google analytics is a free and powerful tool that, if properly setup, unlocks lots of really important actionable insights about a website that can help marketers to improve conversions and engagement online. Almost everyone who is directly or indirectly associated with e-commerce knows Google Analytics is used to measure things such as how many visitors a website has, what those visitors are doing on a website (their behavior), where those visitors are coming from (traffic sources), and what pages are most popular among them? Although these are important things to know, Google Analytics actually goes way beyond tracking and measuring these common metrics.
Remember, the more you know about your customers, the better you are able to serve them, and engagement is all about serving customers better. There is a lot going on inside your website than you can possibly imagine. Altogether, there are over 250 events and metrics that you can track and measure using Google Analytics that cannot just help you in better knowing your customers, but can help you in crafting your offers that serve and engage your customers better. The following are just a few of many events that you can record and measure to learn more about your customers to serve them better.
Social Event TrackingUsing Google Analytics
Google Analytics event tracking can be leveraged to determine if visitors on a website are ‘socially engaged’ or ‘not socially engaged’.
Events such as how many of them hit the facebook page ‘like’ button, clicked the +1 button, hit the Twitter follow button, can be measured and used to categorize visitors into ‘socially engaged’ or ‘not socially engaged’ in Google Analytics.
One restaurant in Miami found that ‘socially engaged’ leads on its website are more likely to convert in the coming few weeks as compared to the ‘not socially engaged’.
Once marketers unlocked this important insight through Google Analytics, they immediately made social media buttons on the website more prominent (bigger in size, contrasting in color) and the results were exactly what they expected; more conversions and sales.
Enhanced E-commerce Event Tracking
You can track how far visitors have made it through the funnel on your website to measure how interested and sales-ready they are.
For instance, one middle-eastern e-retailer found that visitors who add a product to cart are more likely to convert if contacted by sales directly as compared to those who bounce back from product details page.
Creative Use of Google Analytics in Your Remarketing Efforts
Traditionally, Google Analytics is used in Remarketing efforts by Marketers to first capture some information about a visitor’s interaction with a website and then use that information later on to bring them back to a website and convert them into customers. But the biggest problem with this traditional remarketing effort is, the conversion rate is just 1% (in some case 2% maximum). Means for every dollar marketers spend trying to bring back prospects on a site in a hope to convert them, 99% of the value is wasted because only 1 person converts on average.
Now planning your remarketing strategy is much more than attracting people back to your site, thanks to the insightful analytics that GA provides. Smart Marketers are now using Google Analytics in a way that is allowing them to optimize and enhance experiences across every touchpoint on their site throughout the customer buying journey.
Retailers are leveraging Google Analytics data to follow up with customers after they have made a purchase in order to suggest a video tutorial on how to use the product. Some retailers are successfully using Google Analytics data in their up-selling and cross-selling efforts by suggesting other products to people who have already bought from them.Get creative with the data insights Google Analytics provide you and nothing can stop you from delighting your customers.
