Analytics may not be the first thing that comes to mind when building a website, but over time it will tell you what’s working and what’s not. Think of the website as the house and analytics as the wiring.
Once you’ve grasped the basics of Google Analytics (which we covered in Understanding Google Analytics Part 1), it’s time to move on to the intermediate level: Advanced Segments, Mobile Tracking, and Filters.
Advanced Segments
Advanced Segments can be used more than custom reports if you want to get a grip on overarching trends quickly and easily. They’re well worth getting to know once you’re comfortable with the basics.
What is a segment?
A segment is a subset of your Analytics data. For example, of your entire set of users, one segment might be users from a particular country or city. Another segment might be users who purchase a particular line of products or who visit a specific part of your site.
Segments let you isolate and analyse those subsets of data so you can examine and respond to the component trends in your business. For example, if you find that users from a particular geographic region are no longer purchasing a line of products in the same volume as they normally have, you can see whether a competing business is offering the same types of products at lower prices. If that turned out to be the case, you could respond by offering a loyalty discount to those users that undercuts your competitor’s prices.
You can also use segments as the basis for Remarketing Audiences. For example, you might create a segment of users who visit your menswear pages, and then target just those users (your Remarketing Audience) with a remarketing campaign that is focused on the new items that you are adding to those pages.
Segment types
Segments may either represent subsets of sessions or subsets of users.
- Subsets of sessions
- e.g. all sessions originating from Campaign A or all sessions during which a purchase occurred
- Subsets of users
- e.g. users who have previously purchased or users who didn’t complete a purchase after adding an item to their shopping cart
The Google Analytics User Model defines three major components:
- Users
- Sessions
- A user arrives at and interacts with your property.
- All of these user interactions are grouped into what is referred to as a session.
- Hits
- During a session the user interacts with your property.
- Each interaction is referred to as a hit.
- Example hits include pageviews, events, transactions, etc.
Remember: a single user can have multiple sessions and each session can have multiple hits.
Why use segments?
The great thing about segments is that they act as filters and don’t change your underlying data. Once you’ve applied a segment, it stays active while you navigate through your reports (until you remove it). You can actually apply up to four segments at a time and compare results from each segment side by side in your reports.
While you can spend time analysing data with segments, you can also use them to build audiences for remarketing.
Google Analytics includes predefined segments (System Segments) that you can use out of the box, or copy and edit to create new custom segments. You can also build your own segments from scratch. To make things even easier, you can also import segments free of charge from the Analytics Solutions Gallery.
How do I use a segment?
You have to first define segments. They’re filters, which you create based on the dimensions and metrics in your Analytics reports.
As an example:
- User Type exactly matches “Returning User”
- Country/Territory exactly matches “United Kingdom”
- Ecommerce Conversion Rate > “0.2%”
In addition to the dimensions and metrics you use in filters, you also have to set the scope of the data for a filter. There are three different scopes you can use:
- Hit
- Behaviour confined to a single action.
- Example: viewing a page or starting a video.
- Session
- Behaviour within a single session.
- Example: goals that users completed during a session, or amount of revenue they generated during a session.
- User
- Behaviour across all sessions within the date range you’re using (max. 90 days).
- Example: all the goals users completed or all the revenue they generated (across all sessions) during the date range.
You use the segment builder to define the component filters of a segment.
Once you’re ready, check out the segment analysis examples, which allow you to compare converting visitors and non-converting visitors through the audience overview and demographics reports.
Mobile Tracking
Mobile Internet usage is increasing every single day. It is something every site owner should be monitoring. If you’re seeing major amounts of mobile traffic and don’t already serve mobile visitors, you need to wise up and make your site mobile-friendly.
Although a couple of years old, the Distilled.net guide to Tracking Mobile Visitors in Google Analytics provides a detailed overview and visual checklist guide that’s well worth checking out for anyone wanting to double down on their mobile strategy.
Tracking Mobile Visitors in Google Analytics: A Checklist Guide for Mobile Insights | Distilled
It is hardly surprising that “mobile” is becoming such a hot topic among digital marketers: comScore reported that in August 2012, 13% of total internet pageviews (roughly 1 in 8!) were from mobile devices (phones and tablets combined). And these numbers are increasing.
Profile Filters
Online-Behavior.com has produced The Ultimate Guide to Google Analytics Profile Filters, a fantastic guide to the ins and outs of filtering. Just remember to always have one unfiltered profile. Filtered profiles are a really great way to dig into the detail of specific traffic without as much sampling as your main profile. Filters tie into the concept of segmentation and form part of a long-term segmentation strategy.
The Ultimate Guide to Google Analytics Profile Filters
Google Analytics offers 3 main ways to segment your data: custom variables, advanced segments and profile filters. This article aims to uncover the exciting world of profile filters, from what it means to a top 10 list of useful filter profiles.
Edward Solomon has over 30 years’ experience in project management, technical education, computer networking, web design and development and is a Digital Business Consultant for PENNInk Productions Ltd.
