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Why do I need analytics? I already know everything!
Out of 10 clients who come to us for development, only 5 understand why analytics is needed. They themselves ask to add it and actively use it in their work. Another 2 take us at our word, but don’t fully understand what to do with the reports they receive. The remaining 3 believe that a cool idea and a beautiful website are enough for success... Well, let's figure out why this is stupid.
I will try to briefly talk about 5 tools that you MUST use in your work if you want to know everything about your clients and manage their behavior. Well, of course, you also want money.
Analytics tools. This is the base!
Google Tag Manager
With its help, you can add tools for analyzing visits to your website without getting into the code.
Track almost any event and analyze user behavior:
Clicks on links
Button clicks
Submitting forms
Conversions
Abandoned cart
Adding items to cart
Removing items from the cart
Uploading files
Scroll behavior
Video views
Call to action (CTA) effectiveness
Table of Contents Clicks (TOC)
Custom Events
Pros
First, tag manager do not require much technical knowledge to implement. Secondly, it's free. What else?
Allows you to manage all tags and codes on the site in one place
Provides improved analytics
Allows you to quickly respond to changes
Cons
If you corrupt the GTM container code, all integrations associated with it will stop working
Not all services have integration
There is a risk of duplicating Metrics or Analytics counters, because you can install one version of the counter in the GTM container, and the second in the site code
It is important to understand that Google Tag Manager is a tag management system only. There are no analytics or reports in Tag Manager!
In simple words, GTM is a box where you put different pieces of code from third-party services so that they work on your site when you need it. So you don’t need to bother your developers or wait for them for several weeks to add anything.
We use Google Analytics for analytics, conversion tracking and reporting.
Google Analytics 4
This is a tool that helps analyze user interaction with the site. He answers the following questions:
Where do visitors come from?
What pages are they viewing?
How much time do they spend on the site?
Why do you need this information? So you don’t have to guess why people don’t like your site and don’t waste your marketing budgets.
GA4 Reporting
What can you track on the platform?
1
Traffic and sources: You will learn where your visitors are coming from (search engines, social networks, advertising campaigns) and what traffic brings the greatest conversion to sales.
Traffic Sources in Google Analytics
2
Visitor Behavior: Analyze what pages your users visit, how much time they spend on the site, and how they interact with content.
Website traffic data
3
Conversions: Track goals such as purchases, signups, or subscriptions and see which actions lead to achieving your goals.
A report showing the number and type of events that occur on the site. For example, form filling, cart browsing, file downloading, etc.
4
Demographic information: Gender, age and location of visitors will help you better understand your audience and make truly relevant offers to them.
A report showing the age and demographics of visitors
5
Devices and Browsers: Find out what devices and browsers your visitors are using and optimize your site for different platforms.
6
Loading Speed: Analyze page loading times and improve user experience.
7
Bounces: Find out which pages visitors are most likely to leave without interacting.
8
E-Commerce: For online stores, Google Analytics provides detailed data on sales, revenue, products, and carts.
Report on sales and cash transactions
9
Events and funnels: Track user actions on the site and optimize the path to conversion.
Visualization of user steps. This example shows that out of 150 users who started checkout, only 41 successfully completed the order
Cons of Google Analytics:
Analysis results may be inaccurate due to ad blockers and user privacy settings
Limited data history (up to 14 months)
Analytics can be challenging for newbies and will take time to master.
The collection of user data requires that the way the data is stored complies with data protection legislation. Simply put, the site must have a Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions
As an example...
Client: Restaurant serving Japanese and Pan-Asian cuisine
Goal: Increase the number of online orders and increase restaurant traffic offline.
Step 1: First, we installed and configured Google Analytics on the site.
Step 2: Using Google Analytics, we began to analyze where the traffic was coming from and which pages were the most visited. We found out that most visitors come from regional search queries and go to the menu page.
Step 3: Based on Google Analytics data, we optimized the menu page. Made it more informative and attractive. Started publishing regular updates about special offers and events on the site.
Step 4: Set up goals in Google Analytics to track table booking conversions. This allowed us to measure the effectiveness of our efforts and optimize our strategy.
Result: We increased the number of online restaurant reservations by 40% in six months. We also saw an increase in website traffic and retention of visitors on the menu page.
Amplitude
This is a tool for analyzing user behavior inside mobile applications. You can track every user action, every step and transition between application screens.
Amplitude allows businesses to better understand user needs and preferences. Thanks to this, they can improve the user experience (for example, making the ordering and payment process easier) and increase their profits. Equally important, Amplitude provides companies with the ability to quickly respond to changes in the market and develop more precise operating strategies.
Pros:
There is user segmentation. You can create custom groups based on various parameters: activity, geography, etc. This allows you to customize marketing campaigns and strategies based on the needs of different audience segments.
App visits by device type
Amplitude also helps with conversion monitoring and sales funnel optimization. Knowing at what stage users most often fall off, it is easier to take the right measures.
Application registration funnel. This example shows that out of 99 thousand users who opened the application, 4 thousand were successfully authorized
User path visualization tool
User path visualization tool
The service allows you to conduct various experiments and A/B testing to determine which changes in application design and functionality are more effective.
Results of A/B-testing of the application
Amplitude is also easy to integrate with other tools and platforms.
Cons:
It takes time to master the interface and understand all the possibilities
Integration with other tools and systems requires significant effort and time
The free version of Amplitude limits the amount of data you can analyze
The quality of Amplitude's analysis depends on the quality and accuracy of the data collected from apps and websites. If the data is incorrect, it can skew the results of the analysis
As an example...
Client: Mobile application of the health and fitness category. It contains workouts, recipes and tips for improving your lifestyle.
Goal: Increase conversion and user retention.
Step 1: We integrated Amplitude into the mobile application and began collecting data on user actions and their interaction with the application’s functions.
Step 2: Analyzed user behavior. We found out that most fall off at the stage of choosing training. This became our main task.
Step 3: Revised the application interface and offered a more personalized approach. We began recommending workouts based on each user's interests and physical activity level.
Step 4: Using A/B testing, Amplitude conducted several experiments with different interface options. We tracked which changes led to an increase in conversions.
Result: Increased conversion at the training selection stage by 30%.
Still not sure you need Amplitude? Take a look at the numbers.
According to a McKinsey report, organizations that actively use data analytics are 23 times more likely to outperform competitors in customer satisfaction and 19 times more likely to be profitable.
Additionally, Amplitude helps increase conversions. According to Econsultancy research, 74% of organizations that actively use analytics to optimize conversions see growth in this area. For example, Dropbox was able to increase conversions by 10% after implementing analytics.
Draw your own conclusion.
Google Search Console
This is a free web service from Google. It provides information on how a site is perceived by the Google search engine. Using Google Search Console, you can track site indexing, correct errors, optimize content, and monitor search performance.
Pros:
The Webmaster Panel clearly shows: the number of clicks, impressions, number of clicks and average position.
Performance Report. Shows how the site performs in search engine rankings
Among the data provided by Search Console is information about how many pages were indexed, which queries resulted in clicks, and what errors were found on the site. You need to track this to understand that search engines have noticed your site.
A tool to crawl pages that are not indexed or cannot be served in Google
You can improve your site's visibility in search results and increase organic traffic
Search Console helps you identify indexing issues and errors on your site, which improves your user experience
Cons:
Among the weaknesses of Google Search Console is that it only provides basic traffic information, but does not provide information about the conversions and profitability of your site, which is an important aspect for businesses.
How do we use Google Search Console?
We analyze how visitors search for content related to our activities, and then write articles on these topics. For example, we recently noticed a trend towards developing personal accounts in b2b.
And we wrote an article How to develop a convenient personal account for B2B for potential clients.
Now this article brings not only traffic, but also direct leads.
SE Ranking
SE Ranking is another tool for optimizing and monitoring websites.
SE Ranking provides more tools, while Google Search Console focuses solely on analyzing and optimizing impressions in Google search results.
Pros:
Allows you to track the position of your website in search results and analyze the effectiveness of your SEO strategy
Allows you to study the actions of competitors, identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to develop more effective own marketing strategies
Tools for competitor research
Conducts a detailed analysis of a web resource, identifying technical errors, problems with content and other aspects that may affect ranking in search results.
Comprehensive technical site audit tool
Helps you select the most relevant keywords to optimize your content
Allows you to track the quality and quantity of external links, which is important for increasing the authority of the site
Provides detailed reports on SEO optimization results
Allows you to track activity on social networks, analyze audience reactions and monitor competitors in social media
By optimizing content and monitoring key SEO metrics, SE Ranking users report an average 30% increase in organic traffic
One of the weaker aspects of SE Ranking is the limitations of the free version in terms of functionality and the number of keywords and pages tracked.
It's also worth noting that some features may require technical skills to configure and optimize. The tool's interface, although intuitive, can be a little confusing.
Instead of conclusion
We looked at only basic tools. In future articles we will look at more advanced web analytics tools: Segment, Mixpanel, Hotjar and Intercom. With their help, you can collect and analyze user data at a more advanced level. So stay tuned as they say. And don’t forget to click likes, bells and add us to your favorites (yes, this is how we prepare to conquer YouTube :)
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