Using GA Attribution Reports to Optimize Ad Spend

Over the past couple of months, I have spoken several times to a variety of audiences about Attribution, specifically about using the Attribution reports in Google Analytics. It’s a topic that doesn’t get a lot of spotlight even though the insights and findings can help you to significantly influence Return on Ad Spend (ROAS hereafter) for integrated ad campaigns from DoubleClick and AdWords. You might be questioning me when I say this topic ‘doesn’t get a lot of spotlight’, because yes, Attribution is a major buzzword and if you’ve been at any analytics conference in the past 5 years you’re sure to have had your fill of hearing it. What I mean though, is that we don’t often hear much about actually using these reports, from an analyst’s perspective. So
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A/B Testing Dried Mangoes for Fun and Learning

Recently, a coworker brought back a bag of dried mangoes from the Philippines as a gift for me, telling me that they are the best dried mangoes in Southeast Asia (hereafter, SEA). This coworker happened to be from the Philippines and was for sure a bit biased in her opinion here… Another coworker sitting next to me overheard the convo and piped in, saying that everyone wants to claim that mangoes from their country are the best. Apparently, this was an ongoing and playfully heated convo in the office. I’ve been known to host data-driven social tasting events in Mountain View for the Google Analytics team, such as a Scotch tasting, Craft Beer and Guac-off, and Whiskey and baked goods. These events are always fun, get people talking and interacting,
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New Default Position for Widgets Added to a GA Dashboards!

Some time ago, a few analyst friends tweeted about wishing new widgets in Google Analytics dashboards could be added to the bottom by default rather than the top. As an analyst who has made and maintained MANY GA dashboards, I couldn’t agree more. By adding the widget to the top, the analyst is forced to immediately re-organize their dashboard widgets as they likely already had a particular setup they liked and the new widget disrupts that. Adding it to the bottom of the dashboard instead allows for easier customization and less user frustration. <— this was the justification I used when I submitted this feature request/change. Well, I’m SO excited to report that after a short wait (ok, a decent wait, but hey, we were busy building the Google Analytics
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Mixing Google Analytics Dimensions and Metrics

Following Krista’s excellent post on using secondary dimensions in Google Analytics, this post will explain the GA represents your data using its internal data model and why it’s important to understand this. You’ll see that certain combinations of metrics and dimensions don’t mean what you might think, and that some are actually completely invalid. We’ll cover examples of secondary dimensions and custom reports where seemingly sensible reports are invalid and how to spot and avoid these mistakes. Introduction We see the world through our eyes, we smell the world through our nose, we taste it in our mouths and we feel it in our finger-tips. We perceive the world using the same senses but, philosophically we have unique, individual perspectives when we think about the world and what it means
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Testing with a Rapid Optimization Plan

If you’ve ever set out to A/B test a whole site redesign, you must have come across the question of ‘What do we do if the new site, that we’ve spent so much time and money on, doesn’t win?’ That’s a fair question. A very fair one. In fact, if you are not asking yourself that question before starting down the road of testing a site redesign, you should reevaluate your testing plan, because it’s a very real possibility that the new site will not, in fact, perform better than the old one. That could happen for many reasons: users are used to your old site, and seeing a new one may be a jarring or disorienting experience to them you may have optimized the heck out of the old
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Segments – An Analyst’s Best Friend! Part 2: Secondary Dimensions

In part 1, I wrote about the details of Advanced Segments. They are incredibly powerful and will help you take your analysis to the next level. But as I mentioned in that article, when I think about segmentation, it comes in two forms in Google Analytics: 1. Advanced segments      a. Out of the box segments such as New vs Returning Users, Device Type, and traffic types      b. Custom Segments that you create 2. Secondary Dimensions In part 2, I’ll be going into details on Secondary Dimensions. So – the Who, What (for), When, Where, and How of Secondary Dimensions. Who: Anyone can use them, and you don’t need anything beyond user level permissions (basic permissions) to take full advantage of Secondary Dimensions. What: Similar to Advanced
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Segments – An Analyst’s Best Friend! Part 1

Advanced Segments are quite possibly the most powerful slice-and-dice tool available in Google Analytics. Recently, however, it came to my attention that even some of our biggest and most advanced users are not using/under-utilizing advanced segments! When I think about segmentation, it comes in two forms in Google Analytics: 1. Advanced segments Out of the box segments such as New vs Returning Users, Device Type, and traffic types Custom Segments that you create 2.Secondary Dimensions Because these are both large topics in and of themselves, I’ll be splitting this post into 2 parts. In part 1 I’ll talk about Advanced Segments, and part 2 will cover Secondary Dimensions. So – the Who, What (for), When, Where, and How of Advanced Segments: Who: Anyone can create them! Segments are created at
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Data Driven Design

Designing a new website is a big task. You must take many things into consideration: ease of use & functionality, mobile responsiveness, content, flow, graphics, etc. On top of that, you need to ensure that all of the analytics tracking is properly setup and collecting the necessary data for you to report on success. With so many considerations, it’s important to look at what your users are already telling you about it’s ease of use and helpfulness before you begin to make decisions about how to redesign and change it. Key metrics to consider when thinking about a website redesign: – number of unique users & sessions in a given time period – top content by pageviews/events/goal conversions/etc – funnel success (newsletter signups, contact form submits, checkouts, etc) – device
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Podcast Guest: Jumpstart with Jeffalytics

A few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down (virtually) with an industry friend, Jeff Sauer, who is an expert in all things Google Analytics & AdWords and who has recently kicked off a podcast series he’s calling ‘Jumpstart with Jeffalytics’. I had the distinct honor of being guest #2 (after the Wizard of Moz, Rand Fishkin) for Jeff’s new podcast and now that it’s live I wanted to share Jeff’s recap of the episode as well as a link to where you can find the podcast. I had a great time chatting with Jeff and recording this session, and am humbled by his kind words of support throughout. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support and friendship of industry peers such as Jeff and
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