6 Quick Google Analytics Tricks for Your eCommerce Store

Are you making the most of Google Analytics with your e-commerce store?

Google AnalyticsEven if you’ve registered your site with the free online reporting software, it’s highly likely that you’re not incorporating it to the full extent of its capabilities. After all, with so many different tabs, statistics and graphs about customers, conversions and content it’s easy to miss key aspects of Google Analytics.

Here are six simple tricks to help you to get more from your online store:

Learn the basics

If you don’t know your bounce rate from your exit rate or your referral traffic from your direct traffic then you won’t be getting as much out of Analytics as you could. So swot up on the basic terms, what they mean and how they can reflect what’s happening on your site.

Discount your own data

If you’re passionate about your website, you’ll be spending hours browsing on it every day. But your visits could be skewing what ‘real’ visitors are doing. Thankfully, there’s a way to block Analytics’ tracking script using your hosts file and keep your visits from being reported. Find your hosts file in Windows in C:WindowsSystem32drivers or in /private/etc/ on Mac and then simply copy and paste the following code in your host’s file:

127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com 127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com

This is easily reversible, but as long as the code is there, Analytics won’t track you – giving you a more representative example of what your customers are doing on your site.

Enable site speed

Nowadays, because the majority of people online are using a broadband connection, when they log on to your site they don’t want to wait even a second or two for the page to load. What’s more, you’re increasingly likely to rank on Google’s search engines if you have a rapid page loading time. The Site Speed tab in Content will tell you how quickly your pages are being loaded. If some pages take longer than others to load and also have a high bounce rate then you’ll be aware that the page needs sorting out.

Set alerts if traffic drops Alerts

You can set up an alert on Analytics that lets you know if any data drops drastically. For instance, if you want to know if your day visits drop by a certain percentage, you can create an alert for that – allowing you to tend to the problem quickly. Simply go to Admin > Assets > Custom Alerts > Create New Alert. Then you can choose what you’d like to be alerted about, when you want to be alerted as well as the condition, the value and the comparison of the statistic.

Check multi-channels

With smartphones, affiliate sites and tablets changing the ways that people view and buy our products online, e-commerce stores are waking up to how well a multi-channel approach can work. Analytics’ new multi-channel functions can show when one customer is looking at your site on different channels – giving you the understanding to develop your marketing efforts across the board.

Enable site search

Do you have a search bar on your site? If not, you’re missing out – not only do visitors find it a simple, accessible way to search and buy your products, but on Analytics you can also view the exact terms people are searching for. This allows you to focus your offering towards their specific needs, or gives you content ideas if you have a blog.