Google Analytics: the power of data

People generally engage in two conversations around data and stats; our desire to show off and wow our friends with our knowledge of fascinating facts and figures on anything and everything, and the typical dinner party conversation about how our governments are collecting metadata and tracking our movement and how this is a breach of civil liberties, etc.

But have we ever stopped to think about how important this information really is?

Analytics are the driving force of the industry, and should you have the good fortune of speaking with our lead Information Architect and Analytics specialist, you will realise just how powerful and important a tool like Google Analytics really is to your business. 

So how does Google Analytics work and how does this benefit you? Great question right?

A very basic explanation; Google Analytics can show you were your site is operating well, where your site not operating well, and the behaviours of your customers.

So let’s look at a few of the key areas where Google Analytics can assist you optimise your online business.

Audience reporting: allows you to report on what kinds of people are visiting your site, where they came from, what they think of your content and how engaged you are. You can also track the traffic sources; monitor whether they were direct, organic or search based. This information is vital to optimising your site and providing the user with the experience they are looking for.

Custom reports: google offers some 230 metrics that you can chose from when creating a custom report, providing you with powerful information that can be used to understand your business and where you can improve.

Ecommerce reporting: reporting on your bestselling products, customer behaviours and transaction process will provide you with important information to build trust and loyalty amongst your customers and ultimately increase sales.

Advertising reports: advertising is a great way to drive conversions, but do you really know how successful your campaigns are?

There are countless more features and tools that will assist you with understanding both the customer and buying lifecycle, while developing an optimised UX friendly platform. If you are serious about maximising your online presence, improving campaigns, understanding who your customers are, what they are doing and how they got to your site, then Google Analytics is a no brainer.