What is Web Analytics and how should it be done?

Posted on by Higor Lacerda

It is notorious that digital marketing has been gaining more and more strength compared to common marketing and one of its great differentials about it is the practicality in collecting data through the work of web analytics, helping in this way, making decisions with better accuracy on the strategic actions to be carried out in the present or in the future.

What is Web Analytics?

Web Analytics in general terms is related to the study of the impact caused by the users of your website, e-commerce, or application through the process of collecting, monitoring, and analyzing the data of the navigation, traffic, or interaction of visitors, leads or customers.

In order to provide more complete content, we have chosen one of the largest and most widely used data collection tools, Google Analytics, standing out as a complete, reliable, efficient and free platform!

Data types:

The data representation through Google Analytics is done through dimensions and metrics, which are:

Dimensions:

It is the texts that describe the item, think of them as their names, for example, title, reference source, keyword, campaign name, browser type, product name, and so on. Dimensions are located on the left side of the table.

Metrics:

They are the numbers associated with the dimensions, for example, number of sessions, number of users, number of pages per session, bounce rate, revenue, an average value of the cart and so on.

Key Performance Indicator:

Key Performance Indicator (KPI) by many professionals can be seen as one of the most difficult parts when it comes to devising effective online strategies, however, this difficulty comes not from the technical side but from the perspective you want to achieve with your business.

KPIs allow the professionals of your company to prioritize the strategic actions that have the most effective to achieve this goal. In digital marketing, these performance indicators will typically be linked to visitors, leads, conversions, and company revenue.

Examples of KPIs:

  • Increase in organic traffic;
  • Decrease in cost of acquisition of leads;
  • CTR (click through rate) improvement;
  • Increased ROI (Return on Investment);

Segmentation:

Segmenting dimensions and metrics is a very important part of web analytics, making it easier to analyze KPIs, isolating the data for future analysis, such as whether you want to know the ROI that your Adwords campaign has achieved, it is necessary to isolate the amount invested in this campaign in conjunction with the revenue generated by it in its time of activity.

Construction of an analysis infrastructure:

1. Definition of a measurement plane:

  • Document business objectives;
  • Identify business strategies and tactics;
  • Choice of KPIs;
  • Choice of segments;
  • Target selection;

2. Technical documentation of infrastructure:

  • Query String Parameters;
  • Use of technologies such as Flash and AJAX;
  • Multiple subdomains;
  • Responsive design;

3. Creation of an implementation plan:

  • Deployment of Google Analytics Tag;
  • Tracking KPIs (adding meta tracking or e-commerce module);
  • The inclusion of filters;
  • Campaign tracking;
  • Simplified reports (reports for different sectors such as marketing and finance);

4. Implementation

5. Maintenance & Refinement

Infinite Improvement:

Digital marketing efforts will always be linked to data generation with this it is possible to be in progressive growth if there is a constant analysis of the work done. In order to keep advertising strategies in control and in order to increase the positive impact and reduce risk on the investment, the use of web analytics is essential in any digital action.