The majority of websites use Google Analytics. It’s ubiquitous. But are marketers using it properly? Not really. Many marketers are using it only for reporting, not analysis. Most marketers are using Analytics wrong. In this lesson, we’ll look at specific ways to use Analytics to do real analysis, to answer questions and draw conclusions. 1. Reporting vs. Analysis: How most marketers get Analytics wrong 2. Turning ideas into questions 3. Analytics Insights: WHO is visiting? WHERE are they coming from? WHAT are they doing here? WHICH pieces of content are successful? The truth waiting to be discovered in your Analytics. You just need to know where it’s hiding. Lots of marketers use Analytics. But great marketers use it to answer questions, support decisions and test theories for possible actions. Once you’ve completely this lesson, you’ll have a new mindset for approaching your data and new tools for making the decisions that make the difference in your marketing.

1. Applied Analytics
Questions, Answers and
Actions from 13 Reports
Andy Crestodina
Strategic Director @crestodina

2. source: Social Media Today

3. Traffic x Conversion Rate = $

4. Google Analytics Reporting
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5. Google Analytics Analysis
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6. Google Analytics Analysis
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7. If you see a data puke, then you know you’re
looking at web reporting.
If you see words in English outlining actions,
then you are looking at web data analysis.
Avinash Kaushik
Occam’s Razor

8. @crestodina

9. source: Avinash Kaushik
@crestodina

10. source: Avinash Kaushik
@crestodina

11. @crestodina

12. @crestodina

13. @crestodina

14. @crestodina

15. Who’s job is this
Analytics stuff?

16. @crestodina

17. Turning marketing ideas
into questions

19. AUDIENCE REPORTS

20. Visitor = User
Visit = Session
@crestodina

21. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Are our visitors using
mobile devices?
1

22. Audience > Mobile > Overview
@crestodina

23. @crestodina

24. Audience > Mobile > Overview
@crestodina

25. Audience > Mobile > Overview
@crestodina

26. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Are mobile visitors
less engaged?
2

27. Audience > Mobile > Overview
@crestodina

28. Audience > Mobile > Overview
@crestodina

29. Audience > Mobile > Overview > Bounce Rate
@crestodina

30. Audience > Mobile > Overview > Avg Session Duration
@crestodina

31. Actions
1. Check the design of
landing pages for mobile
visitors
2. Create schedule for
mobile testing
@crestodina

32. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Is the site working well
in every browser?
3

33. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
@crestodina

34. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
@crestodina

35. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
@crestodina

36. Audience > Technology > Browser & OS
@crestodina

37. Actions
1. Test the site on the
browsers with higher
bounce rates.
@crestodina

38. • Are millenials visiting our website?
What are they doing?
• How many of our visitors are local?
National? International?
• What times of day are people reading our blog?
More Q’s to Ask Your Audience Reports
@crestodina

39. ACQUISITION REPORTS

40. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which social network
drives the most traffic?
4

41. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
@crestodina

42. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
@crestodina

43. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

44. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

45. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > SocialAcquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social (% view)
@crestodina

46. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
5
Which social network
drives the best traffic?

47. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

48. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

49. Actions
1. Focus on social networks
with high conversion
rates.
@crestodina

50. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

51. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social
@crestodina

52. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
@crestodina

53. Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
@crestodina

54. Actions
1. Focus on networking
benefits of social media,
not traffic benefits.
2. Resource allocation!
@crestodina

55. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
What phrases are we
ranking for?
6

56. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

57. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

58. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

59. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

60. Acquisition > SEO > Queries
@crestodina

61. Actions
1. Find the pages. Confirm
the rankings.
2. Improve the page by
adding detail, keywords,
video, internal linking, etc.
@crestodina

62. • Which email campaigns pull in the most visits?
• Which pull in visitors who dig deeper?
• Which sites have linked to us recently?
Are they sending us referral visitors?
More Q’s to Ask Your Acquisition Reports
@crestodina

63. Search + Social
One post, optimized for both

64. @crestodina
Content designed
to attract visitors

65. @crestodina
Optimized for Search

66. @crestodina
Optimized for Social

67. How many people are waiting
for your article to go live?
Make sure it’s not zero.

68. BEHAVIOR REPORTS

69. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
What are people looking
for on our site?
7

70. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

71. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

72. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

73. Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms

74. Actions
1. Optimize your own pages
for your own search tool.
2. Publish content on those
topics.
@crestodina

75. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Are they reading what
we’re writing?
8

76. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
@crestodina

77. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
@crestodina

78. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
@crestodina

79. Percent Content Consumption vs. Percent Published
@crestodina

80. Actions
1. Publish more content on
those popular topics.
2. Promote the high value
content better.
3. Reconsider your content
strategy!
@crestodina

81. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which posts are the
most engaging?
9

82. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

83. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

84. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

85. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

86. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

87. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

88. Actions
1. Publish more content on
the popular topics.
2. Do more to promote the
low-traffic, high value
posts.
@crestodina

89. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
What is the top path
through our website?
10

90. Behavior > Behavior Flow
@crestodina

91. Behavior > Behavior Flow
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92. Behavior > Behavior Flow
@crestodina

93. Behavior > Behavior Flow (Explore Traffic through “/”)
@crestodina

94. @crestodina
Behavior > Behavior Flow (Explore Traffic through “/”)

95. Actions
1. Rebalance your navigation
2. Polish up the pages in that
top path
3. Make sure the billboards
are on the highway
(videos, testimonials, etc.)
4. Get rid of your
testimonials page
@crestodina

96. CONVERSION REPORTS

97. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which posts
inspire action?
11

98. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

99. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages (filtered)
@crestodina

100. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages (filtered)
@crestodina

101. Conversions > Goals > Reverse Goal Path
@crestodina

102. Conversions > Goals > Reverse Goal Path
@crestodina

103. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

104. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

105. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

106. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

107. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

108. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

109. Conversions > Goals> Reverse Goal Path > Subscribers
@crestodina

110. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
@crestodina

111. Pageviews Per Blog Post
@crestodina

112. Subscribers Per Blog Post
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113. Conversion Rate Per Blog Post!
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114. Conversion Rate Per Blog Post
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115. @crestodina

117. Actions
1. Drive traffic to these
posts, through social,
email, internal linking, ads,
etc.
2. Publish more content on
these topics.
@crestodina

118. Connect your traffic champions
to your conversion champions!

119. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Which pages support
the lead gen funnel?
12

121. Turning
marketing
ideas into
questions
Where are we losing
people during checkout?
13

122. Conversions > Goals > Funnel Visualization
@crestodina

123. Conversions > Goals > Funnel Visualization
@crestodina

124. @crestodina

125. Actions
1. Reduce number of steps.
2. Remove distractions.
3. Answer top questions
earlier.
@crestodina

126. • What hour of day, day of week or month of year are
visitors most likely to act?
• Are people buying right away?
More Q’s to Ask Your Conversion Reports
@crestodina

127. Data-Driven
Empathy

128. @crestodina

129. @crestodina

130. @crestodina

131. Content marketing is a lot of work...
@crestodina

132. @crestodina

133. Every number in your
Analytics is inaccurate
...but so what?

134. Caution:
Bad Audience Data
@crestodina

135. @crestodina

136. 1. No cookie? No data.
2. JavaScript Disabled? No data
3. Time on page? Or time on tab?
4. Same Device, Different User
5. Same User, Different Device / Browser
This can be a problem...
@crestodina

137. First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty
@crestodina

138. First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty
@crestodina

139. First Touch Deep Dive Purchase Purchase Loyalty
@crestodina

140. Is that you in your Analytics? Create a filter!
@crestodina

141. Is that you in your Analytics? Create a filter!

145. Are those robots in your Analytics? Exclude ‘em!

146. Are those robots in your Analytics? Exclude ‘em!

147. Are those robots in your Analytics? Exclude ‘em!

148. Caution:
Bad Acquisition Data
@crestodina

149. Traffic Sources Aren’t What They Seem
@crestodina

150. @crestodina
Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports

151. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

152. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

153. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

154. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

155. Use URL Tracking Code for “Campaign” Reports
@crestodina

156. Caution:
Bad Behavior Data
@crestodina

157. @crestodina

158. @crestodina

159. @crestodina

160. Admin > Property Settings
@crestodina

161. Caution:
Bad Conversion Data
@crestodina

162. What does success look like? Setup Goals!
@crestodina

163. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

164. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

165. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

166. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

167. Admin > View > Goals
@crestodina

168. URL Problems
@crestodina

169. Conversions > Goals > Funnel Visualization
@crestodina

171. Bottom Line
@crestodina

172. Analytics Shortcuts
& Collaboration Tips
There is no I in GA!

173. Adding Users
Admin > View > User Management
@crestodina

174. @crestodina
Dashboards

175. Dashboards
@crestodina

176. @crestodina
Dashboards

177. Dashboards
@crestodina

178. Dashboards
@crestodina

179. Google Analytics Solutions Gallery
@crestodina

180. Annotations
@crestodina

181. Annotations
@crestodina

182. Annotations
@crestodina

183. Annotations
@crestodina

184. Reasons to Add an Annotation
1. Email campaign
2. Start / change / stop PPC
3. PR hit
4. Change in publishing calendar
5. Website change
6. Analytics setup change
@crestodina

185. Sharing Screenshots
@crestodina

186. Sharing Screenshots (Jing)
@crestodina

187. @crestodina
Sharing Screenshots (Jing)

188. Sample Marketing Meeting Agenda
...integrate Analytics into your process

189. 0:00 – 0:10 Brief updates from teams
These might be individual people or entire departments.
It could be the client and the vendor. It could be the
social media community manager, the PPC partner, the
freelance blogger and the marketing director.
• Any major issues?
• Any victories to celebrate?
• Report on the big picture? Review Dashboards
@crestodina

190. 0:10 – 0:40 Review Current Activities
Take a close look at where your time, effort and budgets
have been focused since the last meeting.
• What are the outcomes of the actions we are taking?
Are they worth the time/cost? Reports and Analysis
• Should we adjust our approach? Need more time?
Continue or discontinue that activity?
• Did everyone complete their action items from the last
meeting? (accountability)
• Does anyone need help? Can anyone support anyone
else’s efforts?
• Are we confident as a team that we’re going in the
right direction?
@crestodina

191. 0:40 – 0:55 Consider New Initiatives
Just knowing that there’s a time and place to bring up
new ideas will keep people from distracting each other
during the week.
• Anyone have any new ideas?
• Is there evidence that this effort will be worth the
time/cost? Reports and Analysis
• Schedule more time to weigh pros/cons and then
decide/delegate?
@crestodina

192. 0:55 – 0:59 Action Items
Expectations for everyone should be crystal clear when
they walk out of the room or hang up the phone.
• Who is going to do what before the next meeting?
@crestodina

193. Thank you!
Andy Crestodina
Strategic Director | @crestodina
bitly.com/contentchem