- no matter what product you are using, there is A LOT of data
- Google Analytics - 80+ default reports under the hood
- Too much data, not enough focus doesn’t help
- Some people get caught up on the shiniest object
- Wow, I can see what country and city people are from when looking at my site
- Where do you start???
- First, make sure you’re actually getting data.
- Check your implementation: GA, Omniture, Webtrends, logfiles for AWStats, Analog, etc
- Is the data being collected properly?
- proper tags
- correct ID on the correct site
- for log files: backups, archives, server farm issues - make sure tool is getting ALL logs
- Start with the basics if you’re not sure.
- Work on planning your implementation for a large organization (other session)
- What is the purpose of your website
-
- Amazon.com
- Clear goal - BUY STUFF
- everything they do is aimed at getting you to buy more stuff
- 1 click purchase - makes it easier for you to buy stuff
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- World Wildlife Fund
- What is/are the goal(s) of this site?
- Donate
- Store (buy stuff)
- What else?
- Notice the use of the Call to Action
- Any call to action can be a goal
- non eCommerce sites still have goals
- Pledge does not always mean money.
- Earth hour pledges are ‘symbolic’
- Pledge does not always mean money.
- Earth hour pledges are ‘symbolic’
- Pledge does not always mean money.
- Earth hour pledges are ‘symbolic’
- Pledge does not always mean money.
- Earth hour pledges are ‘symbolic’
Remember SMART
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Realistic
T - Timely
- this is still not a goal - even though you can measure it
- what does it do for you
- stat alone has no context
- even if you sell ads on your site, more visitors means nothing - MORE clicks on ads - that’s a goal
- Any call to action can be a goal
- Goal set up in GA
- 3 types
- URL Destination most reliable
- Time on Site has issues because the last page visited is not used in calculations
- Pages/Visit - are users browsing?
- Once you start tracking a goal, you can set a benchmark
- measure against in the future
- Improve - everything you do should be focused on achieving those goals
- this includes cultivating people over time
- use eCommerce tracking to help calculate time to conversion
- segmenting to identify valuable traffic
- Focus resources - should you spend time producing content that doesn’t get seen OR contribute to the goals?
- University of Alberta Happy Holidays site
- Simple site with simple goals
- send cards
- donate money
- collect updated information on Alumni and Donors
- University of Alberta Happy Holidays site
- Simple site with simple goals
- send cards
- donate money
- collect updated information on Alumni and Donors
- University of Alberta Happy Holidays site
- Simple site with simple goals
- send cards
- donate money
- collect updated information on Alumni and Donors
- University of Alberta Happy Holidays site
- Simple site with simple goals
- send cards
- donate money
- collect updated information on Alumni and Donors
- University of Alberta Happy Holidays site
- Simple site with simple goals
- send cards
- donate money
- collect updated information on Alumni and Donors
- Using GA, we can easily see how the site is performing
- Donation goals are tracked through another site
- How does this translate to your Analytics package
- GA has a tab that shows you how different dimensions are performing related to the goal.
- This is our traffic sources view
- Overall visits and goal conversions
- then a breakdown of how each source performed
- we used campaign parameters for all links to get more in depth detail
- the other part of this project was multiple images
- images were either rotated or select for the uofa homepage
- which images worked best?
- the other part of this project was multiple images
- images were either rotated or select for the uofa homepage
- which images worked best?
- the other part of this project was multiple images
- images were either rotated or select for the uofa homepage
- which images worked best?
- the other part of this project was multiple images
- images were either rotated or select for the uofa homepage
- which images worked best?
- the other part of this project was multiple images
- images were either rotated or select for the uofa homepage
- which images worked best?
- We also looked at whether clicking the image or the button worked better
- the buttons took users deeper into the process - didn’t have to select an image
8 different images
Conversion rates ranged from 32% to 40%
- this is where you can also use Google Website Optimizer to test combinations
- Simple A/B testing or multivariate testing
- A/B done at the page level
- Multivariate is at the content level. Can test 1 section or multiple sections of the page to see how different combinations work
- Department of Public Health Sciences
- Goal: collect preliminary applications to screen potential graduate students
- 9 or 10 step application depending on the program
- URL destination goal in GA
- Funnels
- What is wrong with your process?
- See where people exit the funnel - look for usability issues or problems with information about the process
- here, users have to enter names of Research and people in the Faculty
- you can also use funnels to see where people might enter the process - IF there are not required first steps - ie: multiple pages that lead to the same goal completion
- Funnels
- What is wrong with your process?
- See where people exit the funnel - look for usability issues or problems with information about the process
- here, users have to enter names of Research and people in the Faculty
- you can also use funnels to see where people might enter the process - IF there are not required first steps - ie: multiple pages that lead to the same goal completion
- Focusing resources
- Department of Public Health Sciences homepage
- These are news articles they borrow from another source or write themselves
- Do they contribute to the goals that have been defined?
- Use an advance segment to compare
- blue: all visits
- green: news visits
- 4.2% of all visits see news
- also notice the higher bounce rate!
- view your goal conversion with segment on
- 2 visits = 1.5%
- compare to those that visited the Graduate programs section of the site
- 75%
- What else do you need to look for?
- Where is your traffic coming from?
know the search terms that are leading people to your site
are these the terms you want to people to use?
if yes, then look at your bounce rate
are they getting what they expect?
are they being led towards the end goal
know the search terms that are leading people to your site
are these the terms you want to people to use?
if yes, then look at your bounce rate
are they getting what they expect?
are they being led towards the end goal
- drill down and find out what page they are landing on
- check the page
- improve or delete?
Landing pages
- what pages do people enter your site through?
- not much as a default
- BUT, add a filter
- Show top landing pages with a Bounce rate over 50%
Landing pages
- what pages do people enter your site through?
- not much as a default
- BUT, add a filter
- Show top landing pages with a Bounce rate over 50%
Landing pages
- what pages do people enter your site through?
- not much as a default
- BUT, add a filter
- Show top landing pages with a Bounce rate over 50%
