CONVERGE 2014: PRECONFERENCE SESSION A
Using Analytics to Drive Decision-Making - BECKY VARDAMAN
Heard how important web analytics are to your overall strategy, but not sure where to start? Join us as we discuss set up, strategy and gaining actionable insights from Google Analytics. You'll leave knowing which data points to track and why.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
How to track and engage visitors to your website
Set up measurable goals, event tracking and campaign tagging
Gain actionable answers through reporting
3. Converge 2014 Pre-Conference Workshop
• Google Analytics 101
• Is my data accurate?
• What should I be looking at?
• Goals Exercise
• Getting It Done
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7. • Comparative analysis: measure website trends
• Quantitatively evaluate web content quality
• Challenge and validate assumptions
• Demonstrate how your website meets
established business goals and users’ needs
• Enable stakeholders and content owners to
measure the success of their own content
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What GA Can Do:
16. The Measurement Protocol
The new Measurement Protocol defines how you can send to data to Google
Analytics from any system or any device.
Data is still sent via the __utm.gif image request and you can send data via a GET or a
POST. As long as long as you format the data according to the protocol Google
Analytics will accept the data.
This means you can send data from call center systems, point of sale systems, etc.
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17. Offline Conversion Import
Not only can you send offline activities, such as pageviews, to GA reporting, but you
can also import conversions.
You need to send the data to Google Analytics when the offline conversion happens
using the Measurement Protocol. When you send the hit you’ll need to include some
identifier that links the offline conversion to the data in Google Analytics.
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18. Server Side Sessionization
In the old Google Analytics sessionization was handled in the tracking cookies. The
cookies store things like session length and campaign information, as well as an
anonymous identifier. With Universal Analytics all of the sessionization happens at the
server level.
Now you can configure in the console:
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19. Custom Dimensions and Metrics
Next generation Custom Variables – but with less coding (because of server side
sessionization)!
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20. Dimension widening is based on custom dimensions and metrics. The key difference is
that this is a bulk-type of feature. Whereas custom dimensions and metrics are done
one at a time, dimension widening allows you to add a bunch of new dimensions via a
data upload.
Let’s say you are a publisher, and your analytics data has thousands ISBN numbers
(basically unique book IDs) in the content reports. You can import detailed information
like publication date, author, edition, etc. into Google Analytics, link it with the ISBN
number and view other info like publication date, author, edition, etc.
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Dimension Widening
21. A great way to use the custom metrics feature is to import cost data associated with a
marketing campaign. Using an ID number in your content data (like a query string
parameter named CID), import cost information about your marketing campaigns.
We’ve always had cost data about Google AdWords but not other marketing activities.
This has made it hard to measure true marketing ROI within Google Analytics.
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Cost Data Import
22. Multi-Platform Tracking
Universal Analytics lets you track the same user, for example, on a work computer,
mobile device, home computer, or RFD key (swipe card/loyalty card). By consolidating
various login IDs, as well as customer loyalty cards, Universal Analytics can track offline
and online purchase behavior. Again, very exciting for retailers.
Other applications? How about display booths at conventions and the fancy nametag
swipe readers that add attendees to a mailing list or enter them into a contest? That
data can be aggregated, made anonymous and correlated to online conversions in
Universal Analytics.
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23. 12346
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WEBSITE
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Example: Lollapalooza
24. WEBSITE
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Example: Lollapalooza
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CRM
25. People Involved:
• Marketing
• IT
• Third party applications
• Internal Stakeholders (Admissions, Academics, Athletics)
Time Involved:
• Actual transition is very quick (replace code)
• Making and executing a plan takes longer (up to six months)
This is a great time to be sure you have a strategic analytics plan:
• Accurate, reliable data
• Audience based goals and events to support them
• Regular dashboard reporting and improvements
• Tag management
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Upgrading
29. Takeaways:
This is coming (really, it’s here).
You will need to get on board (you’ve got about two years).
There are some great tools yet to be released… stay tuned.
Migration:
November 2012: Private Beta
April 2013: Public Beta
Summer-Fall 2013: Gradual roll out of features.
April 2014: Out of Beta
Should We Switch?
1. Not should you, but when?
2. Now is the time to start making a plan.
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The Bottom Line
30. Is my data accurate?
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36. Subdomain & Domains Currently in UA? Used? Purpose? Include or Separate or 301 Create View
Careercoaches.ntc.edu
Courseschedule.ntc.edu
Dairylandacademy.org
Notes02.ntc.edu/intranet2
Ntcptl9u.aurora.tc
Replay.ntc.edu
www.ntc.edu
www.sparkintomanufacturing.c
om
Mprtoolkit.ntc.edu
wampen
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Make A Map
43. Set Up Considerations
• There is a limit of 50 views for any given web property.
• You cannot migrate historical data from one account to
another.
• You cannot transfer views or web properties to other
accounts.
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44. Club Site
Club Site
Club Site
Club Site
Club Site
Club Site
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UA-12542-20
UA-12542-X
UA-12542-X
UA-12542-X
UA-12542-X
UA-12542-X
UA-12542-X
Example
55. Reminder:
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Direct
Visitors who come directly to the
website using the domain name.
Search engines
By default, GA tracks 20+ different
search engines.
Referrals
Links that appear on
other websites.
Campaigns Custom! You decide.
56. What is Campaign Tracking?
http://www.convergeuniversity.edu/admissions?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fall-2013-
campaign&utm_content=video1
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http://gaconfig.com/
59. Source:
“The brand name”
facebook, newsletter, affiliate link, google
Medium:
The bucket
email, social, cpc, ppc, display
Campaign:
The message/content
date, fall2014, alumni2014-8-15
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The Three Facets
67. #Converge2014 October 13, 2014
The Three Facets
Category = video
Action = homepage
Label = student-affairs
OR
Category = homepage
Action = video
Label = current-student
OR
Category = video
Action = {{URL}}
Label = {{innerText}}
Watch a Video
68. Keep Track of Your Event Strategy
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87. Reports What You Can Learn
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Audience
Who are these people?
Where geographically?
How often do they come back?
Acquisition
How did they get here?
Search? Direct? Referral?
AdWords Campaigns? Social?
Behavior
What did they do?
Which pages did they look at?
What did they search for?
Conversions
How much are they worth?
Did they complete our goals?
If not, where did they drop off?
98. • Goals
• Current reporting (replace with a dashboard)
• Content heavy sections of your site (blog, news)
• Content stakeholders
• A specific Campaign
• A specific Traffic Source (social media, ppc, referrals)
• Inbound marketing process (attract, convert, delight)
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Where to start?
101. • Any website action can be a goal
• Visitors can only convert once per visit, per goal
• Goal processing occurs at the view level
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About Goals
103. Types of goals
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URL destination
Goal completed when visitor
views defined URL
Time on site
Goal completed when visitor spends
X amount of time on site
Pages / visit
Goal completed when visitor views
X number of pages on site
Event
Goal completed when visitor takes
a predefined action
107. Virtual Pageviews
How do I track my form if the URL doesn’t change, page to page?
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• Can use in Goal Funnels
• Ads to total pageview count
111. Web Analytics Framework
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1 Business Objectives
2 Website Goals
3
Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
4 Targets
5 Segments
112. Web Analytics Framework
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1 Business Objectives
What is the purpose of
your institution or your
group within it?
2 Website Goals
3
Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
4 Targets
5 Segments
114. Web Analytics Framework
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1 Business Objectives
What actions on your
website contribute to
meeting that objective?
2 Website Goals
3
Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
4 Targets
5 Segments
116. Web Analytics Framework
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1 Business Objectives
What relevant web
metrics can be used to
measure your website
goals over time?
2 Website Goals
3
Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
4 Targets
5 Segments
119. Web Analytics Framework
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1 Business Objectives
How do you rate
success?
2 Website Goals
3
Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
4 Targets
5 Segments
121. Web Analytics Framework
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1 Business Objectives
What visitor attributes
will provide meaningful
insights?
2 Website Goals
3
Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
4 Targets
5 Segments