2015 promises to be an exciting year in web analytics. Analytics tools are becoming easier to use and at the same time more powerful, allowing us to register more and more data to guide strategic decisions. Now is a good time to consider your analytics setup, so that you can be sure that you are capturing the most valuable data possible throughout 2015.
Universal Analytics is Google Analytics
Last year we guided you through making decisions about upgrading to Universal Analytics. Since then, Google began transferring all properties to Universal Analytics. “Classic Analytics” is no longer an option. If you did not complete the upgrade, chances are that it was automatically done for you. For most websites, you do not need to make any changes, just enjoy the improved Google Analytics. For the few websites that used custom tracking codes, you should have your technical team review them to check that they are still working correctly. (Do a quick check yourself using Google Tag Assistant)
Time to Install Google Tag Manager
We are enthusiastic supporters of Google Tag Manager. If you did not yet get around to setting up Tag Manager, make it a priority for 2015. It makes setting up all sorts of tracking much easier: Google Analytics, Enhanced Ecommerce, AdWords conversions, and Remarketing to name a few examples. It is a great tool that keeps improving. Use it to get the most data possible out of your website. Consult the following blog posts for ideas on how to use it:
- You Need Google Tag Manager
- Google Tag Manager Guide: Step-by-Step Tutorial for Event Tracking, Part 1
- Google Tag Manager Guide: Step-by-Step Tutorial for Event Tracking, Part 2
- Google Tag Manager Guide: Step-by-Step Tutorial for Event Tracking, Part 3
- Google Tag Manager Guide: Step-by-Step Tutorial for Event Tracking, Part 4
- Google Tag Manager Update
Take Advantage of Custom Analytics
Web Analytics solutions over the past few years have been moving towards making it easier and easier to customize which data is tracked from websites and how. It has never before been so simple for non-technical users to modify their analytics solutions.
Google Analytics now offers features like Custom Dimensions and Metrics, Import Data, Content Grouping, and Custom Channel Groupings at the free level. This means that you can easily set up Google Analytics to automatically separate in your reports your blog posts from your product pages from your team profiles in analytics reports, for example. Or you could create fancy ways to measure how your content is being used, like measuring how far down a page users scroll or how many words of an article they read. Or you could integrate data from other sources (Salesforce, for example) into your Google Analytics reports.
With these new possibilities, now is a good time to think about whether you are using the full power of your analytics solution. What custom data could you be capturing?
Is your business ready for 2015? Take a few minutes to consider your web analytics setup and whether you should make changes as these tips suggest. If you’re unsure where to start, email me to find out how Amazee Metrics can help you get the most out of your website data.
