Google Analytics for Better Customer Engagement
How Google Analytics Helps Drive More Site Traffic
Google Analytics (GA) does not only study how visitors come to your website; this web analytics software also helps entrepreneurs improve their website to encourage customer engagement. It records what visitors do when they visit your website. Do they go away after a mere 20 seconds or so? Do they click around and browse your landing pages? Do they complete your business goals like filling out and submitting a Contact Us query, subscribing to the RSS feed or buying your products in your ecommerce site? Google Analytics study these types of scenarios and provide data you can use. This data will be beneficial in determining whether you have a properly working website or not.
So, how you do know if you have a non-functioning, an adequate or fully optimized website? Before we discuss what Google Analytics can do, here are its features:
GA Analysis Tools
1. Real-time Reporting – With this feature, you can measure progress as it occurs. Determine the number of people in your site right now, what articles are accessed being more and see whether the special deal you posted is earning enough clicks. You can schedule until when you want the tracking done and study the results to see which parts needs to be rehauled or redesigned to meet your business goals.
2. Custom Reports – Want customized reports so you can better understand the data? This feature allows you to identify the information you want to see. Instead of getting confused why a certain data is displayed, you can create your own reports to help you comprehend the data better.
3. Custom Variables – This shows visitor activity through the segments you create yourself. You can modify the Analytics tracking code to enable yourself to study the results gathered. You can create custom customer tracking which will help you capture their selections. This feature will be used to capture the results and arrange them for data gathering purposes.
4. Advanced Segmentation – This helps you organize and study specific kinds of traffic. You may create your own segments and apply them to your data. This will allow you to see only the segments you want to apply to your data.
5. Dashboards – The dashboard is particularly useful if you want to sort out and monitor your key performance indicators. You can drag and drop segments and change its appearance. You can either add or delete widgets from the dashboard, making it fully customizable and convenient for users.
6. Visualization–You want to learn how your visitors traversed your site? Go to Visualizations. This will track users’ footprints from the moment they accessed your website, get the information they need or complete a transaction up to the time they leave.
7. Sharing–The ‘share’ feature allows data to be ‘sent’ to other members of the team who may be able to use the data to further improve your online campaigns. Notify your colleagues with important changes to properly analyze the data taken from your website.
8. API and Customizations–Applications, plug-ins and other miscellaneous features are available to help you combine Google Analytics to your company operations. You can either get third-party apps or create your own using Google’s API.
Content Analytics
Main Goal: helps you find which pieces of your existing content attract the highest number of visitors.
1. Content Experiments – You want to improve your current web pages? Compare the existing page and the new one with Content Experiments. This would record the traffic and engagement rates gained by each web page and compare which page better meets your goals.
2. Site Search – Visitors don’t always immediately find what they’re looking for, so they use the search bar on your website. Google Analytics documents each search occurrence to help you know which content visitors are looking for. That way, you can rearrange your content in a way that would help visitors locate what they need in the quickest time possible.
3. In-Page Analytics –Curious to see how visitors navigate your website? Use the In-Page Analytics feature to visually analyze how they travel around your site. The results will help you make the web design more user-friendly.
4. Site Speed Analytics – Nothing drives away visitors more than a slow-loading page. Improve the loading speed of your website to ensure that visitors will stay to get the information they need.
5. Event Tracking –In Google Analytics, events are “user interactions with content that can be tracked independently from a web page or a screen load.” This feature is used to discover how visitors interact with certain web page elements like Flash videos, mobile ad clicks, downloads and more.
6. AdSense Programs – AdSense is a program that allows bloggers and content publishers to make profit with advertisements. With Analytics, you can directly import AdSense data to aid you in finding high-traffic areas in your website where you can post the ads.
Mobile Analytics
– Mobile technology is growing by leaps and bounds. Measure traffic coming in from mobile websites and apps, as well as record visits from web-enabled mobile devices. Create effective campaigns that would reach your client’s mobile phone anywhere.
1. Mobile Device Reporting – This allows Google Analytics to find out which type of phone and operating systems are accessing your website. This will help you reformat your website so it will load faster and be more navigable for your mobile visitors.
2. Mobile Traffic – Learn the origin of mobile traffic to help you predict where the next heavy inflow of visitors will come in.
3. Mobile App Performance –Find out if your app is functioning the way it should. This will help you learn whether the app needs to be developed further. Discovering the strengths and flaws of your app will help you understand how your mobile campaigns can work better.
Advertising Analytics
– Learn if your advertisements are enticing enough clicks. Integrate Google Adwords to measure if your keywords are fit for your campaigns.
1. Search Engine Marketing – Study how visitors will look for specific search results. Use Adwords with Analytics to make properly optimized ads that will attract searchers and provide them what they’re looking for.
2. Remarketing – Use the data you gathered from the previous searches of your repeat visitors. This will help you direct them to ads they’re looking for.
3. Display Advertising – Adwords in incorporated Google Display Network (GDN) to create and manage display campaigns that draw in the right visitors. Measure the traffic coming in and find out whether your display is a success or not Analytics.
4. Mobile Campaigns – Learn whether your mobile ads are up to speed. Divide data from Google Analytics to examine whether your mobile key performance indicators are successfully fulfilled.
5. Multi-Channel Funnels – is comprised with SEM, display, social, affiliate and other search channels. Find out which web avenue fits your campaign best. Improve your web marketing programs to optimize your plans better.
6. Campaign Measurement –Wondering which of your marketing campaigns are paying off? See Analytics data segregated by channel. Engagement and conversion rates will also be calculated to provide insights whether a campaign works or not.
Social Media Analytics
– Measure the return of your social media efforts with Google Analytics. Are your social networking efforts in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and other sites paying off?
1. Social Media Impact – Set conversion goals and monetary rates on your social media campaigns. Google Analytics will establish whether your business goals are met.
2. Social Sources – Where do your engaged visitors come from? Do they come from this social network or another? Measure the conversion and engagement metrics for your social media campaigns.
3. Shared Content –Do your visitors like your content? Do they share your posts? Google Analytics provides Social Plugins reports where you can see which web content pieces are being spread by your followers.
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