In times past, a business had to guess as to which marketing methods worked best. This meant that companies often spent thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on marketing campaigns that in the end only brought in a handful of customers.
Thankfully, companies that use the internet to bring in traffic and customers no longer have to wonder about whether or not they are getting good value for their advertising dollars. Google Analytics provides a wealth of data which, combined with the data provided from one’s own site and sales records, can be used to determine a customer’s gender, age and geographical location, what type of products he or she is looking for, which products the individual considered purchasing but then chose not to buy and much more.
Geographical Location
Google Analytics does not provide IP numbers but it does show the geographical location of website visitors. This information is particularly valuable when matched up against a company’s sales records. If a large percentage of visitors are coming from a particular city but most of them are not purchasing products or services, then a company may want to consider a targeted advertising campaign to better reach these individuals. Companies that sell items online may find that working with an order fulfillment center that is located in the same city as most of its site visitors will enable it to provide faster, better services to those who have shown the most interest in what the company has to offer.
Information on geographical location can also indicate if a local business is doing well in local SEO. If a business is targeting the local market only, then most of its visitors should come from the local area. If this is not the case, then a business needs to rectify the problem by implementing better local SEO strategies.
Language
Google Analytics also provides valuable information on the primary language spoken by site visitors. A company can use this information to see if it needs to create a targeted ad campaign or even new landing pages in one or more other languages. The language spoken by most site visitors may also have a bearing on who the company hires and its product line.
Pages Visited
Google Analytics enables a company owner to see which pages get the most visits. This information is invaluable, as it shows a company not only which pages get the most site visits but also which ones bring in the most customers.
If a certain page is getting a lot of visits but not making a lot of sales, then a company needs to ask itself why. Perhaps the product in question is too expensive, or maybe the page does not supply enough information. On the other hand, pages that have a high conversion rate should be promoted via PPC advertising.
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate denotes how long a person stayed on any given page. Google Analytics provides bounce rate statistics for individual site pages as well as for a website as a whole. A low bounce rate means that people are truly interested in what the site has to offer while a high rate means that site visitors are quickly going elsewhere.
There are various reasons for a high bounce rate. In some cases a business needs to do a better job of appealing to its target audience via special promotions and customized landing pages. In other cases, the page may be taking too long to load, or perhaps a change in target keywords is in order.
Point of Origin
Google Analytics also clearly shows if visitors came to the site via organic search, social media, a particular inbound link, email link, PPC campaign, etc. This information can then be used to determine which form of advertising is the most effective.
When combined with the above mentioned data, site referral statistics tell a lot about why people are coming to the site in the first place. This information can then be used to determine if a company is targeting the right audience or not.
Google Analytics is a free gold mine of data that any company will want to delve into and explore. Using this data will clearly show if a company is succeeding in reaching its target audience and converting site traffic into sales. It also shows up a company’s weak areas, enabling a business to continually improve the services it provides to the general public.
About the Author: This post was written by Jeff Shjarback. Jeff is a Digital Marketing Consultant, Writer and Blogger that enjoys blogging about digital marketing, business, finance, economics, emerging technology & innovation, future trend analysis and business philosophy. To learn more about Jeff, you can visit his Google Author Profile.