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Florist Tech: April 2011
Google Analytics 102 |
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Written by Georgiana Laudi
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In Google Analytics 101 we covered such basics as installation, important terminology and things to familiarize yourself with if you’re just starting out. Here’s the second part of the article series.
E-commerce tracking and goals
If you have a shopping cart on your website, you will definitely want to take advantage of the Google Analytics (GA) program’s ability to track sales. Once your GA account is set up, in Edit Profile Information you can tell Google that your site is E-commerce enabled and specify your currency. When this is done, you can set up what Google calls “Goals.” Goals are essentially telling GA when a visitor accomplishes one of your site’s objectives (like making a purchase, signing up for your mailing list, filling in a contact form, etc). Be sure to take advantage of Goal Funnels too. Though it may seem a little complicated at first, have a look at all the help references Google provides. Once you have a couple of Goals in place, within a few days, whole new areas of data become available to you.
From Goals in the Analytics dashboard you can see things like your site’s Conversion Rate (how many people made a purchase compared to total visitors) and Funnel Visualization (how people travelled through your purchase process). This information is golden when evaluating your website. You can see what’s working and what’s not, so you can improve your sales funnel and make it easier for your customers to complete a sale. As well, Conversion Rate will be showing up in your Keywords metrics (covered in the 101) so you can also see which Keywords are of the highest value to you and optimize your site accordingly.
The E-commerce section of your GA dashboard contains information about your site’s Total Revenue, Transactions, Average Order Value and Product Performance. These measurables will also appear in other Analytics reports and allow you to compare the costs of a paid directory listing and the sales it generates, whether or not your social media marketing is generating any new sales, and where most of your orders are coming from, to name a few.
Campaign tracking
Ever wanted to know how many sales were generated from that e-mail campaign you spent so much time on? Do you spend on banner advertising? By adding some additional code to those links, GA can segment those visits and they can be measured separately. Search “Google URL Builder” (or go to http://bit.ly/hO0FGf) and, using that tool, you can create custom campaign URLs. By using these new links to your site from things like e-mails, banner ads and even social media, you’ll enable a new section within GA. To see stats from each of your campaigns go to Campaigns, within Traffic Sources. You’ll be able to see all the other metrics as well, so you can gauge sales and spending by each campaign you set up.
Advanced Segments
Advanced Segmentation is a tool within GA that lets you break up your data more precisely, so you can monitor only certain types of visitors at a given time. For instance, you might only be interested in how your local visitors found your website, or how visitors from Facebook navigate your site.
There are also default Advanced Segments available to you: simply choose them from the drop-down menu at the top right of your dashboard. If you go to Advanced Segments, under the My Customization menu (just below the main navigation menu on the left) you will see there are a whole lot more opportunities for understanding your customers.
To create a new custom segment, select any of the metrics or dimensions available in Google Analytics. For example, if you wanted to see only U.S. visitors who came to your site through an organic search you would do the following: click Create a new segment, then, under Dimensions, expand Visitors and drag and drop “Country/Territory” to the first block in your segment builder, select United States from that dimension’s menu. Below that click “Add ‘and’ statement” and another block will open up for you to drag and drop the Traffic Sources “Medium” segment, and select “Organic.” Name your segment at the bottom (i.e., U.S. Organic) and click “Test Segment” to see how many visitors fall into the segment. Once that’s done, go back to your dashboard and choose just this segment to see what makes them tick. Once you’ve done one, the rest will be a breeze.
Though reading about funnels and segments might seem a little dry, you’ll be relieved when you see Google Analytics is more friendly than it sounds. Establishing some Goals, and experimenting with Campaign Tracking and segments, brings you to the next level of Web Analytics and understanding your customers.
Visit Google Conversion University online for useful tutorials and presentations.
Georgiana Laudi is a third-generation florist and marketing manager at Terrafolia in Montreal. She’s also dedicated to helping other florists succeed with their websites. Visit her online at GrowAFlorist.com or reach her at
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