We all know that analysis is important. Crucial perhaps, even. It has useful metrics like pageviews and number of users, which are good when they go up, bad when they go down… Right? Or should this be compared year over year? And if it’s bad… what can we do about it? does it matter
Analytics are only useful as information if we can use them for informed, actionable next steps.
Let’s look at some ways Google Analytics can help us find what to do on our site.
Understand user engagement through engagement rate and time on page
Engagement rate and time on page are good indicators of how users interact with your content. They show more than just the number of visits, as they give you insight into the quality of those visits and how your audience is responding to your content.
Participation rate
Engagement rate in GA4 is a step beyond traditional metrics, measuring the percentage of sessions that are considered “complicated”. Typically, a session is marked as active when a user spends a certain amount of time on your site, interacts with something like a video, or completes a conversion event, among other criteria.
How to analyze: Look at your engagement rate month-over-month and year-over-year to identify trends. A growing engagement rate indicates that improvements to your content or user experience are having an effect with your audience. If the rate remains flat or low, it may be time to step in and improve the overall user experience.Actionable steps:Better content quality: What types of content seem to be associated with high engagement rates? Can you produce more? On the other hand, what content appears to be low engagement. Can it be made more relevant? Can the quality be increased? Or should it be removed?Optimize UX: Are there UX elements on the high-engagement pages that seem to work well? Can you apply them elsewhere? The page layout is different, is there additional navigation included? Or maybe the page is more interactive with clickable elements, like a sortable table or a video that needs a click to play?
Time on Page
Time on Page can’t tell you everything about the quality or engagement of a page unless you know what’s on that page. For example, a 100-word entry takes longer to read than a 1,000-word entry. If you know what you’re looking at, what you’re measuring, Time on Page can help you understand what content keeps users engaged with a piece of content the longest. In some ways, this can act as a proxy for content relevance and value.
How to analyze: Tracking time on page over different periods helps identify which types of content or specific pages consistently engage your audience. Seasonal trends, content updates or changes in user behavior can be detected with this metric.Actionable steps:Content optimization: For pages with lower Time on Page metrics, consider revising the content. Need images, videos, graphics? Is there anything mentioned on the page that would indicate to the reader that the page might be out of date? Is everything up to date? Who ranks above the types of searches you would like to attract for this page? When you compare this content to yours, which one is better and why?Mapping the user journey: Understand the path users take that leads them to high-engagement pages and optimize site navigation.
Analysis of user acquisition channels
Understanding how visitors find your website is crucial to optimizing your marketing efforts and allocating your budget efficiently. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) categorizes these routes into various acquisition channels, including direct, organic search, social, email, referral, and others. Each channel provides insight into the effectiveness of your marketing strategies and helps you understand which platforms or methods drive the most valuable traffic to your site.
Key metrics to focus on:
Acquisition channels: GA4 breaks down traffic into channels, allowing you to see the number of users, sessions and conversion rates from each source.User involvement: Engagement metrics like average session duration and pages per session by acquisition channel can help you understand which channels attract the most engaged users.Conversions by channel: Seeing which channels generate the most conversions or have the highest conversion rate can tell you where your most valuable users are coming from.
Performance analysis over time:
Comparing channel effectiveness over different time periods, such as month-to-month or year-to-year, can reveal trends and changes in user behavior. Seasonal changes, marketing campaigns, or changes in search engine algorithms can affect how users find your site.
Actionable steps:
Put more resources behind high performing channels: If certain channels consistently outperform others in terms of engagement, traffic, or conversions, consider reallocating your budget or efforts to leverage those areas. For example, if organic search is a primary driver for conversions, investing in SEO could yield even better results.Investigate and/or optimize underperforming channels: Poorly performing channels may not be abandoned. See if there is an opportunity for improvement. For example, if social media is delivering good engagement but low conversions, could the call to action on those landing pages need to be improved?Cross-channel optimization: Sometimes the path to conversion involves multiple channels. Watching this interaction can help you update your strategy. You may find that users often discover your brand through social media, but only convert after receiving an email newsletter.
Conversion paths with multi-channel conversion funnels
Speaking of multi-channel optimization, GA4 has the Multi-Channel Funnels report where you can see how users get to a conversion. This way, you can focus not only on the point of conversion, but also on the series of interactions leading up to it.
Things to watch
Main conversion paths: This report shows the sequences of channel interactions that lead to conversions. Analyzing these paths can help you understand the most common ways customers discover and decide to buy from your site.Path length: Understanding how many interactions, on average, it takes to convert can help you figure out how simple or complex your sales cycle or user journey is.Weather team: This metric reveals how many days pass between a user’s first interaction and their conversion. It can help you understand your customers’ decision-making timeline.
Actionable steps
Optimize marketing strategies based on successful conversion paths: Identify which channels appear frequently in successful conversion paths. Strengthening these channels, whether through increased budget allocation, improved content or more targeted campaigns, can lead to higher conversion rates.Reallocate budget to the most effective channels and touchpoints: If certain channels play a critical role in conversion paths, but are currently underfunded, consider reallocating your marketing budget to support these key touchpoints more effectively.Improve multi-channel marketing efforts: Recognizing that multiple channels contribute to conversions, develop marketing strategies that encourage cross-channel engagement. For example, if social media tends to start the conversion journey, followed by email interactions, make sure your campaigns are integrated and mutually reinforcing.Refine content and messaging across touchpoints: Tailor your content and messaging to support users at different stages of their journey. For example, if organic search often brings users to your brand, make sure your SEO content is informative and engaging. Likewise, if email campaigns are crucial closer to conversion, focus on persuasive, action-oriented messages.Adjust expectations and strategies based on path length and delay: If your data shows a long path to conversion, consider strategies that nurture leads over time, such as drip email campaigns or retargeting ads, to keep users engaged during the conversion process decision making.
User demographics and interests
Finding out who your website’s real audience is—who they are, what they like, where they’re coming from—can help you dig deeper into the audience segments and interests that seem to work well for your site.
Find demographics and interests in GA4
GA4 collects and reports user demographic and interest data through audience reports. Here you can find detailed breakdowns of your users’ age groups, genders, geographic locations and interests.
Actionable steps
Tailor your content and marketing strategies: Use demographic and interest data to adjust your website content, marketing messages and advertising targeting. Is a significant portion of your audience interested in health and fitness? Can you create blog posts, videos or social media content that links your products or services to these topics?Geographic tailoring: Does geographic user data show you’re better off creating personalized content to target specific regional preferences or show location-specific promotions?
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