Category

Analytics & Data

Our coverage of analytics recognizes that data drives ecommerce but collecting that data and interpreting it can be confusing. Our huge library of Google Analytics articles ranges from basic setup to the sophisticated interpretation of on-site activity of visitors and customers. We also analyze data security, blockchain topics, and ancillary tools such as Google Tag Manager and Google Data Studio.

Analytics & Data
Which Promotions Perform Best for Your Ecommerce Business?

February 11, 2018 • Anna Kayfitz

Ecommerce merchants typically run promotions throughout the year. Some are seasonal, such as "Free Shipping on Valentine’s Day Flowers" and "20% Off for Cyber Monday." Others focus on product categories, such as “Free Socks with Purchase of Any Jeans." But how does a merchant know if a promotion was successful? That's the purpose of this article.
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
Measuring What Matters for SEO (Hint: It’s Not Rankings)

August 18, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

When measuring natural search performance, use the key performance indicators that matter to the bottom line. While each piece of data has its place in managing SEO, only visits and revenue ...
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
Ad Blockers Can Affect Analytics Reporting

June 8, 2017 • Hamlet Batista

Ad blocking software doesn’t just block ads. It also blocks most tracking beacons used by analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and others. Jason Packer, with Quantable, an optimization ...
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
Bad Product Data Hurts SEO

May 19, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown

The quality of product data impacts natural search performance on ecommerce sites, far beyond whether meta tags are optimized. Product data isn’t traditionally thought of as contributing to SEO, but ...
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
Using Google Data Studio for SEO

May 3, 2017 • Hamlet Batista

In “Using Server Logs to Uncover SEO Problems,” I explained that web server logs can be helpful, but the data is raw and requires transformation and analysis. In this post,
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 ...
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
SEO: Measuring Performance of the Long Tail

August 26, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

The long tail should drive most of the natural search performance for ecommerce companies. But whether it actually does is another matter. Don’t assume that the long tail is working for you ...
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
10 Google Analytics Custom Alerts, for Ecommerce

July 12, 2016 • Brad Booth

Google Analytics provides a way to receive email and SMS alerts when something important occurs on your website, such as a traffic spike or a sudden traffic drop. The alerts ...
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 ...
Analytics & Data
Using Real-time Analytics to Boost Conversions

May 6, 2016 • Pamela Hazelton

During a time of demanding shoppers, online merchants need to quickly address the most critical issues. Real-time analytics can help catch mistakes before they become massive deal killers. By reviewing real-time data,
Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Value Soft Conversions

April 25, 2016 • Steve Hammer

The fantasy of ecommerce is that every user who visits a site is ready to buy. The data tells us otherwise. More than 90 percent of users leave without purchasing, and the ...
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: 3 Ways to Use Transaction Data to Grow Revenue

March 29, 2016 • Steve Hammer

You’d be hard pressed to find an ecommerce operator that didn’t think that revenue was the most important metric. Revenue is easy to track, and most ecommerce platforms integrate revenue ...
Analytics & Data
For Ecommerce Analytics, Start with a Strategy

February 17, 2016 • Steve Hammer

When the Powerball lottery hit $1 billion, a company had a brilliant marketing idea. It spent $20 on a lottery ticket and offered to share the winnings with anyone who ...

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