Google Analytics

Powerful free analytics tool

Google Analytics (GA) is a robust analytics tool that allows you to track your website’s performance, monitor user behaviour, and understand your marketing campaigns. One of the key reasons for its popularity is that it’s free, which makes it incredibly accessible for any marketer, whether you’re just starting out or leading a large-scale operation. Google Analytics is a great entry point for those new to website analytics and helps you understand the basics of tracking user activity, conversion rates, and traffic sources.

The transition to Google Analytics 4

Over the years, Google Analytics has evolved significantly, with the most recent version, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), bringing a new focus on event-based tracking. GA4 is designed to provide a deeper, more flexible understanding of user interactions across websites, apps, and other platforms. For B2B marketers, GA4 is incredibly valuable as it helps you track cross-platform user journeys and gather more granular insights into customer behaviours. However, if you’re transitioning from Universal Analytics (GA3), there’s a bit of a learning curve involved, as the interface and reporting structure are quite different from its predecessor.

Google Analytics 4 limitations

While GA4 offers some powerful tracking capabilities, it’s not without limitations. As your website starts generating more data, you’ll encounter certain restrictions, such as data throttling and sampling. Google Analytics uses sampling when dealing with large datasets, meaning that instead of using the entire data set to generate reports, GA4 takes a sample of the data, which can result in less accurate insights. This becomes a problem if you need to track large-scale marketing efforts or track a high volume of website visitors, as you may end up with incomplete data.

Furthermore, while Google Analytics provides some useful funnel analysis tools, they are not as advanced or customisable as tools like Amplitude or Mixpanel. These tools are specifically built for product analytics and offer much deeper insights into user behaviour, which are essential for more sophisticated marketing strategies. In Google Analytics, building funnels is relatively basic, and it can be challenging to track more complex user journeys or segment your data as finely as you might need in some B2B marketing contexts.

If you’re a B2B marketer just getting started with Google Analytics, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set it up and use it effectively.

Setting up Google Analytics

1. Create a Google Analytics account: To get started, sign up for a Google Analytics account. You’ll need to link your website to GA using a tracking code. Once the tracking code is installed, Google Analytics will start collecting data about your website’s traffic.
2. Set up goals: Once your account is set up, the next step is to define your goals. Goals are specific actions you want users to take on your website, such as submitting a form, completing a purchase, or downloading content. You can set up goals in the admin panel under the ‘Goals’ section, and this will allow you to track conversion rates and measure the success of your campaigns.
3. Integrate Google Ads and Search Console: If you’re running paid campaigns, it’s essential to integrate Google Ads and Google Search Console with Google Analytics. This will allow you to see how your ads are performing and which keywords are driving traffic to your website.

Tracking user behaviour

1. Use events to track interactions: For more detailed insights into user interactions, set up event tracking in Google Analytics. Events are actions users take on your website, such as clicking a button, watching a video, or scrolling down a page. You can set up events in the admin section under ‘Tracking Info’ and use them to gain deeper insights into how users are engaging with your content.
2. Use enhanced eCommerce tracking: If you’re running an eCommerce store or offering any product-based services, enhanced eCommerce tracking can give you a comprehensive view of your users’ purchasing behaviour. You can track product views, add-to-cart actions, transactions, and more.

Building reports and dashboards

1. Create custom reports: Google Analytics provides a variety of standard reports, but you can also create custom reports tailored to your needs. For example, you can build a report that tracks the performance of your lead generation forms or see how visitors from specific referral sources are converting on your website.
2. Set up custom dashboards: If you prefer to have all your key metrics in one place, you can create custom dashboards. A dashboard allows you to combine multiple reports and see them all at once. This is helpful for tracking overall campaign performance or monitoring specific KPIs in real-time.

Using funnels in Google Analytics

1. Create a funnel visualization: GA4 offers funnel analysis, which allows you to track the steps users take on their way to conversion. You can set up custom funnels to track specific actions in your marketing funnel, such as form submissions, clicks on your CTA buttons, or product purchases.
2. Monitor and optimise your funnel: Once your funnel is set up, you can monitor the conversion rates at each step. This helps identify where users are dropping off and allows you to optimise your funnel to improve conversion rates.

Setting up alerts and notifications

1. Set up custom alerts: In Google Analytics, you can set up custom alerts to notify you when specific metrics hit a certain threshold. For example, you can set an alert to notify you if your bounce rate exceeds a certain percentage or if your conversion rate drops below a target level.
2. Use email reports: Google Analytics allows you to schedule email reports to be sent to your team or stakeholders. You can set up daily, weekly, or monthly reports, ensuring that everyone is kept up to date on your campaign performance.

Conclusion

Google Analytics is a powerful and cost-effective tool for B2B marketers who want to track website performance, measure campaign success, and monitor user behaviour. It offers a solid foundation for understanding how your audience interacts with your website and content. However, as your needs become more complex, tools like Amplitude or Mixpanel may be more suitable for advanced product and user behaviour analysis. By following this guide, you can start using Google Analytics to improve your marketing strategy and gain deeper insights into your audience’s actions.

If you’re a B2B marketer just getting started with Google Analytics, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set it up and use it effectively.

Setting up Google Analytics

1. Create a Google Analytics account: To get started, sign up for a Google Analytics account. You’ll need to link your website to GA using a tracking code. Once the tracking code is installed, Google Analytics will start collecting data about your website’s traffic.
2. Set up goals: Once your account is set up, the next step is to define your goals. Goals are specific actions you want users to take on your website, such as submitting a form, completing a purchase, or downloading content. You can set up goals in the admin panel under the ‘Goals’ section, and this will allow you to track conversion rates and measure the success of your campaigns.
3. Integrate Google Ads and Search Console: If you’re running paid campaigns, it’s essential to integrate Google Ads and Google Search Console with Google Analytics. This will allow you to see how your ads are performing and which keywords are driving traffic to your website.

Tracking user behaviour

1. Use events to track interactions: For more detailed insights into user interactions, set up event tracking in Google Analytics. Events are actions users take on your website, such as clicking a button, watching a video, or scrolling down a page. You can set up events in the admin section under ‘Tracking Info’ and use them to gain deeper insights into how users are engaging with your content.
2. Use enhanced eCommerce tracking: If you’re running an eCommerce store or offering any product-based services, enhanced eCommerce tracking can give you a comprehensive view of your users’ purchasing behaviour. You can track product views, add-to-cart actions, transactions, and more.

Building reports and dashboards

1. Create custom reports: Google Analytics provides a variety of standard reports, but you can also create custom reports tailored to your needs. For example, you can build a report that tracks the performance of your lead generation forms or see how visitors from specific referral sources are converting on your website.
2. Set up custom dashboards: If you prefer to have all your key metrics in one place, you can create custom dashboards. A dashboard allows you to combine multiple reports and see them all at once. This is helpful for tracking overall campaign performance or monitoring specific KPIs in real-time.

Using funnels in Google Analytics

1. Create a funnel visualization: GA4 offers funnel analysis, which allows you to track the steps users take on their way to conversion. You can set up custom funnels to track specific actions in your marketing funnel, such as form submissions, clicks on your CTA buttons, or product purchases.
2. Monitor and optimise your funnel: Once your funnel is set up, you can monitor the conversion rates at each step. This helps identify where users are dropping off and allows you to optimise your funnel to improve conversion rates.

Setting up alerts and notifications

1. Set up custom alerts: In Google Analytics, you can set up custom alerts to notify you when specific metrics hit a certain threshold. For example, you can set an alert to notify you if your bounce rate exceeds a certain percentage or if your conversion rate drops below a target level.
2. Use email reports: Google Analytics allows you to schedule email reports to be sent to your team or stakeholders. You can set up daily, weekly, or monthly reports, ensuring that everyone is kept up to date on your campaign performance.

Conclusion

Google Analytics is a powerful and cost-effective tool for B2B marketers who want to track website performance, measure campaign success, and monitor user behaviour. It offers a solid foundation for understanding how your audience interacts with your website and content. However, as your needs become more complex, tools like Amplitude or Mixpanel may be more suitable for advanced product and user behaviour analysis. By following this guide, you can start using Google Analytics to improve your marketing strategy and gain deeper insights into your audience’s actions.