The majority of websites use Google Analytics. It’s ubiquitous. But are marketers using it properly? Not really. Many marketers are using it only for reporting, not analysis. A lot of marketers are using Analytics wrong. In this lesson, we’ll look at specific ways to use Analytics to do real analysis, to answer questions and draw conclusions. Reporting vs. Analysis: How most marketers get Analytics wrong Turning ideas into questions Analytics Insights Audience Insights: WHO is visiting? Acquisition insights: WHERE are they coming from? Behavior insights: WHAT are they doing here? Conversion insights: WHICH pieces of content are successful? The truth waiting to be discovered in your Analytics. You just need to know where it’s hiding. Lots of marketers use Analytics. But great marketers use it to answer questions, support decisions and test theories for possible actions. Once you’ve completely this lesson, you’ll have a new mindset for approaching your data and new tools for making the decisions that make the difference in your marketing.

2. source: Social Media Today

3. Traffic x Conversion Rate = $

4. Less than 30% of small businesses use Web site analytics, call
tracking, or coupon codes.
18% of small businesses admit to not tracking anything.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/253069/search-losing-favor-among-some-sm
7. One-third of marketers say they don’t which digital marketing tactic has
the biggest positive impact on revenue. 26% of respondents say email is the
digital marketing channel with the greatest positive impact on revenue; SEO
is second (17%), followed by paid search (15%), social media (5%), and online
display advertising (5%). (MarketingProfs)
http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27157/which-digital-marketing-tactic-boosts-re

5. Google Analytics Reporting
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6. Google Analytics Analysis
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7. Google Analytics Analysis
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8. If you see a data puke, then you know you’re
looking at web reporting.
If you see words in English outlining actions,
then you are looking at web data analysis.
Avinash Kaushik
Occam’s Razor

9. @crestodina

10. source: Avinash Kaushik
@crestodina

11. source: Avinash Kaushik
@crestodina

12. @crestodina

13. @crestodina

14. @crestodina

15. @crestodina

16. Who’s job is this
Analytics stuff?

17. @crestodina

18. Turning marketing ideas
into questions

24. AUDIENCE REPORTS

25. Visitor = User
Visit = Session
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26. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Are our visitors using
mobile devices?
1

27. Audience > Mobile > Overview
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28. @crestodina

29. Audience > Mobile > Overview
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30. Audience > Mobile > Overview
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31. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Are mobile visitors
less engaged?
2

32. Audience > Mobile > Overview
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33. Audience > Mobile > Overview
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34. Audience > Mobile > Overview > Bounce Rate
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35. Audience > Mobile > Overview > Avg Session Duration
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36. Actions
1. Check the design of
landing pages for mobile
visitors
2. Create schedule for
mobile testing
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37. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Is the site working well
in every browser?
3

38. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
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39. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
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40. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
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41. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
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42. Actions
1. Test the site on the
browsers with higher
bounce rates.
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43. • Are millenials visiting our website?
What are they doing?
• How many of our visitors are local?
National? International?
• What times of day are people reading our blog?
More Q’s to Ask Your Audience Reports
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44. ACQUISITION REPORTS

45. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which social network
drives the most traffic?
4

46. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
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47. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
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48. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
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49. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
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50. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > SocialAcquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social (% view)
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51. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
5
Which social network
drives the best traffic?

52. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
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53. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

54. Actions
1. Focus on social networks
with high conversion
rates.
@crestodina

55. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

56. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

57. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
@crestodina

58. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
@crestodina

59. Actions
1. Focus on networking
benefits of social media,
not traffic benefits.
2. Resource allocation!
@crestodina

60. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
What phrases are we
ranking for?
6

61. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

62. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

63. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

64. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

65. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

66. Actions
1. Find the pages. Confirm
the rankings.
2. Improve the page by
adding detail, keywords,
video, internal linking, etc.
@crestodina

67. • Which email campaigns pull in the most visits?
• Which pull in visitors who dig deeper?
• Which sites have linked to us recently?
Are they sending us referral visitors?
More Q’s to Ask Your Acquisition Reports
@crestodina

68. BEHAVIOR REPORTS

69. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
What are people looking
for on our site?
7

70. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

71. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

72. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

73. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

74. Actions
1. Optimize your own pages
for your own search tool.
2. Publish content on those
topics.
@crestodina

75. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Are they reading what
we’re writing?
8

76. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
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77. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
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78. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
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79. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
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80. Actions
1. Publish more content on
those popular topics.
2. Promote the high value
content better.
3. Reconsider your content
strategy!
@crestodina

81. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which posts are the
most engaging?
9

82. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

83. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
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84. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

85. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

86. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

87. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

88. Actions
1. Publish more content on
the popular topics.
2. Do more to promote the
low-traffic, high value
posts.
@crestodina

89. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
What is the top path
through our website?
10

90. Behavior > Behavior Flow
@crestodina

91. Behavior > Behavior Flow
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92. Behavior > Behavior Flow
@crestodina

93. Behavior > Behavior Flow (Explore Traffic through “/”)
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94. Behavior > Behavior Flow (Explore Traffic through “/”)
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95. Actions
1. Rebalance your navigation
2. Polish up the pages in that
top path
3. Make sure the billboards
are on the highway
(videos, testimonials, etc.)
4. Get rid of your
testimonials page
@crestodina

96. CONVERSION REPORTS

97. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which posts
inspire action?
11

98. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
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99. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages (filtered)
@crestodina

100. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages (filtered)
@crestodina

101. Conversions > Goals > Reverse Goal Path
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102. Conversions > Goals > Reverse Goal Path
@crestodina

103. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
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104. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

105. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

106. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

107. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

108. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

109. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

110. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
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111. Pageviews Per Blog Post
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112. Subscribers Per Blog Post
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113. Conversion Rate Per Blog Post!
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114. Conversion Rate Per Blog Post
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115. @crestodina

117. Actions
1. Drive traffic to these
posts, through social,
email, internal linking, ads,
etc.
2. Publish more content on
these topics.
@crestodina

118. Connect your traffic champions
to your conversion champions!

119. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which pages support
the lead gen funnel?
12

121. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Where are we losing
people during checkout?
13

122. Conversions > Goals > Funnel Visualization
@crestodina

123. Conversions > Goals > Funnel Visualization
@crestodina

124. @crestodina

125. Actions
1. Reduce number of steps.
2. Remove distractions.
3. Answer top questions
earlier.
@crestodina

126. • What hour of day, day of week or month of year are
visitors most likely to act?
• Are people buying right away?
More Q’s to Ask Your Conversion Reports
@crestodina

127. Data-Driven
Empathy

128. @crestodina

129. @crestodina

130. @crestodina

131. Content marketing is a lot of work...
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132. @crestodina

133. Every number in your
Analytics is inaccurate
...but so what?

134. Caution:
Bad Audience Data
@crestodina

135. @crestodina

136. 1. No cookie? No data.
2. JavaScript Disabled? No data
3. Time on page? Or time on tab?
4. Same Device, Different User
5. Same User, Different Device / Browser
This can be a problem...
@crestodina

137. First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty
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138. First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty
@crestodina

139. First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty
@crestodina

140. Is that you in your Analytics? Create a filter!
@crestodina

141. Is that you in your Analytics? Create a filter!

145. Are those robots in your Analytics? Exclude ‘em!

146. Are those robots in your Analytics? Exclude ‘em!

147. Are those robots in your Analytics? Exclude ‘em!

148. Caution:
Bad Acquisition Data
@crestodina

149. Traffic Sources Aren’t What They Seem
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150. @crestodina
Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports

151. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
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152. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
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153. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

154. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

155. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

156. Caution:
Bad Behavior Data
@crestodina

157. @crestodina

158. @crestodina

159. @crestodina

160. Admin > Property Settings
@crestodina

161. Caution:
Bad Conversion Data
@crestodina

162. What does success look like? Setup Goals!
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163. Admin > View > Goals
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164. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

165. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

166. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

167. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

168. URL Problems
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169. Conversions > Goals > Funnel Visualization
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171. Bottom Line
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172. Thank you!
Andy Crestodina
Strategic Director | @crestodina
bitly.com/contentchem