"The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight."
You may have heard of the free analytics data tracking tool from Google. But you might wonder – what can Google Analytics tell you about your business, really?
Seriously, SO many things. There is so much information available about your business that can help you optimise and grow.
Of course, you already know that understanding your customers, who they are, and what they want, is the most important thing for your business. Because once you know who you’re selling to and how – you can build your sales and marketing approach around that.
Well, leveraging Google Analytics to track your data is how you get those figures so you can analyse your business and make informed choices (instead of using the “spray and pray” technique).
The data Google Analytics provides includes so much more than simply what your customers buy. In fact, it shows you the health of your business so you can learn:
- How your website is used
- What impact your sales and marketing tactics make
- The areas of your business that entice and engage your customers the most
- and lots more!
Let’s dive into how to use your analytics data to get a deeper picture of your business’s performance – beyond just your content.
Google Analytics Can Help Improve Your Customer Experience
Successful customer-centric businesses always keep their customers at the heart of everything they do. And mapping out the customer journey is a great way to understand the experience and interactions they have with your business.
This is where Google Analytics is your best friend.
Use the tool to gather data from every source:
- your own and paid channels
- any earned and shared media
- and social or referred entry points
When you have all this information in one place, you can get a holistic 360-degree look at your customer’s journey.
And once you understand how, when, and where your audience engages with you, you can provide them with exactly the information and services they are looking for.
So, take the time to map your customer’s typical journey to discover how people find and engage with you. As you gather more data over time, patterns and key drivers will start to become apparent.
Then, use that knowledge to create robust customer profiles and adjust your marketing tactics to ensure they’re targeted correctly.
Understand The Problems Your Customers Want To Solve
Todays customers are looking for answers or solutions to a problem they have. That’s why they go online to research you and what you offer.
Their problem might be anything from finding the right accountancy software to the right baby formula – and anything (and everything) in between!
Here’s how it works:
- Your ideal customer searches online for a solution to their problem
- If your business offers something they need (and it’s optimised well for search), it will pop up in their search results
- Your ideal customer visits your website and social media to learn more about you
- They might also cast their research net wider and include discussion forums, review platforms, or any other online channel
Because here’s the catch: only when they feel informed enough about how your business solves their problem, will they make a decision.
So, always remember that your audience researches your business everywhere you show up. Not just on your website.
And Google Analytics is the tool that provides all the data you need to understand this process better.
Drill Into The Data To Find Answers
Quick – can you pinpoint exactly what your customers search for and engage with on your channels? To start to understand this, use your Google Analytics data to answer these questions:
- What websites do people visit before coming to your website?
- Where do they land on your website? For example, do they come straight to the home page or via a blog post that caught their attention?
- Once your audience is on your website, where do they go once they leave the first page?
Regardless of what you find, remember they’re doing one thing: looking for solutions to their problem.
There are many other clues you can find, as well, like:
- What comment or social media directed them to you? This can give you an idea of what their query was.
- Does the page they landed on (such as a blog post), keep them engaged for a long time? Or does it have a high bounce rate? If they bounce quickly, it may mean the blog post wasn’t exactly what they were looking for.
Follow the journey of your customers to see how they engage with you before buying. Use this information to start building out content that attracts and keeps visitors on the page longer.
And always be transparent in how you market content so you get the right people to your website. Traffic may drop, but the customers who are genuinely interested in your products and services will keep coming.
Analytics Can Model Trends And Patterns And Help Plan For The Unexpected
We briefly mentioned patterns above, but let’s talk about it a bit more. Because Google Analytics is a great way to find patterns and spot trends.
And tracking patterns and trends is essential to gain a deeper understanding of what’s happening in your business. Analytics can provide you with more than just data on customer and audience behaviours. It can reflect your industry and the economy.
And with your finger on the pulse of what’s happening, you can be more strategic in your business.
Market trends are influenced by buying habits, so looking at the wider landscape can help you see where the lulls and highs are. Map out your business against past trends and patterns to help your business perform well in the future.
For example, if you know Christmas is a big month for you and January will be lean, you can adjust your business activities accordingly. This is all part and parcel of running a successful business that is flexible to the needs of their customers.
Remember we said earlier that customer-centric businesses always have customers at the heart of everything they do?
Well, it’s exactly why …
… It’s Time To Pay Attention To What Your Customers Are Doing
In a study by Accenture, 79% of business executives agreed that companies that fail to embrace big data will lose their competitive position and could face extinction. The study also found that 83% of business executives who have implemented big data projects gained a competitive edge.
So you can see that using data to plan your business strategy is essential. When you have a projection of what’s going to happen, you can prepare for most eventualities.
And this also means you can gain an edge on your competitors by launching your campaign first, becoming more appealing to customers, and preventing any issues that may arise.
Don’t Delay, Start Your Data Journey Today!
Have we convinced you that Google Analytics is an essential tool in your business management toolbox?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Data is your friend! And using Google Analytics is the perfect way to plan for growth by following what the data says about your business and customers.
So, what can Google Analytics tell you about your business? Maybe the question should be – what “can’t” it tell you?
To get started mining your data so you can optimise and grow your business, download our free Beginners Guide to Google Analytics here.
Or, if you’d just like someone else to take care of it for you, book a free 30 Discovery call. We’d love to help you streamline your business, provide customer insight, and reach your potential.
