Google Analytics takes it to the next level
Google has just taken analytics to the next level, with the launch of powerful new segmentation and custom reporting tools.
The free web analytics solution is now more attractive than ever, giving users the ability to conduct extremely detailed analysis to extract a better return on their online investment.
Advanced segmentation
Segmentation of data is one of the fastest and most effective ways to gain real insights into the efficacy of your marketing programs. As I’ve said before, segmentation takes the noise out of web analytics data, breaking it down into meaningful chunks that you can analyse more effectively.
In the past, however, the best segmentation tools on offer were through high end solutions.
The good news is that the power of segmentation has just been brought to the masses, with advanced segmentation tools now available to Google Analytics users.
There are nine default segments that will come in handy to most people who use the analytics tool. These segments can be applied to any report you want, and include:
- All visits
- New visitors
- Returning visitors
- Paid traffic
- Non-paid traffic
- Search traffic
- Direct traffic
- Referral traffic
- Visits with conversions
But the real power lies in the ability to create custom segments. This means that you can isolate a certain behaviour, examine it carefully and see whether your marketing campaign worked for that group.
For example, you might want to isolate:
- All visitors who came from a specific email campaign AND purchased at least one product
- All visitors from Sydney who completed a goal
- All visitors who started a transaction, but dropped out (and where).
Once you have defined your custom segments, you can then compare the performance of that segment with the rest of the site using the reporting tools.
Or you might want to compare the performance of one segment to that of another. For example, you could view the bounce rate for a page, and then split it into the bounce rate for visitors who came from search and direct traffic.
Custom reporting
Until now, users of Google Analytics have had to content themselves with using the standard reports on offer (e.g. visitors, traffic sources and so on).
With the new “Custom Reports” tool, you can define your own criteria and create your own report. For example, you may want to create a report showing e-commerce information by geographies. Here’s how it’s done:
- Create a custom report with the following metrics:
- Visits
- Unique purchases
- Revenue
- Per visit value
- Average value
- In the dimensions, add “city” at the top level. If you have customers from around the world, you may like to define “country” as the top level, and add city as the second dimension. If you do this, the report will initially show visits by country, and you can then select a country to see data segmented by city.
- Then you can compare cities according to the metrics you defined - so you can see, for example, the average value of a visitor from Sydney to that of one from Melbourne.
More information at your fingertips
Once you have your segments and custom reports created, you can then access deeper insights by combining the two. Want to see which city is of greater value, as well as where your visitors are coming from in that city? Not a problem. In terms of segmentation, you’re only limited by the data sets you have to work with.
Setting these reports and segments up doesn’t take long at all. Once they’re up and running, you can begin to make more finely tuned marketing decisions, and better target your offering to particular groups of customers.
Bienalto can provide Google Analytics setup and configuration services. Read more about how we can assist you in implementation and optimisation.
Further reading
You can learn more about the value of segmentation in some previous posts:
Web Data Segmentation - a pre-requisite for gaining actionable insights
Understanding your website’s users
Informing information architecture with quantitative insights