-
Analytics & Data
Creating (Free) A/B Tests in Google Optimize
July 9, 2018 • Morgan Jones
Executing a successful A/B test is easier said than done. The learning curve can be steep. Measuring the outcome can be confusing. Google Optimize aims to address these difficulties in ...
-
Analytics & Data
Use Google Analytics, Data Studio to Plan Inventory
June 1, 2018 • Morgan Jones
Inventory planning is essential for merchants. Overestimating inventory needs can be costly. But underestimating can be costly, too — hurting revenue and profit. Just-in-time inventory preserves cash, reduces storage needs,
-
Analytics & Data
New Google Analytics Settings Reflect GDPR Requirements
May 15, 2018 • Morgan Jones
The E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation becomes effective on May 25. Google and other data gathering services are protecting themselves by allowing users to control the data retained from customers and ...
-
Analytics & Data
Getting Started with Google Tag Manager, for Ecommerce
April 4, 2018 • Morgan Jones
Many websites lose reporting from one of their marketing or analytics platforms. The culprit is usually the removal of tags during updates to the sites. Tags are critical for ecommerce merchants. But they add clutter to websites. That's the purpose of Google Tag Manager — to manage tags and contain them in a single JavaScript snippet on all pages.
-
Analytics & Data
Use Google Analytics to Audit PPC Traffic
March 7, 2018 • Morgan Jones
Pay-per-click advertising is a key revenue driver for many ecommerce businesses. But click costs can be expensive. Ensuring that all clicks are reported accurately in Google Analytics will help make informed decisions. In this post, I'll describe a process for auditing the reporting of PPC traffic in Google Analytics. I'll offer guidance on identifying issues with PPC reporting, with insights for how to troubleshoot and fix reporting errors.
-
Analytics & Data
Google Data Studio: Track Sales, ROI from All Sources
February 6, 2018 • Morgan Jones
The proliferation of marketplaces and advertising channels represents a data challenge for ecommerce merchants. Increasingly, merchants are selling on Amazon, eBay, and Walmart, for example, in addition to their own websites. Many are now advertising beyond Google AdWords and Bing ads to other channels, such as Facebook and AdRoll. The challenge is obtaining traffic and conversion data from each of those sources.
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: 3 Reports to Customize for Ecommerce
January 3, 2018 • Morgan Jones
The standard reporting in Google Analytics works well for many ecommerce sites. But there are opportunities to enhance the default dimensions and metrics in Google Analytics, to empower online merchants even more. In this article, I'll review three ways to customize Google Analytics reports, to help merchants track key metrics and make critical decisions.
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Using Enhanced Ecommerce to Grow Revenue
December 10, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Reporting on overall revenue and revenue by channel is among the most essential data for a niche ecommerce company to grow its business. Google Analytics has a powerful revenue-reporting suite ...
-
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Detect Website Errors
October 31, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Websites sometimes break without their owners being aware. This can include errors when shoppers are browsing or checking out, which can cause serious abandonment. Identifying and correcting the errors that ...
-
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics for Ecommerce SEO
September 26, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Google and other search engines have made it challenging to identify the keywords that drive organic traffic to websites. Jill Kocher’s article, “Understanding Google’s Keyword ‘Not Provided’ Data,” provides a ...
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics Setup Checklist for Ecommerce
August 29, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Google Analytics is loaded with reports and has many settings that can be customized to enhance reporting. The following checklist is designed for ecommerce merchants. By using Google Analytics’ reporting ...
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Removing Internal Traffic and Referral Spam
August 1, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Web traffic from employees, related parties, and automated bots can distort reporting in Google Analytics. For example, including internal traffic in return-on-investment calculations can produce a lower, inaccurate percentage from ...
-
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Track Multiple Ad Channels in Purchase Cycle
July 3, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Ecommerce merchants must produce profitable traffic from their advertising efforts. Cash flow is essential. Traffic acquisition must be efficient. However, not all traffic channels drive immediate sales. Some channels assist ...
-
Analytics & Data
Measuring Offline Sales in Google Analytics
June 7, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Some of the best online shoppers do not actually purchase online. They start their purchase process by finding the product they need online, and then either call the merchant or ...
-
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Track Profitability by Product
May 5, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Niche ecommerce merchants must focus on cash flow. They do not have large capital reserves to support unprofitable investments. Although growing sales is good for the ego, growing cash flow ...
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: How to Track Marketing Campaigns
April 6, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Niche ecommerce merchants typically have limited advertising budgets and limited time to monitor their marketing activities. They need accurate data to assess the return on investment from various campaigns. Google ...
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Custom Reports, Shortcuts, Dashboards
March 1, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Ecommerce merchants need easily accessible data to make quick decisions and drive more sales. But the data used by merchants differs based on their particular circumstance. They need data that ...
-
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Optimize Shipping Rates
February 5, 2017 • Morgan Jones
One of the biggest challenges ecommerce merchants face is rising shipping rates. Thanks to Amazon, consumers expect fast, free delivery. Because niche merchants do not typically have the sales volume ...
-
Fraud Prevention
Using Google Analytics to Identify Fraudulent Orders
January 3, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Fraudulent transactions can occur for most any ecommerce company. Larger companies can invest in sophisticated fraud protection services. But smaller merchants sometimes attempt to detect fraud themselves. Back in 2014 we addressed ...
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Using Goals, Funnels to Improve Conversions
December 5, 2016 • Morgan Jones
Ecommerce merchants presumably want to convert as much traffic to sales as possible. The Google Analytics metric “Ecommerce Conversion Rate” gives merchants broad insight into their site’s conversion status. But ...
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Using Demographics, Interests for More Revenue
October 30, 2016 • Morgan Jones
Among the most important decisions a niche ecommerce company should make is to establish a value proposition, the key reason why someone should buy the company’s products and services. Without a clear value proposition, which ...
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Using Site Speed Data to Improve Conversions
September 30, 2016 • Morgan Jones
Niche ecommerce merchants face challenges in competing with big box retailers. Providing an online shopping experience on a tight budget that is comparable to the larger sites (with huge budgets)
-
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Using Site Search Data to Grow Revenue
August 31, 2016 • Morgan Jones
Do you wonder how people navigate to find products on your ecommerce site? What about visitors that hit just one or two pages and then leave, without buying anything? Did they ...
-
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Optimize Bing Ads, Other Channels
August 3, 2016 • Morgan Jones
Ecommerce merchants strive to optimize their returns on investment from advertising. Google Analytics can help, with its integration to Google AdWords that allows ecommerce sites to view advertising spend, revenue, and ...
-
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Identify Conversion Weaknesses
July 1, 2016 • Morgan Jones
It is essential to optimize sales conversion rates to be successful as a niche ecommerce merchant. Potential customers are unforgiving. They will not struggle through a purchase process or checkout ...