Greg Jarboe's presentation about "Using Web Analytics and Goal Conversions to Show your Contribution to the Bottom Line," which was delivered at Measurement Base Camp Spring on April 12, 2022.

1. Using web analytics and goal
conversions to show your
contribution to the bottom line
Greg Jarboe
President and co-founder of SEO-PR
Measurement Base Camp Spring 2022
April 12, 2022

2. To get a seat at the big table, you need to learn
how to show your contribution to the bottom line

3. How can I show that a press release contributed
$4,000 in value to this university’s bottom line?
Source: Google Campaign URL Builder, https://ga-dev-tools.web.app/campaign-url-builder/

4. How do I know the value was $4,000 when the cost
of this one-week Mini-MBA program was $4,995?
• Next to the link in the press release
that asks prospective participants to
“apply today,” the university informs
them that the cost is $4,995.
• This ensures that we don’t lose prospects
when they finally “discover” that the cost
of taking this Mini-MBA: Data Driven
Management course is $4,995.
• Nevertheless, about 80% who apply
for the program end up taking it.
• So, for reporting purposes, we calculate
the value of an application is $4,000
(which is about 80% of $4,995).

5. Google Analytics provides many metrics right out of
the box that communications professionals can use
ACQUISITION
• Users: The number of unique visitors
to your website.
• New users: The number of first-time
users to your website, according to
Google’s tracking snippet.
• Sessions: The number of individual
visits initiated by all the users of your
website.
BEHAVIOR
• Bounce rate: The number of single-
page sessions divided by all sessions,
or the percentage of all sessions on
your site in which users viewed only a
single page.
• Pages/session: The average number
of pages viewed per session.
• Avg. session duration: The total
duration of all sessions (in seconds) /
number of sessions.
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Source: Google Analytics Help, Glossary

6. But, you must define your goals and estimate their
goal value before Google Analytics can report them
• Goal conversion rate: The number of
goal conversions divided by the
number of sessions, times 100.
• Goal completions: The number of
completed activities that contribute to
the success of your business.
• Goal $ value: When you set up a goal,
you have the option of assigning a
monetary amount to the conversion.
• Each time a goal is completed by a user,
this amount is recorded and then added
together in your reports as Goal Value.
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Sources: Google Analytics channel, “How to set up Goals in Analytics (7:32),” June 9, 2017

7. Google Analytics has a template for standard goals:
Revenue, Acquisition, Inquiry, and Engagement
• Google Analytics has Goal templates
to help you set actionable goals for
standard organizational objectives.
• You can edit any template field.
• The 4 goal categories are: Revenue,
Acquisition, Inquiry and Engagement.
• Use them as an organization tool to think
about the purpose of your goals.
• Create at least one goal for each
category to understand of how users
interact with your content.
• These categories don’t affect any data.
Source: Google Analytics Help, Create, edit, and share goals 7

8. If you get Edit permission in Google Analytics,
let me show you how easy it is to create Goals
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9. You can also track and measure ‘events’ like form
submissions, downloads, link clicks, and video plays
• Events are user interactions with
content that can be measured
independently from a web-page or
screen load.
• Form submissions, downloads, link
clicks, and video plays are all examples
of actions you might want to analyze
as Events.
• You need to add code to your site or
app in order to see data in your Events
reports.
• Setup tags with Google Tag Manager.
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Source: Google Analytics Help, About Events

10. A micro conversion, like signing-up for your email
newsletter, can be translated into a dollar amount
• One way to help determine what a
goal value should be is to evaluate
how often the users who complete
the goal become customers.
• For example, if your sales team can close
10% of the people who sign up for a
newsletter, and your average transaction
is $500, then you might assign $50 (i.e.
10% of $500) as your newsletter sign-up
Goal Value when users complete the final
newsletter sign-up page.
• In contrast, if only 1% of signups result in
a sale, then you might only assign $5 to
your newsletter sign-up Goal Value.
Sources: Google Analytics channel, “Goals,” April 11, 2013 10

11. Some may want you to focus on revenue as your
only KPI, but you should measure economic value
• Lead generation and ecommerce
websites focus obsessively on
“revenue” as their only KPI.
• Their “buy now” buttons make that
clear.
• So, if 90% of visitors don’t convert in
their first session, then their visits are
marked as failures!
• A better KPI is “economic value.”
• Economic value is the sum of revenue
plus the value created by all of the
micro-conversions on your website.
• So, when someone visits your site
and signs up to receive your email
newsletter, that is not a failure.
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12. If you don’t change multi-channel funnel report,
then it attributes all conversions to the last click
• Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Digital
Marketing Evangelist, says:
• The last interaction model is weak.
• The last non-direct click is weak.
• The last Google Ads click model will get
you fired.
• The first interaction model is weak.
• The linear model is “less wrong.”
• The time decay model is “much better.”
• The position based model “is not great,
but won't completely kill you.”
• A free model comparison tool in
Google Analytics lets you see the
impact of 3 models at one time.
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13. Measure assisted conversions to ensure that the
content you create gets the credit that it deserves
• The Assisted Conversions report
shows the performance of marketing
channels in both delivering last-click
conversions and assisted conversions.
• Think of it this way, the report now
illustrates credit being given to your
PR and content marketing efforts
(referrals, social networks, email, and
press releases) for introducing new
people to your business and working
hard in the early part of the
conversion journey, as well as credit if
they also drive the last visit that
resulted in a conversion.
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14. I helped to launch the Rutgers Online Professional
Master’s in Human Resource Management in 2019
• In 2019, SEO-PR helped Rutgers
University launch an Online
Professional Master’s in Human
Resource Management program.
• Our objective was to generate 30
applications by August 1, 2019.
• Students can complete the 12-course
Master’s program in as few as 18 months
and as long as 5 years.
• Tuition is $3,174 per 3-credit course, or
$38,016 for 12 courses.
• So, 30 applications represented up to
$1,140,480 in tuition for Rutgers.
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019

15. We used keyword research to learn what people
were searching for, but Google Surveys told us why
• Survey found target audiences
included personnel, staffing &
recruiting, and talent acquisition as
well as human resources.
• Respondents with 4 or more years of
HR experience said the follow factors
were important when selecting a
university:
• “Fully online graduate program.”
• “Flexible schedule/completion time.”
• “No GRE/GMAT required.”
• “Top-ranked university.”
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019

16. We emphasized three of these important factors in
the subhead of our optimized multimedia release
Source: Business Wire, “Rutgers Launches Online Master’s in Human Resource Management Program,” Jan. 17, 2019

17. We used the Google Campaign URL Builder tool to
add campaign parameters to URLs in the release
• We used Google’s free Campaign URL
Builder tool to add campaign
parameters to URLs in the release to
track our Custom Campaign in Google
Analytics.
• This enabled us to track the number
of users, new users, sessions, bounce
rate, pages/session, average session
duration, conversion rate,
conversions, and goal value generated
by our optimized multimedia release
on a daily basis.
Source: https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/

18. Our marketing campaign increased ‘familiarity with’
and ‘likelihood to recommend’ Rutgers University
• In late June, we used Google Surveys a
second time to measure the impact of
the integrated marketing campaign.
• The percentage of respondents who said
they were “familiar with” Rutgers
University had increased from 13.8% pre-
launch to 18.5% post-launch.
• The percentage of respondents who said
they were “very likely” to recommend
Rutgers to a friend or colleague had
increased from 16.7% pre-launch to
19.0% post-launch.
• So, you can measure brand lift instead of
using advertising value equivalent (AVE).
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019

19. Overall campaign generated 8,337 new users, 85
leads, and 38 applications worth up to $1.4 million
• Our integrated marketing campaign drove 8,337 new users to the Rutgers Online
Professional Master’s in Human Resource Management landing page.
• Our optimized landing page generated 85 leads (clicked on the Apply tab in
navigation).
• We also evaluated the source/medium of the new users and leads in Google
Analytics:
• LinkedIn ads generated 81% of the new users, but 66% of the leads.
• Google Ads generated 11% of the new users, but 8% of the leads.
• Google organic search generated 3% of the new users, but 7% of the leads.
• Optimized multimedia release generated 1% of the new users, but 13% of the leads.
• More importantly, the campaign generated 38 completed applications, worth up
to $1,444,608 in tuition over the next 18 months to 5 years.
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019

20. Our optimized press release generated 90 out of
8,337 new users (1%), but 8 out of 86 leads (9%)
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Source: Google Analytics, Behavior, Site Content, Landing Pages, Jan. 1 through Aug. 1, 2019

21. Release in news section of site generated 239 out
of 8,337 new users (3%), but 6 out of 86 leads (7%)

22. In 2019, our Rutgers case study was shortlisted in
two different categories for the US Search Awards
• We were a finalist in the Best
Integrated Campaign category for
demonstrating that PR, SEO, display
advertising, and PPC advertising can
increase brand awareness and
generate leads at the same time.
• And we won in the Best Use of PR in a
Search Campaign category for
demonstrating that an optimized
press release and duplicate content in
the news section of SMLR’s website
generated 4% of the traffic, but 16%
of the leads.
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019

23. To show your contribution to the bottom line next
year, you will need to use Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Source: https://youtu.be/S708NFbvTXI
• Google will be “sunsetting” Universal
Analytics on July 1, 2023.
• Launched in October 2012, Universal
Analytics was built for a generation of
online measurement anchored in the
desktop web, independent sessions, and
easily observable data from cookies.
• This measurement methodology is
quickly becoming obsolete.
• GA4 operates across platforms, uses
an event-based data model to deliver
user-centric measurement, and does
not rely exclusively on cookies.

24. Moving to GA4 represents a strategic opportunity
to show your contribution to the bottom line
• Understand your customers across touchpoints.
• Get a complete view of the customer lifecycle with an event-based measurement model that
isn’t fragmented by platform or organized into independent sessions.
• Improve ROI with data-driven attribution.
• It assigns attribution credit to more than just the last click using your Analytics data, and
helps you understand how your marketing activities collectively influence your conversions.
• Measure conversions with business and compliance needs in mind.
• With new country-level privacy controls, you can minimize the collection of user-level data
— like cookies and metadata — while preserving key measurement functionality.
• Get greater value from your data
• Machine learning generates predictive insights about user behavior, creates new audiences
of users likely to purchase or churn, and surfaces critical insights to improve your marketing.

25. To learn more, watch the 21 videos in the ‘Getting
Started with Google Analytics 4 properties’ playlist
• Then, watch the 6 videos in the
“Familiar Use Cases in Google
Analytics 4 properties” playlist.
• If you or your staff need to learn how
to run your own best-in-class
measurement programs (or to update
existing ones,) Paine Publishing offers
custom training, as well as tailored
measurement materials.
• But, if you don’t use GA4 to show your
contribution to the bottom line, then
you’re bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Source: https://youtu.be/S708NFbvTXI