Google Analytics (GA) is an essential tool for CRO that offers consumer insights to businesses to help them optimize their websites/landing pages for better conversions. Monitoring the effectiveness of your website and how it interacts with your conversion funnel is essential. GA and CRO are an ideal combination for gaining insights that can boost your sales & conversions. If you’re looking to take your optimization efforts a step further, consider exploring conversion rate optimization services. Read our blog to learn the top tracking metrics and perks of using Google Analytics in conjunction with conversion rate optimization services.
Macro & Micro Conversions
Priority metrics, also known as macro metrics, help in generating revenue. Purchases on an eCommerce site or sign-up for product website demos are important macro metrics. On the other hand, metrics that encourage a consumer to buy a product or sign up for a demo are known as micro metrics.
It is intelligent to practice brevity when selecting your macro conversions because the more the macro metrics, the less specific you become. We recommend having up to two macro conversions so you can track them efficiently. On the contrary, have as many micro-conversion objectives to complete your macro-conversion goals along your buyer’s journey.
For example, macro-conversion goals may include free trial & demo requests, and micro-conversion goals may include adding products to the cart, eBooks, and more. You can run A/B tests to uncover the metrics that make a difference. Leverage Google Analytics reports to analyze the performance of different metrics and find profitable ones.
How To Configure GA Reports In Your CRO Tool?
To maximize the effectiveness of your CRO efforts and enhance your conversion rate optimization services, you can strengthen these reports by integrating GA into your testing tools, such as VWO. This integration will allow you to analyze your website data in GA specifically for the variations you create during the test, particularly when optimizing the content on your landing page.
You will require:
1. Activate GA Integration in VWO
VWO offers A/B testing features. Follow the steps below to set up a new test:
- Login to the VWO account.
- Create a test in VWO using its TESTING feature.
- Expand Integrate with third-party products section → select Google Analytics Classic
- Next, in the Slot field, enter the custom variable slot you want to use for VWO.
- In the Account Prefix field, enter the relevant UA account prefix. (if you are using more than one GA account)
2. Create Custom Reports
Custom variable slots help send data about the experiments and variants your visitors access. Here’s how you can set up custom reports:
- Login to your GA account.
- Go to the Reporting tab → Users Overview page appears.
- Select +Add Segment to create a custom report for the VWO test you integrated with Google Analytics.
- Click New Segment → click Conditions to configure the segment conditions.
- From the Add Content dropdown, select Custom Variable (Key X). [X is slot no. you entered in VWO.]
- Enter the test ID you want to view reports for.
- Click Preview to view reports of the entire test.
- To view specific variation reports, click the AND condition and select Custom Variable (key X).
CRO Analytics To Track
1. Conversions by OS & Browser
Not all browsers and operating systems are created equal. For example, using Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 will be considerably different from using Safari on macOS Catalina. Hence, Google Analytics’ Technology reports are a goldmine of CRO information.
You can find the following data categories in the OS & Browser report:
- Browser
- Operating System
- Screen Colors
- Screen Resolution
- Java Support
- Flash Version
Significance: There could be a few browsers that may need to perform better on your site. If this is the case, click on that particular browser to view the various versions. Then you’ll be able to see if specific versions are significantly lowering the conversion rate.
How To Track In GA?
- Go to Audience → Technology → Browser & OS.
- Pick your date range, and then look at the third set of columns under Conversions.
2. Mobile Conversions
You might discover that a particular type of mobile device accounts for a sizable portion of the traffic to your website. However, if that mobile system has a problem, you risk missing out on a significant opportunity. Additionally, it could be worthwhile to compare desktop usage to that of smartphones and tablets to determine if there are any discrepancies. If you discover specific differences, you will know where to investigate next.
Significance: iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones, and Pixel phones are the most used devices. However, focusing just on these will turn off a sizable portion of the market. Android is used by more than 70% of people worldwide, whereas iOS is used by only 20-30%. In addition, you must consider that millions of different Android devices are in use today. Of course, you can only optimize for some of them, but disregarding them altogether is also not a good idea.
How To Track In GA?
- Go to Audience → Technology → Mobile → Devices.
- This will provide you with a list of recognized mobile devices that have accessed your website.
- Set your date range as usual, then compare additional metrics in the Conversions section.
3. Website Velocity
The user experience will be significantly improved if your website loads rapidly. More visitors are likely to convert the longer they stay on your website. The basic rule is to aim for 3 seconds or less to reduce the likelihood of guests turning into bouncers. You should be concerned about your site’s speed if you are interested in the user experience. Find out whether some browsers take a long time to load, and take it from there.
Significance: Besides being a UX necessity, site speed is an essential ranking element. A 100-millisecond delay in website load time might decrease conversion rates by 7%. Over time, a slow website costs you money.
How To Track In GA?
- Go to Behavior → Site Speed.
- Analyze Page Timings, Speed Suggestions, and User Timings to get an overview of your site’s performance.
4. Site Search
Site search is an underutilized CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) tool that eliminates the need to search a website for a particular item. Depending on the efficacy of your copy, internal linking, and overall site layout, it will either be there or won’t. Using data analysis, you may compare the behavior of site searchers to that of site visitors who don’t search, and you can subsequently take advantage of that information. Consider incorporating conversion rate optimization services to enhance the effectiveness of your site’s search functionality.
Significance: According to research, visitors who used the site’s internal search engine were responsible for 13.8% of the income earned. Suppose someone searches for something on your e-commerce site and receives a 404 page (indicating that no page matched their search). Then you may need to make that page to satisfy the demand.
How To Track In GA?
- Go to Behavior → Site Search.
- You may then examine a summary and analyze usage, search terms, and search pages.
5. Traffic by Hour of the Day
People look for things at various times. The presumption is that local weekday traffic is at its peak after 5 p.m. However, only some websites experience this. Viewing your site’s data over time allows you to gain a wide range of insights. This may relate to the products and services users search for and purchase at particular times on the website. Additionally, you may draw comparisons between it and marketing activities and the timing of offers and promotions.
Significance: When is the optimum moment to make a special offer available to customers to maximize sales and traffic? The only way to know for sure is via an analytics report because it won’t be the same for all websites. The information is also required to prepare for possible server overloads. If everyone visits your website at once, other users will experience slower loading times, resulting in lost revenue, traffic, and potential repeat business.
How To Track In GA?
- Go to Acquisition → All Traffic to find website traffic.
- Check the Channels tab, Tree Maps, Source/Medium, and Referrals.
- You can examine your data by Day, Week, and Month for each.
- For hourly data, find this under Behavior > Overview.
6. Behavior Funnel
If your website has a lot of material, you should consider how it influences conversion and how it could even work against it. For example, you can discover that specific material converts better than others while other content that receives a lot of traffic does not. Then you can determine which content pages have the most significant commercial value.
Significance: Understanding how site visitors behave and use your website is essential to creating the optimal funnel. For instance, a funnel analysis can reveal the exit rates on landing pages and the need for any essential optimization if they are incredibly high.
How To Track In GA?
- Go to Conversions → Funnel Visualization to set up Funnel Visualization in Google Analytics.
- Next, create your goals.
- In the same section, you can examine your Multi-Channel Funnels to evaluate how your marketing approach generates conversions.
Conclusion
A solid understanding of analytics reports and GA integration, coupled with efficient Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools and conversion rate optimization services, is the key to success in your CRO game. However, you need to be patient as results may take time. You may mine the data you have gathered for insights using tools like behavior analysis and A/B testing, which will create practical, tried-and-true ideas for boosting conversion rates that put money in your pocket.