any input from you. Custom alerts are generated based on conditions you specify.

Audience Reports Who are your visitors

Acquisition Reports How did they get to your site

Behavior Reports What did they do

Conversion Reports Site performance

Report Components Secondary dimensions help drill in further on the primary dimensions. For example, add source to see which search engines are driving organic visits.

Report Components Filter data by including or excluding any dimensions available. (for example, how do users on smartphones get to your site?)

Report Components Segments allow you to filter and compare different audience segments. There are basic segments like paid traffic or the ability to create custom segments.

Segment Reports For example, you may want to see how mobile users engage based on how they got to the site to help determine whether you should develop a mobile app. This is filtered by mobile users, then segmented by paid traffic, organic traffic, and direct traffic.

Report Components Toggle date range and compare to previous periods

Trending Reports Q4 vs. Q3

Trending Reports Q4 YoY

Annotations Annotations allow you to mark specific days with notes that everyone can see (if you share it). This allows you to better understand the results of marketing initiatives: PR pick-up SEO implementation TV schedule start

Customization

Traffic Sources Two dimensions captured automatically from any visitor to the site. Source is the name of the website that referred a user to your site. Medium is the mechanism, or how the user got to your site.

Default Mediums There are three default mediums. But what about tracking the other channels.

Link Tagging Any time you link to your website you should add URL parameters that allow you to track the visit correctly in Google Analytics Example: http://www.masondigital.com?utm_source=rbj &utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign= marketing *One of the most important pieces of information. This overwrites the data GA would normally track.

Campaign Tagging

Campaign Reporting

URL Shortener Bit.ly and Goo.gl are two services that help you shorten long URLs for easier posting in emails, on social media, or other areas where you place hyperlinks to your website The free service changes - http://www.masondigital.com?utm_source=rbj&ut m_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=marketing into goo.gl/yrry7x

URL Builder bit.ly/rbj-urlbuilder

Tracking Adwords Adwords by default is set to auto-tag. You have to link up the Adwords account with the GA Property to turn it on.

Tracking Adwords Linking an Adwords account to a GA Property is done in the admin section.

Tracking Adwords

Tracking Adwords

Event Tracking When code is placed on each page of the site, the only activity being tracked is pageviews There are other interactive opportunities on pages that you’ll want to track engagement with, such as PDF downloads, video views, embedded Flash and AJAX elements Event tracking allows you to track all interactions within the pages of the site Important: Determine in advance all of events you want to track Remember, once data has been processed it can not be changed. If you don’t track certain events you’ll never have that past data.

Event Elements Category (required) - the name you supply for the group of objects you want to track Action (required) - a string that is uniquely paired with each category, and commonly used to define the type of user interaction for the web object Label (optional) - an optional string to provide additional dimensions to the event data Value (optional) - an integer that you can use to provide numerical data about the user event Important: Adopt a consistent and clear naming convention that will be understood by all stakeholders Tracking events requires additional coding and should be implemented by a developer.

Event Reporting Categories are the primary divisions of the types of events.

Event Action Actions could be play, stop, or pause for a video. Or could be download.

Event Label Optional piece adds more context to the event action. Final thought on events – these can also become Goals providing even more powerful reporting opportunities.

Custom Reports Custom Reports allow you to customize the dimensions and metrics you see in a Google Analytics report.

Custom Reports

Custom Reports

Custom Reports

Custom Reports

Custom Reports

Dashboard Reports

Creating a Dashboard

Creating Widgets

Dashboard Report

bit.ly/rbjbestoftheweb To learn more about technical aspects of setting up and creating custom Google Analytics tracking, view the dev guide on this page. Examples – ecommerce set-up, event tracking, and cross domain tracking. bit.ly/rbjbestoftheweb

Data Analysis

Analyzing Data There are many ways to analyze data There are two techniques that are critical to good data analysis: Segmentation Context

Segmentation Aggregated data helps you understand overall user behavior trends. In order to understand why trends occur over time, segmentation allows you to isolate and analyze subsets of the data. For example you may want to compare separate advertising channels to understand which initiatives were responsible for specific trends. Every report within Google Analytics provides the ability to segment. For example – referral source, day of week, month of year, geographic location, and customer characteristics (such as 1st time vs. repeat customers).

Context There are two types of context: internal and external

External Context External allows you to compare your data against industry benchmarks. For example, you can see if an uptick in site visits is unique for your company or industry wide.

Internal Context Internal context helps you set expectations based on your own historical performance. Use benchmarks to set your key performance indicator targets.

In Conclusion There are 100s of reports and numerous ways to view the data, I covered many reports and report types that I think are important Explore, test, and search to learn which reports work best for your organization’s needs

Questions? Karl Heberger Chief Media Strategist Mason Digital 585.249.1115 karl@masondigital.com