A Google Analytics 4 assignment to help students learn to use GA4 to monitor web traffic analytics. Hands-on learning project taught in a college undergraduate communication research class. Learn more at: https://wp.me/p6UCSq-bWd5T

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Project #2: Web Traffic & Social Media Analytics (Google Merch Store)
Comm 435: Communication Research
Summary
Due Date See syllabus
Turning In 1 Team member shares the URL to a Microsoft Office 365 Word document in the
assignment on Brightspace. How: Put the URL to the document in the textbox in the
assignment on Brightspace. Be sure that the link allows users to ‘edit’ it under the
‘share’ button. How to create an Office 365 file and share it.
Purpose: To teach common web traffic analytics;
experience creating such reports.
Method: Digital analytics tools
Notes: Group Assignment; We will do data analysis in
class and jumpstart the writing of your methods and
results (see syllabus); There is a Group Report Card
after to evaluate your participation in the group.
Things You Will Learn:
• Intermediate research report writing
• Write a problem statement and research objective.
• How to use Google Analytics GA4 software.
• Writing Secondary Research and Methods sections
• Interpreting Data
Deliverables:
- Title Page
- Problem Overview - Includes problem statement, campaign goals & objectives, research objective &
research questions/hypotheses. See the guidelines on p. 3 below.
- Methods - ~3/4 of a page (See “Social Media Analytics Methods” for requirements)
§ Please see the “Info for your Methods” section at the bottom of this document. You
have 3 different data sources.)
o Measurements: To answer each RQ, what will/did you measure and what does that mean?
§ For example, how is sentiment calculated? How is share of voice calculated?
o Method of Analysis: Provide an overview of what tools were used to perform the analysis.
- Results - length: as needed (see Handout)
o Organize by research question – the research questions are towards the bottom of this
document.
o Use graphs and/or charts and/or tables generated from your research to visualize every main
finding. Provide a sentence or two describing the result underneath that visual if needed.
- Implications & Recommendations (see Handout):
o In “Section 5: Recommendations: for the Client,” focus on the below questions:
o What could the company do to drive traffic to its store using organic
search, paid promotions, organic social media, social media
advertising, or other means?
o What product categories should the company focus on promoting next
year, given what you found?
o What recommendations do you have for the client to improve their
site to make it more engaging? To make it more sticky (that is, to get
people to come back)?
o How can the site grow with mobile and/or tablet users?
o What other recommendations do you have?
- References – An alphabetic list of your references
Formatting:
We’ll use APA formatting in this class. Rely on the “APA Research Paper Template” on Brightspace when writing your paper. You
can type directly into it.
When citing, rely on the APA Quick Guide template for in text citations and reference lists (also available via Brightspace).

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The Information Below is a Collection of Information That You’ll Use When You Write the Above Sections. That
is, it fits into the appropriate sections above.
(note: there is a guide I will give in class to help you write methods, results, discussion. The below info will help
you answer questions, and thus write your paper)
Info for your Problem Overview
Problem or Opportunity:
The Google Merchandise store (https://shop.googlemerchandisestore.com/) is a worldwide store where
customers can buy branded Google and YouTube merchandise. Over the last 5 years, the store has witnessed a
post-holiday shopping season slump. To counter that slump, a competing agency was hired for a digital campaign
that was launched at the start of January. Its purpose was to enhance awareness, engagement, and revenue. That
campaign’s goals and objectives are listed below. The team at the Google Merch store has hired Comm 435 Agency
to use Google Analytics to evaluate how successful the campaign was in meeting its objectives AND to make
recommendations on ways they could improve the campaign for next January. To make your recommendations,
you will need to use knowledge gained outside of this class (such as from past classes you’ve taken in your major
and minor) along with independent research you will conduct about best practices to promote similar online
stores.
Campaign Goals and Objectives:
Goals:
1) To increase engagement with the Google Merch store in the beginning months of this year compared to
last year.
2) To increase traffic to the store coming through organic search to top landing pages in the beginning
months of this year compared to last year
3) To sustain the success of our Apparel and Drinkware categories in terms of users and revenue.
4) To promote the Google Merch store to key audiences: mobile users, tablet users, Spanish speaking
worldwide, French speaking worldwide, English speaking worldwide.
Objectives for the begging of this year:
1. To have 2 out of 3 of the top search terms performing better the first two months of this year than they did
the last two months of last year (ties to RQ 5).
2. Have more weekly active users who are also monthly active users during the first two months of this year than
we had during the last 2 months of last year (ties to RQ 7).
3. To improve average engagement time by 5% from the last 2 months from last year to the first two months of
this year (ties to RQ 6).
4. To have Apparel and Drinkware categories ranking among the top 5 total users among English-speaking users
(ties to RQ 8)
5. To have the majority of worldwide new users who speak Spanish coming to the Google Merchandise store via
a combination of directly typing the store name into their web browser and organic search (ties to RQ 3).
6. To have the majority of worldwide new users who speak French coming to the Google Merchandise store via a
combination of directly typing the store name into their web browser and organic search (ties to RQ 3).
7. To have earned 20% of total revenue from tablets and mobile devices combined among English-speaking users
(ties to RQ 9)
8. To have an average purchase revenue of $.20 among Spanish and French speaking users worldwide (ties to RQ
11).
Research Objective: The purpose of this study is to perform a website analytics audit of INSERT CLIENT NAME
[subject of study] in INSERT TIME PERIOD using Google Analytics software [method] to understand INSERT CLIENT
NAME’S current web traffic to provide insights and recommendations for enhancing next January’s promotional
campaign [variable of interest: too many to list here, you’ll see them below].

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Research Questions: (I provide them below, you’ll need to modify their text a little. I have organized them by
platform that we will use):
Google Analytics (We’ll go over in class. Here’s the lab guide: https://bit.ly/ga4analytics-guide).
1. What has the overall web traffic been since the start of January?
2. How do the mobile and desktop sites compare in terms of users, new users, engagement rate, and average
engagement time?
A) How do all users, French-speaking users, and Spanish-speaking users compare in terms of the top 5
default channel groups? B) How is this different for users versus new users?
3. What are the top 10 organic search terms that mobile users in the US & Canada search that land them on the
Google Merchandise Store?
4. Are the top 3 search terms performing better for the months of January and February of this year compare to
the months of November and December of last year?
5. How does the client’s performance for average engagement time, engagement sessions per user, and average
engagement time per session for the months of January and February of this year compare to the months of
November and December of last year?
6. How is the client performing in terms of stickiness for the months of January and February of this year
compared to the months of November and December of last year?
7. How do apparel and drinkware categories perform in terms of the total number of users among users who
speak English?
8. For English-speaking users, which device category (desktop, tablet, or a mobile) produced the most revenue?
9. Which landing pages are producing the most purchase conversions? The most revenue?
10. What is the average purchase revenue for English, Spanish, and French-speaking users worldwide?
Info for your Methods
Data – where your data was obtained from:
• Google Analytics data is collected through Google Analytics on the client’s website. Be sure to report the date
range.
Some Sources That May Help
These tours will walk you through major parts of GA4 using the Google Merch store:
Property Welcome Tour
Explorations Tour
Realtime Report Tour
Advertising Snapshot Tour
Comparisons Guide
Google Analytics Terminology Handout (also on Brightspace)
Google Analytics Beginner’s Section - https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/