The document discusses issues with using "user" metrics in analytics reports for websites that require users to log in. It recommends setting up custom dimensions in Google Analytics to properly track logged-in users versus visitors. Some key custom dimensions to track include customer ID, logged-in status, author, and membership level to gain more accurate insights about your real users.
7. USERS
(FKA UNIQUE VISITORS)
NEW USERS
DAYS SINCE LAST SESSION
% NEW SESSIONS
COUNT OF SESSIONS
USER TYPE
(NEW/RET VISITOR)
USER DEFINED VALUES metric
dimension
37. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
38. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
39. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
• gender
40. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
• gender
• age
41. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
• gender
• age
• membership level
42. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
• gender
• age
• membership level
43. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
• gender
• age
• membership level
• number of help articles viewed
44. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
• gender
• age
• membership level
• number of help articles viewed
• complaint
45. good candidates
• customer id
• logged in
• author
• page category (not tags)
• publication date
• gender
• age
• membership level
• number of help articles viewed
• complaint
I DO A LOT OF ANALYTICS AUDITS, AND THERE ARE SOME ISSUES THAT I SEE ON A REGULAR BASIS.
BUT NOT ALL ISSUES ARE THE RESULT OF IMPLEMENTATION ERRORS. SOMETIMES THEY’RE THE RESULT OF NOT UNDERSTANDING THE LIMITATIONS OF GA.
National Insurance Number
THESE ARE VISITORS
THESE ARE VISITORS
THESE ARE NOT VISITORS
SOME OF THESE BOGUS KPIS INCLUDE …
DON’T ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO CRAP METRICS.
PRETTIEST LIAR
I’LL SHOW YOU
CLASSIC
UNIVERSAL
GOOGLE NEEDED TO MAKE THIS CHANGE TO MAKE WAY FOR …
TO TRY TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE, GOOGLE ANNOUNCED USER-ID FEATURE
THIS VIEW ONLY CAPTURES LOGGED IN USERS
THIS VIEW ONLY CAPTURES LOGGED IN USERS
VISITORS ARE THE ROYALTY OF YOUR SITE
AND WHAT DO WE DO TO ROYALTY? WE STALK THEM.
1.4 MIL SESSIONS OVERWRITTEN
IF YOU DON’T SET THIS UP THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR DATA …