Google Analytics is a powerful (some would say essential) tool that can help you track and understand the performance of your website so that you can react to trends and stay ahead of the game.

Whether you’re running an eCommerce store or a lead generation website, there are certain key metrics you should be monitoring to get the most out of your analytics data. In this article, we’ll share five tips for mastering Google Analytics and help you set up your tracking for maximum success.

  1. Track your website’s traffic: The first thing you should do is track the number of visitors to your website. This will give you an idea of how many people are coming to your site and where they’re coming from. You can use this information to identify trends and optimize your marketing efforts.
  2. Monitor bounce rate: Your bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your website after only viewing one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that your website is not providing the information or experience that visitors are looking for. To lower your bounce rate, you can optimize your website’s design, improve your content, and make sure your pages load quickly.
  3. Measure conversion rates: Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. To increase your conversion rate, you can test different elements of your website, such as your call-to-action button, to see what works best.
  4. Track eCommerce websites differently: If you’re running an eCommerce website, you’ll need to track different metrics than a regular lead generation site. For example, you’ll want to track your sales and revenue, as well as your average order value and cart abandonment rate. To set up eCommerce tracking, you’ll need to add a few lines of code to your website and link your analytics account to your eCommerce platform.
  5. Get help from Genius eCommerce: Google Analytics can be overwhelming, especially if you’re new to it. At Genius eCommerce we can help you set up your tracking and make sense of your analytics data. Our team of experts can help you identify opportunities for improvement and develop a strategy for driving more traffic and conversions to your website.

Below, we’ll cover everything from setting up your analytics to how to act on the data.

How to Add Google Analytics to Your Shopify or BigCommerce Store: Step-by-Step Instructions

In order to add Google Analytics to your Shopify or BigCommerce store, you will need to follow these simple steps:

Shopify:

  1. Go to your Shopify admin panel and click on “Online Store” and then “Preferences.”
  2. Scroll down to the “Google Analytics” section and enter your Google Analytics tracking code.
  3. Save your changes and Google Analytics will now be tracking your Shopify store.

BigCommerce:

  1. Log in to your BigCommerce admin panel and click on “Store Setup” and then “Store Settings.”
  2. Scroll down to the “Google Analytics” section and enter your Google Analytics tracking code.
  3. Save your changes and Google Analytics will now be tracking your BigCommerce store.

Note that the above instructions are general guidelines and the steps may vary depending on your specific platform. For more detailed instructions, please refer to the Shopify or BigCommerce documentation or contact our experts here at Genius eCommerce for further assistance.

How to Set Up Proper Goals within Analytics

Here’s how you can set up goals in Google Analytics:

  • Log in to your Google Analytics account and navigate to the Admin section.
  • Select the property and view you want to set up goals for.
  • Click on the Goals tab and then click on the “New Goal” button.
  • Select “Custom” as the goal type and give your goal a name.
  • Choose the type of goal you want to track, such as “Destination” for a thank you page after a form submission or “Duration” for a specific amount of time spent on the site.
  • Set the specific conditions for your goal, such as the URL of the thank you page or the duration of time spent on the site.
  • Save your goal and it will start tracking immediately.

It’s also important to note that you can also use enhanced eCommerce tracking to track more specific information about your e-commerce store, such as product views, add to cart, and checkout steps. You can set this up by adding a small piece of code to your website and linking it to your Google Analytics account.

Key Metrics to Track in Google Analytics: Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Website’s Performance

When analyzing your Google Analytics data, there are several key metrics that you should pay attention to in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of your website’s performance. These include:

  • Sessions: This metric measures the number of times a user has interacted with your website within a specific time period. It’s important to track this metric to understand how many people are visiting your site and how often they’re returning.
  • Bounce rate: This metric measures the percentage of visitors who leave your website after only viewing one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that your website is not providing the information or experience that visitors are looking for.
  • Conversion rate: This metric measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. This is important to track to understand how effective your website is at converting visitors into customers or leads.
  • Acquisition: This category of metrics is important to understand where your traffic is coming from, including direct traffic, organic search, and referral traffic.
  • Behavior: This category of metrics will give you a deeper understanding of how visitors interact with your website, including the pages they visit, the time they spend on your site, and the actions they take.
  • eCommerce: If you have an online store, it’s important to track e-commerce metrics such as revenue, transactions, and average order value. These metrics will help you understand how well your store is performing and identify opportunities for improvement.

Keep in mind that, depending on your website and business, other metrics might be more important for you to track. It’s important to regularly check your analytics data and adjust your goals and tracking accordingly.

Tracking eCommerce Sales with Google Analytics

If you’re running an eCommerce store, tracking your sales and revenue is crucial for understanding how well your store is performing and identifying opportunities for improvement. Google Analytics offers a range of features that can help you track key eCommerce metrics, such as transactions, revenue, and average order value.

Here are a few best practices for tracking eCommerce sales with Google Analytics:

  • Set up eCommerce tracking: To track eCommerce data in Google Analytics, you’ll need to add a few lines of code to your website and link your analytics account to your eCommerce platform. This will allow Google Analytics to collect data on transactions, revenue, and other key eCommerce metrics.
  • Monitor transactions and revenue: Once eCommerce tracking is set up, you’ll be able to see how many transactions and how much revenue your store is generating. This information can help you understand how well your store is performing and identify any areas that need improvement.
  • Track average order value: Average order value (AOV) is the average amount of money spent per order on your website. This metric can be a good indicator of how well your store is performing and can help you identify ways to increase revenue.
  • Monitor product performance: Google Analytics allows you to track the performance of individual products on your website. You can see which products are selling well, which ones have high or low conversion rates, and which ones have the highest or lowest average order value. This information can help you understand which products are resonating with your customers and which ones are not, so that you can make informed decisions about what products to stock or discontinue.
  • Use enhanced eCommerce tracking: Enhanced eCommerce tracking is a feature in Google Analytics that allows you to track even more detailed information about your eCommerce store, such as product views, add to cart, and checkout steps. This can give you a much more detailed understanding of how users interact with your store and can help you identify areas for improvement.
  • Set up and track goals: Setting up goals in Google Analytics can help you track specific actions you want your visitors to take on your website, such as making a purchase. This will give you a clearer picture of how well your website is performing and which pages or products are driving the most sales.

As you can see, tracking eCommerce sales with Google Analytics is relatively straightforward to set up and can greatly enhance your online business. The better you are able to keep track of the data, the better you are able to “steer the ship” so to speak. You can’t pivot and make strategic decisions if you don’t know the data. 

By setting up eCommerce tracking, monitoring transactions and revenue, tracking average order value and product performance, using enhanced eCommerce tracking and setting up and tracking goals, you can gain valuable insights into your customers’ behavior and make data-driven decisions to optimize your online store for maximum success.

Tracking Phone Calls for Lead Generation Websites: Maximizing ROI with Call Tracking

For lead generation websites, tracking phone calls is essential for understanding how well your website is performing and identifying opportunities for improvement. Phone calls can be a valuable source of leads and can provide valuable insights into customer behavior. However, tracking phone calls can be challenging, as it’s difficult to attribute a phone call to a specific website visit or form submission. 

Here are a few best practices for tracking phone calls on your lead generation website:

  • Use call tracking software: There are several call tracking software options available that can help you track and attribute phone calls to specific website visits or form submissions. These software options typically work by using unique phone numbers that are dynamically generated and displayed on your website, allowing you to track which phone number was called and when.
  • Set up call tracking on your website: To set up call tracking on your website, you will need to add a small piece of code to your website that will generate and display the unique phone numbers. You will also need to link the software to your website analytics account in order to track and attribute the calls.
  • Monitor and analyze call data: Once call tracking is set up, you can start monitoring and analyzing data on calls, such as the number of calls, call duration, and which pages or forms are driving the most calls. This information can help you understand how well your website is performing and identify opportunities for improvement.
  • Use Call Event Tracking: Google Analytics has a feature called Event Tracking which allows you to track specific actions on your website such as clicks on phone numbers. This can give you a more detailed view of calls and how users are interacting with your website.
  • Optimize for phone calls: Once you’ve set up call tracking and have a better understanding of how users are interacting with your website, you can optimize your website for phone calls by making it easier for users to call you, for example, by using click-to-call buttons, and by making sure your phone number is prominently displayed on your website.

Tracking phone calls is an essential part of understanding how well your lead generation website is performing and identifying opportunities for improvement. 

By using call tracking software, setting up call tracking on your website, monitoring and analyzing call data, using call event tracking, and optimizing your website for phone calls, you can gain valuable insights into customer behavior and maximize the return on investment of your lead generation efforts. It’s important to keep in mind that call tracking is only one aspect of lead generation, you should also track other forms of leads such as form submissions, email sign-ups, and more. 

There are several call tracking companies that can help you track phone calls on your lead generation website. Some popular options include:

  • CallRail: This call tracking software allows you to track and attribute phone calls to specific website visits or form submissions. It also offers features such as call recording, call tagging, and custom reporting.
  • CallTrackingMetrics: This call tracking platform offers dynamic number insertion, call recording, and detailed analytics. It also integrates with popular CRM, marketing automation, and analytics platforms.
  • Invoco: This call tracking software offers dynamic number insertion, call recording, and detailed analytics. It also includes features such as local and international number support, IVR, and call whisper.
  • CallTrace: This call tracking solution offers dynamic number insertion, call recording, and detailed analytics. It also includes features such as call tagging, call routing and call scoring.
  • Marchex: Marchex is a call tracking, analytics and advertising platform that uses AI to identify and analyze calls, and uses the data to optimize campaigns.
  • DialogTech: DialogTech is a call tracking and analytics platform that provides insights into the customer journey and helps you optimize your marketing and sales efforts to drive more conversions and revenue from phone calls.

These are just a few examples of call tracking companies that can help you track phone calls on your lead generation website. Each company offers different features and pricing plans, so it’s important to research and compare options to find the best fit for your business needs.

Comparing Analytics Tools: Google Analytics vs Adobe Analytics vs Piwik vs Mixpanel vs Heap

Google Analytics is one of the most popular and widely used website analytics tools available online. It offers a wide range of features and capabilities for tracking and analyzing website traffic and performance. However, there are several other analytics tools available that can also provide valuable insights into your website’s performance.

One popular alternative to Google Analytics is Adobe Analytics (formerly Omniture), which offers more advanced features for large-scale enterprise websites, such as cross-device tracking, advanced data collection, and integration with other Adobe tools such as Adobe Experience Cloud.

Another alternative is Piwik, an open-source analytics platform, which allows you to have complete control over your data and is useful for those who have privacy concerns.

Mixpanel is another alternative, it offers more advanced features for tracking user behavior, such as funnels and retention analysis.

Finally, Heap is another alternative, it offers an automatic event tracking which means you don’t need to manually tag your website, this platform is great for those who don’t have a developer team.

It ultimately comes down to what your specific needs are and what features are most important to you. Google Analytics is a great choice for most small-to-medium-sized businesses and personal websites. But for larger enterprise websites, or those with specific needs, other analytics tools might be a better fit.

Learning Google Analytics is Just One Piece of the Puzzle

Mastering Google Analytics is essential for understanding how well your website is performing and identifying opportunities for improvement. It’s just one part of the equation, however. You still need to know what to do with the data once you get it – and that’s where we come in. 

If you need assistance setting up Google Analytics, setting up goals, or tracking leads, we’re here to help. Our eCommerce analytics and SEM specialists would be more than happy to take these tasks off your plate. Want to learn more about what Genius eCommerce can do for you? Just give us a call at 888-982-8269.