For a business to succeed, having a strong online presence is vital. Equally important is to deliver exceptional performance.
But how can a business understand the path and preferences of its users? How businesses can identify specific things about online traffic and make adequate correlations if they don’t know how to filter the data?
This is possible by understanding Google Analytics!
It can be quite tricky and difficult to understand Google Analytics, but Google Analytics Insights can offer you an everyday solution.
The best part about Google Analytics Insights is it offers a personalized list of marketing tricks and tips on the basis of activities of your business. It utilizes machine learning algorithms called Analytics Intelligence that makes it convenient for businesses to identify what is imperative among the bulk volume of data and then undertake meaningful action.
The finest aspect of Google Analytics Insights is that it lets you ask relevant questions and move in suitable directions.
You now know what Google Analytics can serve you with. But this is not it, there is more to this.
Hence, read this post to know about Google Analytics Insights!
Basic Features of Google Analytics Insights
There are some basic features in Google Analytics, which are useful in segmentation and offering Google Analytics insights from the data.
1. Table Filters:
Table Filters is a basic feature of Google Analytics Insights, which is an excellent way to segment and filter the data.
This feature offers two options:
- Advanced table filters – It segments one or multiple secondary and primary dimensions comprising metric conditions.
- Basic Table Filters – It segments the primary dimensions.
In the search field, you can enter the Landing Page query, which is a step in segmenting the data. But to avail the best results, you must work with the option of Advanced Search. It also includes secondary dimensions or metrics as part of the filter.
2. Comparison of Data Range:
Segmenting the time period or date range can offer lots of insights. It helps businesses know how a particular channel performs in comparison to last month.
This is a handy feature that allows you to compare data on a monthly basis.
3. Primary Dimensions:
Dimensions and metrics are important elements in building reports as well as assessing data in Google Analytics.
This feature allows a basic segment analysis of the data. It transforms referral traffic responsible for sessions, users, and revenue.
4. Plot Rows:
Another feature of Google Analytics Insights is plot rows, which is useful to visually and quickly analyze few dimension values. This feature is useful when conducting client workshops.
The good thing is that you can select values of six dimensions at most and overall metrics can be removed. For this reason, only bigger dimension values are included.
5. Tertiary Dimensions:
Without preparing a custom report, it is not possible to gain insights about tertiary dimensions.
You may first navigate to the Default Channel Grouping report. Next, you may select organic search and alter keywords as primary dimensions to source. Then, click on Google and select the landing page as a secondary dimension.
In this situation, the secondary dimension gets converted into a tertiary dimension.
6. Secondary Dimensions:
It is possible to drill the available data using secondary dimensions. Here, you need to select complete referrer as a secondary dimension and referral in the field of basic search filter.
A few important things to remember are:
- There are just a few websites, which drive referral conversions.
- Referral conversions are entirely related to Google or internal employee purchases
- Such conversions do not occur by incoming links from authority websites however, they correlate the internal links.
- Finally, there are some configuration and implementation tweaks required.
7. Custom Dimensions:
With custom dimensions, you can add additional and useful information to hit, user, product, and session data, which is sent to Google Analytics.
This feature enables endless data optimization and segmentation opportunities. It is the easiest part of availing custom dimensions, which may work for you.
Having rich understanding of technical implementations is useful.
8. Quaternary Dimensions:
This dimension enables in-depth segmented analysis on the Organic search performance. Though you can do it with custom reports and Google Analytics API, it comes with a flexible reporting interface. This way, it is possible to unleash actionable insights for the business easily.
What are Google Analytics Segments?
The Google Analytics segments are an in-built feature, which is the most powerful tool to segment data.
There are four different kinds of Google Analytics segments:
1. System Segments:
With this segment, it is possible to create a start to know about the segments feature. It is possible to apply such segments to all reports within Google Analytics.
It is possible to establish Custom Funnel report and apply for segments. Moreover, you can leverage enhanced e-commerce for reporting segmented funnel.
2. Sequential Segments:
The other kind of Google Analytics segment is sequential segment. It is useful because of various reasons:
- Test funnel steps
- Enhances remarking efforts
- Analyzes checkout abandonment
- Establish exclude segments
- Identifies pogo-sticking behavior
3. Cohort Segments:
Using Google Analytics, you can create a Cohort Analysis report and conduct a cohort analysis.
Secondly, it lets you build a segment directly from the report created. This segment uses advanced conditions as well as the date of the first session. Once you gain experience in cohort analysis, you can develop a cohort segment easily.
4. Advanced and Flexible Segments:
On the basis of unique and informational needs of your business, you can build advanced segments based on numerous different criteria.
This is an excellent option that lets you start with system segments. Just remember, it is a highly powerful feature of Google Analytics. The segments allow you to gather great insights on optimization opportunities and user behavior.
Google Analytics Custom Reports:
Finally, a rich way to segment data and avail Google Analytics Insights is by creating custom reports. You can build three distinct reports, but you have an additional option of GA 360.
Here check the different kinds of custom report options.
1. Explorer:
It is the basic explorer report that includes data table and line graph used in the Google Analytics report.
Moreover, custom reports allow you to add table filters or secondary dimensions to offer a segmented view of the data.
2. Flat Table:
This is another form of a custom report, which can be created easily using Google Analytics. It is useful in creating a segmented overview of multiple dimensions.
It lets you add five dimensions at one point in time. But the report can be quite clumsy.
Hence, it is best to add an adequate number of dimensions. The Google Data Studio is a wonderful option to visualize segmented data for key stakeholders or yourself.
3. Map Overlay:
This kind of report is great to create a fast visual and location-based overview of vital web analytics metrics.
Such reports let you see Google Merchandise store sessions and e-commerce performance.
4. Custom Funnel:
Custom funnels are available only in GA 360. However, they are extremely powerful and let you build as well as segment funnels easily.
Once segmented, you can apply it retroactively on the data.
Also, you can create event-based funnels that are not possible with goals featuring in Google Analytics.
This is a highly powerful report and can offer you rich details about Google Analytics Insights. You can know about underperforming segments, vital website flows on the site and lends you an opportunity for well-targeted remarketing campaigns.
Google Analytics Add-Ons:
Finally, there are a few add-ons in Google Analytics, which are extremely helpful. The best among them are mentioned below:
1. Da Vinci Tools:
This is an excellent add-on introduced by Stephane Hamel. It is a highly useful tool when using Google Tag Manager, Google Data Studio and Google Analytics.
It has multiple features that are of great help with segmentation, but it comes with more of them which are available with regular updates.
2. Vizanda:
Vizanda is a new feature that can help you efficiently demystify the sessions as higher or lower compared to the past periods.
Now, you know a lot about Google Analytics Insights. So, here check some benefits of using Google Analytics Insights.
Why Businesses Must Use Google Analytics Insights?
1. Let You Know the Yearly Growth of Average Order Value:
Average Order Value is an important metric for e-commerce websites. It must be tracked on a regular basis and measures the total average of transactions made by the customer every time an order is placed on website, within a specific time duration.
It is calculated by measuring the sales per order. There are chances that one customer buys an order multiple times, however, each order is counted separately.
It’s great if your AOV is high. However, if AOV has dropped, you can follow a few tips to increase it:
- Provide additional products
- Provide free shipping
- Provide limited free shipping for a particular order value
- Provide coupons
- Begin a loyalty program
2. Know About Current Buying Preferences of Users:
The market segment is the best way to know about users who are interesting in making a purchase right now. It does not just reflect the users interested in your products and close to conversion, it also lets you decide ways to remarket and how to promote.
Just click on the Insights and understand buying preferences of the users. By visiting the go-to reports, you can redirect to an audience, interest, and in-market segments.
You can create different segments and it can offer you a convenient way and clear sight of who requires help and who is more active.
3. Using Google Analytics Let Loyal Users Engaged:
It is difficult to achieve loyal customers and once you win over them, you must keep them engaged at a higher rate. You can follow up on such numbers and see the exact number of users.
Moreover, you can compare results with the previous year and if there is any lack of growth, you can check issues and make improvements accordingly.
4. Identify Anomalies Within Your Site:
If you notice any strange thing happening to your website users, you can identify the anomalies in sessions, users, transactions, impressions, and other things. A specific model is used by Google, which is a Bayesian state space-time series model. This model forecasts values, which stand beyond normal trend in time series data.
Check the Google Analytics Insights and identify anomalies in numbers of users. Also, you can ask specific questions.
The two kinds of anomalies in Google Analytics are:
- For websites that reduced sales or metrics that performed poorly
- For websites experiencing a spike
If there are anomalies identified, which direct towards negative performance, you must look at such results as well as time period.
5. Find Suitable Landing Pages with Bad Ecommerce Conversion Rate:
It is difficult to identify finding pages, which don’t offer any commercial benefits. Google Analytics Insights offer information on the same. For websites used on analysis, we gain some recommendation on what has to be improved and what pages have a poor landing in terms of e-commerce conversion rate.
6. Know about Revenue Trend for Your Services/Products:
Once you are aware of the popularity of specific products and identify what’s accounting for the highest ROI, it will help your business grow.
It is really helpful to track the revenue trend of your products. It helps in understanding what products are working well and whatnot. If you go through Trend of Product Revenue by the Product, you can see changes about preferences of your business services or products.
You can see if there is an increase in revenue, what products have been more effective.
To Sum Up:
Google Analytics Insights is like an online guide, which helps you identify missing opportunities, lacks in performance and anomalies. Moreover, it offers you straight answers and recommendations to your queries with direct reference to the graphs and reports.
Checking the custom reports offer you a chance to improve the Google Analytics data, perform conversion rate optimization, and boost sales. The best thing is that using Google Analytics Insights is very easy. You can check specific dimensions and metrics and with the help of Google Intelligence, you can get directions to analytics report.
So, if the online business sales funnel is not performing well and you want to create a strong online presence, use Google Analytics Insights now.