Introduction:
This week we
will begin the discussion by offering a review of Google Analytics goals and
funnels and how they can provide actionable information to the novice marketers
and business leaders. The research will be supported with an examination of
goals and funnels put in place for my own blog. The discussion with end with a
review of key learning’s and failures and a few comments on of how these tools
will be leveraged in the near future.
It is not enough to take steps, which may some day
lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Google
Analytics provides its user the tools to create and measure simple or
incredibly detailed goals that if set correctly will provide actionable
information over as set period of time. Like the quote above these goals are
set up to achieve the bigger picture objectives while allowing the user to track
and measure every step of the way. The function of a goal is to provide
information on where a visitor has come from, how they behave on the site, and
what the value of that activity should be. (Kuruc. 2012) Goals can be set under
four key venues: URL Destinations, Visit Duration, Page/Visit and Events.
Each
business is going to have their own specific needs and this will influence
which goals they plan to measure but by default marketers tend to view goal
development at the macro and micro levels. Macro goals are tied closely to ROI
and consist of key metrics like sales and conversion rates. This makes them
popular among marketers and analysts. There is some risk in making macro goals as
this clever example highlights, “If we continue to look to macro goals as the
only success metric, we end up manipulating data and ignoring the obvious misfit.
In many cases, and as any jewelry adoring woman will tell you, good things in
life can come in small packages.” (Kuruc. 2012) Those small packages are micro
goals.
Micro goals
allow businesses to strategically track visitor engagement. This behavior can provide key insights on how
user behavior and which behaviors might have a stronger impact on conversion
rates. Below are nine examples of micro goals:
1. Social Bookmarking
2. Newsletter signups
3. New user signups
4. File Download
5. Customer Review
6. Blog Comments.
7. Using a Live Chat Feature
8. Viewing the Contact Us Page
9. Viewing Videos
Tracking and
measuring macro goals while keeping a careful eye on micro goals can be time
consuming but rewarding if a balanced approach can be found. That balance comes from a strong and
consistent purpose, which is supported by clear objectives. Google expert
Avinash Kaushik provides the following five-step process on which any digital
marketing campaign can set its foundation.
1. Identify business objectives
2. Identify key goals for each business objective
3. Identify the key performance indicators (KPI)
4. Identify the targets for each KPI
5. Identify the segments of people/ behavior/ outcomes that will be
analyze to measure success or failure.
If a business does not take the time to answer these foundational
questions they are at risk of becoming overwhelmed by the data. Too much
data combined with soft measurement criteria can create paralysis through
analysis. (McAthy, 2012)
I do not
believe Kaushik’s advice works for my IMC blog as it is a lab experiment but
these steps will be as a foundation for my future blog and play a role in how I
advise CRI and WynnPress on how to leverage Google Analytics. A key difference
between what we are doing in class and what will be done in the future is each
of these goals will be assigned a value. Google Analytics allows users to give
each goal a monetary value. There are
three ways to set goal values.
1. Single basic value across all goals: Give the goals a number.
Track it. See which sites are generating the most value.
2. Margin: Assign a specific margin, which will be applied to all goals,
which can help establish the value of macro goals like leads.
3. Weighted score: Begin to dig into the details by providing
weighted value/scoring system to key activities, both macro and micro, on the
site.
(McAthy, 2012)
For an
organization like CRI this becomes useful as they try to understand the
potential value of a visit or a bounce on there donate page.
Another key
difference between the IMC blog and a real site is the use of funnels.
Shopify.com defines funnels as “…the path that you expect visitors to take on their way to 'converting' to your goal. A funnel is defined for a goal. Defining the pages for a funnel allows you to see how frequently visitors abandon goals, when they join in on the path to your goal, when they drop off the path, etc.” (Shopify.com, 2012) Funnels are set up on the same page and at the same time as goals.
Shopify.com defines funnels as “…the path that you expect visitors to take on their way to 'converting' to your goal. A funnel is defined for a goal. Defining the pages for a funnel allows you to see how frequently visitors abandon goals, when they join in on the path to your goal, when they drop off the path, etc.” (Shopify.com, 2012) Funnels are set up on the same page and at the same time as goals.
One of CRI’s
main objectives in the coming year is to understand how users are getting to
the donate page. CRI has assumptions on which pages drive the most conversions
but these are unfounded and best guesses. Setting up funnels in unison with
goals will provide them with real data and actionable information. Digesting
this data so the site can be optimized will be crucial for long-term success.
Let’s put it into practice!
For the
purposes of this weeks exercise I set up a goal on my IMC blog based on page
views. I created a new page that profiled a recent project completed for
Children’s Relief International. The
page was titled “The Hero’s Story”.
To generate
traffic I sent an email out on December 1st to eight of my connections. Earlier
in the term I tried to use my Facebook connections to generate traffic and the
response was dismal so I did not bother with that platform. Here are the
results as of December 3rd.
The Google
Analytics dashboard is deceptively encouraging at first glance.
It shows
that on Saturday the site had one new visitor and on Sunday it had three. 3 of
the four visitors bounced immediately. One stayed and read the blog bumping up
the average site visit duration to over two minuets. Email proved to be a more
effective invitation since none of the earlier Facebook visitors stayed to read
the content. This holds true to the long-standing opinion that email will
provide a higher conversion rate than social networks. The infographic from
Monetate provides a clear comparison of email, search and social. (Bennett,
2012)
In regards
to the page view goal of my blog as it stands, two days after sending out the
email only one person has visited the page.
One of eight
is not very good although I am optimistic more traffic is coming. I will be
checking again later in the week to see if the conversion rate increases. The
email was sent to family and friends and since I know this target well I am confident
the numbers will go up. (Is that considered cheating?!) As a side note the statistics on the blogger
site shows thirty page views on December 3rd, which implies more traffic has
come through but Google Analytics has not caught up yet due to the standard 24-hour
delay.
Conclusion:
This was an engaging exercise. In hindsight I would of done a few things differently. It is clear that I should have sent the email request out much sooner. There has not been enough time for people to respond and engage which has sabotaged my ability to collect data. As I reviewed my strategy for this discussion I realized that setting up my goal around URL destination would of tested more of the tools. By sending the users to my main blog page and asking them to click on the new page (found on the right side menu) this would of required an established funnel (main page to new page) and that would of offered more insight on user behavior. I would have gathered more actionable information on user behavior with this approach verses examining just page views.
This was an engaging exercise. In hindsight I would of done a few things differently. It is clear that I should have sent the email request out much sooner. There has not been enough time for people to respond and engage which has sabotaged my ability to collect data. As I reviewed my strategy for this discussion I realized that setting up my goal around URL destination would of tested more of the tools. By sending the users to my main blog page and asking them to click on the new page (found on the right side menu) this would of required an established funnel (main page to new page) and that would of offered more insight on user behavior. I would have gathered more actionable information on user behavior with this approach verses examining just page views.
The key
takeaways from this weeks exercise are robust. I understand that before setting
up goals and funnels a clear purpose supported by strong objectives needs to be
in place. Success will come from the foundation of knowing what needs to be
tracked, why it is being tracked, and how the data collected will be measured. These
elements are the framework for creating strategic goals and their strength and
focus will dictate success of failure. Those strategic goals will need to be
broken down into the macro and micro level, and finding a balance between the
two will provide a wider range of data which will help in making informed decisions.
Identifying funnels will offer insight on how the users are engaging with the
site and if goals are being met or abandoned. Finally, when trying to measure
traffic I will make sure there is ample time for the users to engage with the
communication channels and the web site. This is where my testing fell embarrassingly
short. I will be setting up Google
Analytics for CRI this week, including establishing the baseline objectives and
goals, so I have a chance to redeem myself. We should begin tracking those goals by the
weeks end. It is exciting to be in the process and despite my failures this
week I believe I have to tools to help them set up a strong foundation with
clear goals that will gather actionable information.
References:
Bennette. Shea,
(2012, August 2nd) Email Marketing Coverts Better Than Search,
Social Media, Says Study. Retrieved on December 3rd, 2012 from http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/email-search-social-marketing_b26304
Social Media, Says Study. Retrieved on December 3rd, 2012 from http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/email-search-social-marketing_b26304
Kaushik. Avinash,
(N.D.) Digital Marketing and Measurement Model. Retrieved on December 3rd, 2012
from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/digital-marketing-and-measurement-model/#wamm
Kuruc. Kayla, (2012,
June 13th) Small Goals – Big Results, Using Micro Goals in Google
Analytics. Retrieved on December 3rd, 2012 from http://www.morevisibility.com/analyticsblog/tag/google-analytics-goals
McAthy. Russell,
(2012, May 24th) How to best use goals in Google Analytics. Retrieved on
December 3rd, 2012 from http://www.smartinsights.com/google-analytics/google-analytics-setup/how-to-best-use-goals-in-google-analytics/
N.A.
(N.D.) Google Analytics Goals and Funnels. Retrieved on December 3rd, 2012 from
http://wiki.shopify.com/Google_Analytics_Goals_and_Funnels
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