Google Analytics had its 10th birthday last year, and in the last more than 10 years I have been able to gain a lot of experience that you have to consider when using web analytics systems. Here are my 10 basic tips, starting with the absolute basics, then the basics for those who really want to do something with their data
- Use a tag management system, especially for more complex configurations (e.g. cross-domain tracking) this is indispensable. But even if only the basics described here are to be implemented, a tag management system is important. Most systems offer a preview, so there is no need for open-heart surgery. And if you don’t want to give your web analytics person access to change the analytics code, then a tag management system is mandatory anyway.
- While we’re at it, the Google Tag Assistant is a good addition if you use Tag Manager and/or Google Analytics.
- Test everything you do with the real-time reports, unless it can be tested via Tag Manager and Tag Assistant.
- Use the Adjusted Bounce Rate. There is no getting around this. The bounce rate is usually defined as counting a bounce when a user comes to the page and leaves it “immediately”. “Immediately” is then something between 5 and 10 seconds, depending on the definition and system. With Google Analytics, a bounce is counted as such when a user comes to a page and doesn’t look at another page, no matter how long they’ve been on it. So maybe he didn’t really bounce, but read through the whole page, and after his need for information was satisfied, he left again. For some content sites, this is normal behavior. But it’s not really a bounce. For me, a bounce means that a user considered the landing page irrelevant and therefore left immediately. And that’s a construction site that you don’t realize until you’ve configured the right bounce rate.
- Be clear about what the point of your page is. You would have come up with that on your own? I have experienced too often that there are very different views in a company about why a website exists. Sometimes the participants of a workshop could not agree in 2 hours. Why does the site exist? What role does it play in your company’s overall business strategy? Is it a sale? Is it branding? Is it monetization via advertising? Did you just want to have a www on your letterhead? Does your page have multiple goals? Also ok. Write them all down.
- So how can you measure whether the business goals are being met? To do this, you define the KPIs. Example: You want to sell something, then your goal is the number of conversions. Or? If you take a closer look, you probably have a sales goal (e.g. €1,000 a day), and the number of conversions won’t help you much if you don’t earn the same amount with every conversion. There are several adjusting screws for the sales target, traffic, conversion rate, shopping cart value, returns. This results in sub-goals, such as 2,000 daily users, a conversion rate of at least 1% (which is a good standard value, by the way), and an average shopping cart of 50€ as well as a return rate of 0% (which is very unrealistic unless you sell a digital product). If you don’t get to the €1,000, you have to analyze why this is the case based on the KPIs mentioned. For branding pages, on the other hand, we have different metrics. You want users who don’t leave immediately (see Adjusted Bounce Rate above). You want users to engage with your page, so Time on Site or Pages per Visit could be good metrics. If you want to reach users who don’t know you yet, the metric Number of new users is interesting. But here, too, set goals. If you don’t have goals, then any number doesn’t matter. Are 300,000 visitors good or little? Is 2% growth good or not so good? It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any goals.
- The standard Google Analytics dashboard is relatively pointless. What does the ratio of new to returning users say? What do you do with this information? Honestly, you can’t actually do anything with any of the information listed in the standard dashboard. The KPIs that are actually important belong on a proper dashboard. Use the gallery (in Google Analytics). Many problems have already been solved by other users.
- Web analytics (as well as data analysis in general) starts with a question. The answer is only as good as your question. Examples of good questions: Which acquisition channel brings me the most revenue (and, more importantly, is it worth having more of it)? What’s going on with the channels that bring in less revenue? Which demographic audiences “work” best (depending on the goal), and what content doesn’t fit those audiences? Does my target group read the texts of the website to the end? What elements of my website increase the likelihood that a user will bounce? The questions already show that web analytics is not a one-time matter, but must be continuous.
- Segmentation is the killer feature in web analytics. Almost every question can be answered by segmentation. Example: Segmentation by mobile versus desktop, demographics, acquisition channels. Without segmentation, analytics is a toothless tiger.
- And finally, the killer basic: You don’t want any data. What you want is information that will help you decide what you need to do. Analytics provides you with data, you draw information from it, and actions come from it. Data -> information -> action, that’s the absolute analytics mantra. If there is no action, then you don’t need the data. My former colleague Avinash uses the So what test for this. If you don’t have an action from a date after asking “So what?” three times, then forget about the KPI. I would go one step further: If you don’t have a question (see point 8) whose answer results in an action, then the initial question was wrong.
This list is not necessarily complete, but with these 10 points you can get damn far. Feedback is always welcome.