Cohort analysis, sometimes referred to as longitudinal analysis, focuses on the behavior of cohort groups (a group of people who share similar characteristics or behavior) within a predefined timespan.

1. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google
Analytics

2. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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1) Cohort Analysis
2) An Example
3) Creating Cohorts in Google Analytics
Overview
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics

3. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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 Cohort analysis, sometimes referred to as longitudinal
analysis, focuses on the behavior of cohort groups (a group
of people who share similar characteristics or behavior)
within a predefined timespan.
 Cohort analysis usually involves clustering web audiences/visitors by
the time period in which they first interact with your web ecosystem.
 The key benefit of cohort analysis comes from allowing
analysts to compare and analyze the retention and
engagement of different user groups to make sure that
changes made during each period have a positive impact.
1. Cohort Analysis
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics

4. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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 If your school considers webpage views as a core
engagement metric, when looking over analytical data for
the last couple of months, you might find that the "Month 2"
cohort has consistently remained more engaged and viewed
more pages per visit than other monthly cohorts.
 Looking at cohort retention in the same manner, you can say that
the "Month 2" cohort remained intently loyal to your school’s website.
2. An Example
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics

5. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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 Google introduced new segmentation features for Google
Analytics that make it easier to isolate and analyze subsets
of visitors or app users (or cohort groups).
 Previously, Google Analytics was not supporting cohort analysis as a
standard feature, since segments were always based on individual
visits.
 There is a 90 day limit to the user segment and in the cohort
analysis, which may change with time.
 Keep an eye on the Google Analytics help site for the latest
information.
3. Creating Cohorts in Google Analytics
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics

6. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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 To create a new cohort, click the + New Custom Segment
button. Next, you will be able to name your cohort and
choose form the five different types of segments.
 Demographics: Filter your visitors by demographics information, i.e.
age, gender, language, location, etc.
 Technology: Filter your visitors by their browser, screen resolution,
browser version, operating systems, etc.
 Behavior: Segment your visitors by how often they visit and interact
with your school’s website.
 Date of first visit: Segment your visitors by when they first
interacted with your school’s website.
 Traffic Source: Filter your visitors by how they discovered your
website using medium, campaign, source and keywords.
3. Creating Cohorts in Google Analytics
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics

7. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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 If you want to add filters, click on the condition option under
Advanced. This will allow you to add up to 20 filters.
 Once you have created your first cohort, you can preview
the results and test it to make sure it works properly.
 Step 1: Click on the “Date of First Visit” tab and enter the applicable
date rang.
 Step 2: Enter “referral” under Medium and “Facebook” under
Source, then preview the results.
 Two criteria must be fulfilled when conducting any type of
cohort analysis:
 Analysis must take place over a meaningful period of time.
 All the members of the cohort should be analyzed over the
predefined period of time.
3. Creating Cohorts in Google Analytics
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics

8. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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 Cohort analysis is considered a highly effective form of
observational analysis (substitutes for true experimental
analysis).
 It can help your team to identify moments when engagement
on your school’s websites decline and facilitates decision
making processes to eradicate bottlenecks that may have
resulted in these drops.
 In the recent update, Google has really changed the way
people perform cohort analysis using Google Analytics.
3. Creating Cohorts in Google Analytics
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics

9. Conducting Cohort Analysis With Google Analytics
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