We often get asked to identify the most essential digital things that business owners should be doing. There are many things that can bolster business growth and boost sales. However, the starting point should always be to get to know the customer.
By understanding your audience’s behavior, it will be possible for you to create strategies and practices that create a stronger connection while making the purchase of your product or service easier.
It is relatively easy to know what your audience looks like if you operate a brick and mortar business, but the task becomes more complex once you step into the digital space. How do you know who is the customer behind the screen?
With this in mind, tech companies have developed measurement tools that are used to gauge what works online and what doesn’t. Within this context, one of the most popular data analysis platforms is Google Analytics.
To understand how users engaging with content, Google’s solution looks at the way in which people interact with sites and apps and the role that different channels play in your business strategy and performance.
One of the principles that we live by here at Webbiz is equipping our clients with the knowledge to configure the platform for their business needs. Collecting data is obviously very important. However, the data on its own will not be very effective if you don’t know how to use it.
That’s why our Performance Team has put together a step-by-step guide to help you use your website data effectively. Read on to see how you too can start crunching those numbers in no time.
What Is Your Business’ Objective?
Why do businesses need to have websites? The most common response is usually something along the lines of “To be on the internet”. However, this only fulfills half of the digital presence objective. It is fundamental to have a clear direction for your business project.
Let’s consider a digital store. The store’s main digital objective is to sell as much as possible and to be profitable. Therefore, profit is this company’s Macro Goal or the business’ overarching aim. This is the goal or definition that will guide all the other steps and strategies.
The scenario for the service provider would be different. In this case, the business’s primary online objective would most likely be that of generating leads that will be tackled by the sales or customer relations team. Just like the online store, the service provider is also seeking to sell something. However, the Macro Goal here is to create leads and not that of moving physical products.
Define the Strategy
Once you have a clear understanding of your Business Objective, the next logical step is to define the strategy that will facilitate the completion of the Macro Goal. As was the case with the first step, there is a plethora of strategies that can be used to grow your business online and it is a matter of what works best for your company.
During this phase, the single most important differentiator is the budget that you have at your disposal. Brands with a digital advertising strategy will focus on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and many others to run direct advertising pieces that lure in new leads and potential customers. On the other side of the spectrum, companies can decide to run a 100% organic strategy that focuses on SEO and Social Media Marketing metrics.
With the right tools on hand, the day-to-day action points will be concentrated around two basic metrics: accuracy and measurement. Google Analytics can help by providing valuable data on performance KPIs such as site content, engagement, and more technical points such as loading page time and bounce rate that could be taken as important metrics for website improvements. With this information, it is easier to take an accurate decision that puts your company on the correct route and improves returns.
KPIs
Key Performance Indicators are the main factors that guide the analysis and highlight clearly what is performing well and what has to be improved on your website and in your digital strategy. Let’s go back to the online store example to illustrate this point better.
The main KPI for an online business will be the completion of its main goal and business objective; whether it’s a purchase, lead, download, installation, et cetera. All measurable actions can be considered as a KPI since the context and the performance is aligned with the business purpose.
With Analytics, you can see precisely which pages on your website are performing best and test different ways in which to approach your audience or check which referral sources track more goal completions on your platform.
Tactics
Once campaigns are live, and KPIs are defined; a business owner needs to execute tactics in order to complete the journey towards better measurement and results. As with the other phases of an analytic strategy, there are many ways this can go. To decide which tactic is the most suitable for your website, you need to analyze your performance.
Google Analytics can be a helpful tool in this regard since it shows which keywords are bringing more conversions than others, and specific geolocation shows more interest and adherence to your type of offer.
By analyzing your website performance, you can learn which devices are more commonly used to access your pages. If your business has a much higher rate of conversion on mobile then desktop, then you may need to boost your efforts towards that type of screen and on mobile ads, for instance. This level of optimization can only be achieved with data analytics and could have a massive impact on your business.
With a clear plan and consistent execution, Google Analytics can give your business a solid base for decision-making. By tracking your goals closely, your efforts can be easily measured, and this can be used to make your product better.
Do you want to know more about data analysis and how it can help your business? Then contact us today for business consultation and a bespoke web analytics strategy.