What’s New with Google Analytics?
Third-time presenter and BU’s Google Analytics Instructor Jay Murphy shared his tips on how to use Google’s recently overhauled Google Analytics. Here are the highlights of the presentation.
Why Use Google Analytics?
- With information about your visitors you can better decide:
- How to improve your website
- How to spend time and money of specific topics and marketing
- Ways to reach your audience-how to reach new audiences
- Google analytics helps you understand where you should spend your money. Should it be spent on new banner ads, new social media campaigns, new marketing etc.
New Features of Google Analytics
Timeout settings
Timeouts have always been configurable – but it previously had to be done in code. Now it can be configured in the admin. panel.
Why do this?
You need to make session timeouts make sense for your website. The standard timeout rate is 30 minutes but what if people watch videos on your website for more than 30 minutes? Set the session timeout to max video length.
Referral Exclusions
How to remove those pesky referrals from your own websites? Like with the timeout setting this used to be done with code on each of the websites- but can now be done in admin panel as well.
- Go to web property and click on referral exclusion list
- Just type in the exclusion and it will show there when you hit create
- From that point forward it will eliminate all the traffic from that referral site
Demographic Reports
Demographic reports is another new feature that includes data on:
- Age
- Gender
- Affinity groups – for example: movie lovers, travel buffs
- In market segments – people investigating specific products
Remarketing Lists
Once “ Display features” are active on accounts remarketing lists are availableThese groups of users that can be targeted in current or future campaigns.
Examples
- Market home loans directly to people looking at real estate
- Travel information to people who visit travel sites.
Custom Dimensions
A very powerful feature for helping to better undertstand users and groups of users
- You define the dimension name
- Scope defines data associations
- “Hits” good for tracking a onetime activity
- A video play or form submission
- A session to track a visit or login
- ‘User’ scope is useful to track across sessions
User ID: AKA Session Unification
- This feature will allow tracking across multiple devices
- It only works for users who authenticate to your website or application
- Examples: Game users, club members, students, blog authors, employees
When people login you’ll send a user ID (can’t use email or soc. number or customer number – can’t be tied back to individual) once in place can track by different devices.
Enhanced eCommerce
In addition to tracking purchase transactions – enhanced eCommerce tracks:
- Product impressions
- Refunds by transaction and item
- Affiliate performance
- Internal promotion performance
Want to Learn More?
Cardinal Path is offering three days of Analytics Courses in September– Google Analytics – 101, 201, and 301 on Sept. 10th to Sept. 12th.
Here’s what Newport Interactive Marketers were saying on Twitter:
@IYRSedu: Excited to host #NIMRI on the topic of #Google #Analytics at our #Newport campus. Welcome to #IYRS! pic.twitter.com/6ZopVif8hs
@sue_DesignEditor: Thanks to @bridgeliquors and @IYRSedu for hosting tonight’s full-house #NIMRI with @Trionia pic.twitter.com/Xef64V1SuU
@franciscosamuel #NIMRI you can use google analytics in devices to record just about anything … Limited only by your imagination
@MiaLupo:Google processes the information and stores it as Dimensions and Metrics- Jay Murphy #NIMRI pic.twitter.com/AcDCfUOp1v
@ShopALLIES: Add referral exclusions to your site! #NIMRI
@MiaLupo:You might be a creeper, but you’re being smart about how to draw in potential customers #ItsFine#NIMRI#googleanalytics
@NewportInteract: yikes! In the future you’re stop n shop card could send data to Google Analytics ~ @Trionia #NIMRI
@sue_DesignEditor:Be sure to link your Google Analytics to AdWords @Trionia #NIMRI
Meet Jay Murphy
Jay Murphy works with large and mid-sized organizations to successfully convert business imperatives to effective marketing results by delivering analytics, website development, social media strategy, search engine marketing, search engine optimization and display advertising all optimized with measurable results. He has worked with organization including GE, Harvard University and Janus Mutual Funds.
Jay previously worked at Sapient Corporation as a director of program management and led projects in a variety of industries including higher education, financial services and energy. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Northeastern University and a M.S. in Electric Engineering from Tufts University. He was awarded a Draper Fellowship to attend Tufts University and took doctoral level course work at MIT in Aerospace Engineering.
As a project leader on any web-based initiative, Jay brings an understanding of every technical nuance with an understanding of web-based marketing you just don’t find every day.
When he is not tweaking a web site – Jay can be found cheering on his sons at baseball games or racing his sailboat.
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