The Tracking Concept – How to Plan Your Web Analysis

After we discussed important tools for web analysis in our last two articles, The Best Tools for a Successful Start in Web Analysis and Basic Google Analytics Configuration – What You Should Consider, we now need to plan further tracking implementation.

There are often various reasons to extend the standard tracking of Google Analytics. As an agency, we are frequently asked whether it is possible to analyze specific website elements like buttons, sliders, videos, and similar items with Google Analytics. Tracking external campaigns or newsletters is also part of it, as is setting up goals in Google Analytics.

This is where the tracking concept comes in. It ensures that everything necessary is examined and evaluated. It also ensures that users do not get lost in too many metrics, leaving important evaluations behind. This way, it is guaranteed that each employee receives exactly the data they need and that tracking is continuously monitored. Google itself describes the Measurement Plan as follows:

1. Document your business objectives.

2. Identify the strategies and tactics to support the objectives.

3. Choose the metrics that will be the key performance indicators.

4. Decide how you’ll need to segment your data.

5. Choose what your targets will be for your key performance indicators.

However, it should be noted that creating a Measurement Plan is only one part of executing proper tracking.

The Google Measurement Plan (as of 12/11/2015)

Before discussing the individual points of the tracking concept, it must be emphasized once again how important it is for all data to be collected correctly. Collect fewer metrics if necessary to ensure that the metrics collected are accurate and error-free. Additionally, it is crucial to collect data consistently. This means, for example, if tracking Facebook posts or newsletters, ensuring that every Facebook post or every link in each newsletter is correctly tagged. No gaps should occur here.

But what exactly does the tracking concept look like?

Step 1: Document your business objectives

The start of the tracking concept always involves understanding the workflows and goals of the company. Questions that can be asked here include:

• What is the objective of the company? What does it truly want to achieve?

• Are there different departments in the company? If so, what do they achieve and how is their contribution to the company's goal categorized?

• What hierarchy levels exist within the company?

• What is the motivation for web analysis?

• etc.

For us as an agency, this information is of enormous importance as it enables us to develop an understanding of the processes and their relevance. But these questions are also relevant for online marketing employees within companies, as few employees engage with this subject. Only when a complete understanding of the matter is present can the next step be tackled. We, therefore, work very closely with our clients during this phase to ensure that no aspect is forgotten.

Step 2: Identify the strategies and tactics to support the objectives

This step involves identifying methods and tools that support the achievement of corporate goals. It is essential to note that this must be very broad so that all instruments are considered. As an example, the outcome of this step might include topics like:

• A website exists

• AdWords are used

• Search engine optimization is continuously implemented by a five-member SEO team

• There are regularly changing discount promotions in shops

• Customers can now also pay with smartphones in shops

• Using Beacon technology, users receive marketing information at specific locations in the store directly on their smartphones

• Flyers with QR codes are printed for individual campaigns and distributed on the shopping street

• Quarterly conference calls between management and department heads are conducted

• A web analytics tool is already being used but only by one online marketing manager

• There are collaborations with external companies

• etc.

All company measures must be discussed here. Once these are known, it can then be debated which measures and tools make sense to track in the future. At this point, it is particularly important to exercise a healthy degree of moderation. Many users say that all metrics must be collected. We as an agency often intervene and argue that this only results in users getting lost in a sea of metrics, leading to frustration and them ultimately no longer utilizing web analysis. This state can even have financial repercussions for the company if, for example, it is not checked in a third tool like Google Analytics whether AdWords traffic is still performing as well as AdWords reports. Possible issues might not even be identified due to the absence of web analysis.

Step 3: Choose the metrics that will be the key performance indicators

If the goal of the web analysis software is to be used purely as a reporting tool, simple KPIs can be defined at this stage. Classic examples are:

• Number of sessions

• Pages/session

• Bounce rate

• etc.

If event tracking is used, metrics from this can also be used as KPIs.

If a comprehensive web analysis with Google Analytics is to be conducted, it is still worthwhile to determine KPIs for regular performance checks. KPIs are particularly suitable for higher hierarchy levels such as management or directors as the means of choice. This is especially true if they can be easily represented in dashboards or automated reports. Online marketing managers can then spend more time on actual web analysis and only need to deal with downstream reporting of metrics.

Step 4: Decide how you’ll need to segment your data

Now it gets into the nitty-gritty! If, for example, it was determined in one of the previous steps that scroll depth should be measured and used as a KPI, it may also be defined as a segment. Data could also be segmented by region or gender, for instance. Another example from Enhanced E-Commerce could be that only users who exit in the third step of the checkout are considered.

The rule of thumb is: to work accurately and securely, segment, segment, segment!

And exactly this needs to be represented here. How should the data be divided so that you, as the end user, get exactly the information and insights needed for your work? At this point, it's important to consider again who is working with the data, where the person is positioned within the company, and what the general workflow for the employees should look like. Which segments should be created and used company-wide, and which are only relevant for individual employees?

Step 5: Choose what your targets will be for your key performance indicators

Now that it is known what the KPIs will be and how the data is to be segmented, it must be determined what targets the individual KPIs should achieve. This can be anything but needs to be very specifically defined. Examples include:

• A particular URL was accessed

• Users spent a certain amount of time on the website

• A specific document was downloaded

• A certain scroll depth was reached

• A video was watched for at least 2 minutes

• A form was filled out

• etc.

When these are set as goals in Google Analytics, they can be much easier to check and correlate with other data. A monetary value can also be assigned to individual goals, making it easier to measure the financial success of the website with an event value.

Please Note the Following

The approach explained here must definitely be followed when defining clean tracking that goes beyond standard reporting. However, some points of this concept also cover aspects of standard reporting. For example, even with standard reporting, it must be determined which metrics are used as KPIs or which employees receive which reports, etc. Additionally, we have left out some topics in this brief explanation to avoid overwhelming you as the reader with too much information. Questions such as:

• Should there be a custom channel attribution

• How reports are delivered

• Whether custom dimensions are needed

• etc.

still need to be discussed on the way to a fully and correctly implemented tracking system.

What We Can Do for You

Would you like your tracking to be reviewed, or are you unsure if you are utilizing the full potential of Google Analytics? Have you identified opportunities to improve your tracking to increase leads? Do you want to use web analysis to more precisely optimize future online marketing measures? Then contact us and we will discuss together how a collaboration can look to usefully expand your tracking.