Over the years, I have worked with many entrepreneurs and executives who rely heavily upon digital channels to support their business growth and drive KPIs. I’m always amazed by the fact that many of these data-driven leaders (in other areas of their business) have no clue how to use their Google Analytics account to analyze their website, traffic sources, and conversion rates.
After holding several training sessions with business leaders, I decided to break down the four main filters that I believe all entrepreneurs and executives could benefit from. Be sure to join your company’s analytics account before we begin. You can do this by logging into your Google account and going to Google Analytics. You’re in business if your analytics profile is there. If not, ask your Webmaster or marketing person to add you. It will only take 20 seconds.
Time and Period Filtering
Why it’s important: Data isn’t very meaningful without something against which to compare it. You can track your progress and decline by comparing based on previous performance. You can spot trends by comparing data from different periods.
Google Analytics displays the last 30 days’ data by default when you first enter the platform. You can compare the data to “previous periods” or “previous years” with just one click. These filters can be very useful and allow you to see how things look quickly.
You can use the Previous Period filter to compare your business’s performance in the last 30 days with the 30 days before. You can compare Q1 with Q2.
It’s important to take into account external factors such as seasonality when filtering your data. These can have a significant impact on your website. You can use the previous year’s filter to look at year-over-year growth. This will give you valuable insight into your business goals. While you are evaluating different traffic sources, audiences, and conversion rates, I recommend that you use the Previous period and Prior year filters.
Acquisition Filter, aka How visitors are arriving at your site
This is important because the filter gives you an immediate view of the channels that bring you visitors and traffic. This helps you determine which marketing campaigns work and which drain resources. You can identify which channels are performing well and which ones are not by using filters that compare period to period or year to year.
You will find that the following are some of the channels most commonly used to drive traffic to your website:
- Direct – pat your back, Mr. This is your work, Mr. This is your work. No one else can take it.
- Take it lightly. Organic Search is the SEO channel you should be using. This traffic will be dominated by “branded search terms,” which are people searching for your company’s name on the search engine. Your SEO manager or partner should show you data and rankings for “nonbranded keywords.” These are keywords that describe your business or product, not just your company name.
- Paid search – Your PPC campaigns and the traffic that comes from your paid ads.
- Display – Traffic resulting from your display advertising campaigns.
- Referrals – These are usually your PR efforts and traffic that comes from articles written by bloggers or media outlets about you. You may also see junk traffic coming from random sources. Refer to this traffic when calculating your conversion rates.
- Social media traffic is pretty straightforward. You can drill into each category to get a better understanding of which channels are the most worthwhile. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. ).
Audience tab
This view will give you an overview of your audience, their location, the type of device that they use to access your site (desktops, tablets, smartphones, and even specific phones), and much more.
This section provides great insight into your audience by breaking down user metrics according to device. Businesses often run into issues with high bounce rates and low pages per visit when using mobile devices. You may need to improve your mobile experience. The Audience tab can provide you with a lot of useful information that will help improve your website.
Conversions
It is crucial to correctly set up conversions in order to understand how your website is performing in relation to your business goals. Under the conversion section, there are two types of conversion:
Set goals for specific actions on your site, such as when a user submits an email or fills out an inquiry form. Your goals can be configured in many different ways, but the ultimate goal is to gain more insight into how your business makes money. You can measure the value of your website by tracking leads or inquiries. This will help you to reach your business objectives efficiently.
Setting goals is a key part of measuring your success in the service industry. Use a tracking tool like CallRail to ensure that your site is credited for all leads generated from your website or online channels and those who call to speak to a representative.
CallRail’s simplicity is what I love most. With a single line code, CallRail is easy to implement and allows you to attribute sales or phone leads to the source that brought them to your business. CallRail’s reporting platform is another great feature. In less than a minute, you can generate comprehensive spreadsheets that detail the caller, call duration, and date/time, as well as campaign source. You can set up daily (as shown below), weekly (like this one), or monthly reports that will allow you to stay on top of the situation and keep an eye on your salesperson when they complain about not getting enough leads.
eCommerce
This section is for businesses that sell products online. eCommerce conversion tracking allows you to track down the exact amount of revenue that each channel brings your business. You can also see your conversion rate (percentage from traffic to sale), average order value (AOV), and more.
A side note: If this image appears (see below) after clicking on eCommerce or goals, you should contact your marketing department and ask them why you’re not tracking key actions that generate revenue for your business. It is not an excuse, but we still see it done wrong or missed all the time.