• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Jun 1, 2023
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

taxbandits banner
Home / Technology / Software / 4 Ways Google Analytics is Failing You
4 Ways Google Analytics is Failing You

4 Ways Google Analytics is Failing You

2598 Views

May 6, 2014 By Brian Gruber

When I open Google Analytics, I’m bombarded with data.

 
I see a couple big numbers that I try to interpret. I make note that there were more visitors today than yesterday. A graph gives me a general sense of activity for the past month, and the bounce rate stares me in the face. By the time I finish, all these numbers are practically written on the backs of my eyelids.
 
Analytics are meant to tell a story. And at the end of the day, Google Analytics is a great tool for an overview of metadata, but it doesn’t provide any explanation of where any of those numbers came from.
 
Google Analytics divulges the beginning and end of the story, but it leaves out the entire middle. Web analytics power users want the story behind the numbers—we want to know why things happen.
 
Here are four areas site owners miss out on when they rely solely on Google Analytics:
 
1. Direct Customer Contact
 
The numbers may give you the “how,” but without the “why,” you’re left playing a guessing game. When potential customers leave your site, you don’t get the chance to stop and ask them why they’re leaving, but if you provide enough customer service prompts, they might tell you.
 
Include feedback forms, contact info, survey options, and live chat on your site, and your customers may give you valuable information that will answer your questions.
 
2. Recordings of Individual Visitors
 
Gathering direct feedback from customers is often an uphill battle. Therefore, it’s critical to have visitor recordings, which allow you to track individual sessions within your site and identify where a user entered, clicked, and interacted with your content. Individual monitoring sounds a little Big Brother-y, but you don’t need to collect personal data, and the insights are invaluable.
 
We once had a client who didn’t understand why his lead form wasn’t converting. Upon pulling the individual visitor recordings, we found that it was a form validation issue. Google Analytics’ aggregated trend data couldn’t tell us this, and users weren’t providing feedback to inform the site owner that this needed to be fixed.
 
3. Heat Mapping
 
Heat maps are a great way to monitor the efficiency of your site. Instead of difficult-to-decipher graphs and charts, you’ll see a visual representation of your site showing where users scroll, click, and move their mouse on the page. This is useful for optimizing your site’s content.
 
For example, if you find that users only scroll halfway down the page before leaving, you need to place your call to action closer to the top. If their mouse is usually on the right side of the page, your links and ads should be on that side as well.
 
4. Perspective
 
The easiest way to evaluate your site is to test it exhaustively from the customers’ point of view. This will ensure it’s flawless from their perspective—not just yours. A conversion rate can’t tell you what drew your customers to the landing page or what deterred them from creating an account.
 
Post open-ended poll questions on the website asking for user feedback, and see what they say. Chances are, they’ll discover a glitch you didn’t notice.
 
Figuring out what causes conversion rates to fluctuate isn’t an exact science, and even the experts don’t always get it right. But one thing is certain: If Google Analytics is the only tool you use to gather insights about your website, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Reduce the guesswork, and flesh out your data’s story by combining Google Analytics with other tools and techniques to learn the “why” behind your users’ actions.
 
What analytics tools do you use for your website? Share your favorites in the comments.
 

Filed Under: Software Tagged With: Brian Gruber, Data, Google+, Online Strategy, Tracking Data, Website

Avatar

Brian Gruber

Brian Gruber is the founder and CEO at Lucky Orange—the premier service for website optimization and improvement. Based in Overland Park, Kan., Lucky Orange allows you to see and interact with your website visitors in real time. Lucky Orange technology helps you easily generate heat maps of clicks, track mouse movements, chat with visitors on your site, and create insightful polls, all at an affordable price. Follow Lucky Orange on Twitter.

Related Posts

  • 15 Reasons No One Cares About Your Small Business Right Now
  • What Causes Data Disruption?
  • managing-the-data-center--6-practical-cabling-tipsShould Your Business Build Its Own Data Center?

Primary Sidebar

Random

15 Reasons No One Cares About Your Small Business Right Now

May 31, 2023 By Jeremy Bowler

4 Things to Keep In Mind When Choosing Your Next Vehicle

May 30, 2023 By Becky Wilson

How to Compare Guaranteed Investment Certificates

May 30, 2023 By Paul Williams Short

Why Is It Important To Tell A Story In Your Marketing?

May 26, 2023 By Dan Alvin

The Power of Collaboration: Why It’s Essential for Small Businesses

May 25, 2023 By SmallBizClub

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy