Google Analytics offers e-commerce startups a great way to increase conversions and grow revenue by seeing where a site or mobile app could use improvements. It’s a great tool — if you’re not already using it, you should be.
Although most entrepreneurs know the basics, there are a whole host of lesser-known Google Analytics tips that startups could be using to improve their business. Here are 11 of them:
Create Custom Audience Segments
Put your target audience analysis and personas to good use by creating customer audience segments in Google Analytics. You can apply these to overall traffic or individual pieces of content and compare results between different segments. This will enable you to gain consumer insights that are more specific than aggregate results, which will inform further testing and conversion optimization.
– Lauren Perkins, Perks Consulting
Use Funnel Conversion Tools
Know how your customers navigate the site and where they drop off. By distinguishing these patterns in the user flow, you can take the next step to improve through traffic and increase revenue. Use territories to understand customer conversion, and pay attention to their adoption rate and the devices they use. This will allow you to test early and often through a series of optimized a/b tests.
– George Bousis, Raise Marketplace Inc.
Test Your Tester
Most people drop in Google Analytics code and just instantly assume it’s working perfectly. But while it claims to be a self-serve system, it’s best to spend the money to have a specialist come in and set up your funnel visualization, test it from all angles and give you a detailed overview to make sure it’s all working exactly the way it should. Flawed data is more dangerous than no data.
– Travis Steffen, Cyber Superpowers
Use Trackbacks to Find Your Fans
Many people don’t know about the trackback page in the social section of analytics. Trackbacks gives you a clear, easy list of everyone who has linked back to you. An e-commerce startup should use this page to find and reward their early fans with coupon codes or special recognition.
– Laura Roeder, LKR Social Media
Implement Offline Conversion Tracking
The problem with Google Analytics as a standalone product is that you can’t capture conversion or sales data that occur over the phone. And if you’re not capturing all conversions, you’re left with flawed data. Look into a call tracking platform, like Mongoose Metrics, that feeds directly into your analytics so you know what channels and keywords drive the most sales.
– Mark Krassner, Knee Walker Central
Take Advantage of Site Speed
Take advantage of the Site Speed feature. If all of your pages aren’t loading quickly, you could be missing out on sales opportunities.
– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
Use Popcorn Metrics
Use Popcorn Metrics to set up your goals quicker and easier. Rather than worry about code, Popcorn Metrics allows you to go through the user flow yourself to tag the site. It’s a major time and headache saver to say the least.
– Logan Lenz, Endagon
Set Up Conversion Goals
Be sure to set up Google Analytics goals for conversion tracking. This may not be a lesser-known tip, but it’s surprisingly underutilized. Setting up goals will let you know that users are taking the actions you want them to take when they come to your website.
– Phil Laboon, Eyeflow Internet Marketing
Compare User Flow for New Versus Returning Visitors
Looking at the User Flow of your site gives you a great idea of which pages are over performing and which are under performing. This information can help you design a better site flow and tell you which content needs to be improved. I find the amount of time spent on each page and the individual drop-off rates to be most telling, especially when comparing behaviors of new versus repeat visitors.
– Brittany Hodak, ZinePak
Use the URL Builder
The Google URL builder allows you to add custom campaign parameters to URLs. It’s simple to use and helps immensely with tracking events from sources such as email newsletters, social media posts, and guest posts.
– Josh Weiss, Bluegala
Set Goals From the Beginning
Stay focused on the outcome. We’ve lost time and money by not coming up with goals before going inside Google Analytics. If you spend about four hours setting up goals, you’re going to discover a lot more about how you approach your business.
– Rob Fulton, Matikis
What are your favorite Google Analytics tips?
Featured Image: Pressmaster via Shutterstock
