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Sunday, March 19, 2017

A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Google Analytics’ Enhanced Ecommerce Features

You’re already an SEO sensei. You’re a content creator, PPC pro, marketing maven, and analytics ace. If you need it for online success, you’re aware of it and on top of it.

But if you’re only using “regular” old Google Analytics, you’re missing out on a ton of valuable and free data that could help you increase revenue, engagement, and clicks. That’s the ecommerce trifecta. How do you get there?

Three words: enhanced ecommerce plugin.

Introduced about two years ago, the Google Analytics enhanced ecommerce plugin – or ec.js – offers up the kind of data you could only dream of in the past. And yet, many ecommerce sites still aren’t using it.

Out With the Old

The old way: Analytics collected data after a purchase, typically using a destination goal (such as your “thanks for buying!” page). You could track number of impressions, the conversion rate, and the value of those sales.

That’s all helpful stuff, no doubt. If you’re an intermediate user, you might even be tracking, comparing, and analyzing other statistics to guide your marketing. Nothing wrong with that.

But as an ecommerce site, wouldn’t it be nice to have beneficial data about customer behavior before they buy?

Enter the ec.js plugin.

The new way: the entire customer journey – from arriving at a page, through research, evaluation, purchase, and even returns – is tracked and collected.

What Can the Plugin Do?

A little bit of everything you need:

Customer behavior at every stage of the funnel – before, during, and after a purchase.
Detailed reports on average order value, percentage of visitors who added items to the carts, average number of items in an order, affiliate records (number of transactions, revenue, and AOV from affiliates sending traffic to your portal), and cart abandonment rates.
How, when, and where customers are initiating a purchase and/or abandoning it – at which step in your funnel are you losing them?
Engagement – views and purchases.
Product coupon reports to see transactions and profit revenue per order (are coupons actually helping?).
And more…

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But it’s all there for the taking. The only issue is that installation is a lot more complicated than just turning it on.

For our purposes here, I’m going to assume you’re familiar with the basics of Analytics.

Installing the Enhanced Ecommerce Plugin

Let’s not beat around the bush: this is not easy, quick, or simple. It requires an understanding of javascript and coding that not everyone possesses. Avoid the headaches and frustration that will inevitably come with doing it yourself and consider outsourcing to an experienced web developer that can handle the tricky bits for you.

Alternatively, if you’re lucky, your ecommerce platform may be one with built-in integration, including:

Shopify and their paid Actionable Google Analytics app for $39/month.
WordPress with WooCommerce users can try the Enhanced Ecommerce Google Analytics Plugin.
Magento and their Enhanced Ecommerce extension.

The Enhanced Ecommerce plugin should not be used with the Ecommerce plugin (which tracks transaction and item data). If you previously implemented the Ecommerce plugin, you should either create and use a new property (and work with multiple trackers), or migrate your existing property from Ecommerce to Enhanced Ecommerce (by removing and replacing references with the enhanced code).

If you opt for the DIY route, installing the plugin can be accomplished in three steps:

Ensure you’re using Universal Analytics, as ec.js will only work with that protocol. If you’re still using Classic Analytics, you need to update to Universal (you’ll see a
“Universal Analytics Upgrade” link in the Property column on the Admin tab).
Install the appropriate ec.js tracking code on every page of your website that you want to track.
Once everything’s in place, enable Enhanced Ecommerce Settings on Analytics under Admin > View > Ecommerce Settings.

And done (if only it were that easy). Unfortunately, it’s that second step that can cause you to pull your hair out.

To load the enhanced ecommerce plugin, use the command ga(‘require’, ‘ec’); after you create your tracker object and before you use any of the specific functionality in your Analytics tracking code.

Within your tracking code, the order is all important:

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXXXXXX-X’, ‘auto’); command to create your tracking code must come first
ga(‘require’, ‘ec’); command for the enhanced ecommerce plugin must follow it
Specific plugin commands appear next (more on this below)
Finally, near the bottom, you need a command to send the data to Analytics such as ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);

You create the tracker code, load the ec.js plugin, execute the specific function(s), and then send the data, in that – and only that – sequence. Otherwise, there’s no joy.

The features of the enhanced ecommerce plugin are too extensive to examine them all here. Instead, let’s take a look at some of the best functions to try out first.

The Plugin Data Types

There are four categories of data you can collect for Analytics using the ec.js, and actions such as click, add, remove, checkout, purchase, and refund can further allow you to understand collected data falling under product or promotion.

Impressions

Information on products that have been viewed, and referred to as an impressionFieldObject.

Product

Data on the individual products viewed, added to cart, and so on. Referred to as a productFieldObject.

Promotion

Information about viewed promotions, and referred to as a promoFieldObject.

Action

Details about action related specifically to ecommerce, and referred to as an actionFieldObject.

The Plugin Features

With the Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce plugin, you can track a wide variety of events and actions with the proper command added to the tracking code. The devil in the details, of course, is finding the right command for the right page for the right feature.

Under Conversions > Ecommerce on the Analytics Reporting page, you’ll find two incredibly valuable reports to assist your business and get you started.

Shopping Behavior Analysis

This report shows concrete statistics on how many customers moved from one stage to the next of your sales funnel.

Here, you’ll see how many sessions occurred during a set period of time, how many of those left without shopping (looking at products), how many sessions with product views, how many left without adding anything to their cart, how many did add something to their cart, how many of those abandoned it, how many initiated checkout, how many abandoned checkout, and ultimately how many sessions ended in a successful transaction (a purchase was made).

Why Is Shopping Behavior Important?
Having a clear idea of where you’re losing visitors in your funnel can give you insight on how to fix it.

Lots of product views, but most leaving without adding anything to their cart? Evaluate the strength of your product descriptions, and/or consider adding product reviews, testimonials, or tutorials right on the page.

Too many people abandoning their cart without checkout? Perhaps throw in free shipping, volume discounts, BOGO promotions, or compare to check if your prices are competitive.

Checkouts initiated but then abandoned? Simplify and streamline the process. Eliminate hidden fees and surprises. Make it easy for them to buy.

Setting It Up
In order to collect the necessary data, you’ll need to implement the following commands to the following pages:

Measure Impressions on Products: use the ‘ec:addImpression’ command, along with the product ID or name. All other fields are optional. This will track the times that a visitor sees a product in a list (category page, search results, top sellers…anywhere other than its dedicated page). Where: any page where the product is listed.
Measure Clicks on Specific Products: use the ‘ec:addProduct’ command (with ID and/or name) followed by the ‘ec:setAction’, ‘click’ command. Where: any page where the product is listed. Ask your developer to use the ‘onClick’ event handler to tie the ‘onProductClick’ function.
Measure Product Detail Views: use the ‘ec:addProduct’ command followed by the ‘ec:setAction’, ‘detail’ to measure the product page views. Where: the dedicated product page.
Measure Items to Cart: use ‘ec:addProduct’ followed by ‘ec:setAction’, ‘add’ command. Ask your developer to use the ‘onClick’ event handler to tie the ‘addToCart’ function.
Where: each dedicated product page “add” button.
Measure Checkouts Initiated: use ‘ec:addProduct’ followed by the ‘ec:setAction’, ‘checkout’, {‘step’:1} command.
Measure Completed Purchases: use ‘ec:addProduct’ followed by the ‘ec:setAction’, ‘purchase’ command.

Easy and straightforward? Not at all. But seeing exactly where your numbers are dropping or bottlenecking in the funnel makes it all worthwhile.

Checkout Behavior Analysis

This report functions much like the Shopping Behavior, but it focuses strictly on the steps involved in your checkout.

Before we go any further, you need to ensure the steps of your checkout are filled in on Analytics under Admin > View > Ecommerce Settings.

Assign each step a straightforward name such as “Shipping Details”, “Payment Options”, and “Confirmation”.

Each page in your checkout funnel requires its own tracking code with appropriate plugin commands.

Use ‘ec:addProduct’ followed by the ‘ec:setAction’, ‘checkout’, {‘step’:1} command for the first page, changing the step number with each subsequent page as you move through it.

As much as 70% will abandon their shopping cart for some reason. They may be annoyed by a redirected checkout (taking them to a different domain), concerned about a sketchy looking URL (aim for http://www.yoursite.com/checkout), unhappy with unexpected charges or other surprises introduced at this late stage, or irritated by a multi or single page process (it’s worth A/B testing to determine which your customers prefer).

Another dealbreaker for many is a lack of guest checkout. Don’t force visitors to create an account with you before making a purchase, as 23% will abandon their cart according to Forrester Research. Ideally, provide them with both options (create an account, or checkout quickly as a guest).

With the Checkout Behavior report, you can see concrete numbers for each step: how many made it to step one, what was the drop-off for step two, and so on.

If you see, for example, that the bulk of your abandoned carts occur at payment options, perhaps you need to provide more choice for your customers. If too many are walking at the shipping page, you might need to offer cheaper options. Use the data to give your customers what they seem to be craving.

Other Tracking Features

The plugin does more: track refunds with the ‘ec:setAction’, ‘refund’ command, monitor products removed from carts with ‘ec:setAction’, ‘remove’, analyze product performance, internal promotions, affiliate performances, coupon effectiveness, and much, much more.

There’s more than we could possibly list here. And each one demands its own unique set of scripts and commands.

Truthfully, the complexity and required level of expertise is well beyond the average Analytics user. A knowledgeable web developer is worth their weight in gold here. They can automatically populate product details, create the necessary scripts, and troubleshoot problems as they occur. Remember the old adage: you’ve got to spend money to make money.

Your ecommerce performance data is worth the investment. That which gets monitored gets managed, right? If you don’t know where and when you’re bleeding customers and prospects, you have no chance of figuring out why. The enhanced ecommerce plugin makes it possible to track every step of a customer’s journey, from impression to transaction. Before, during, and after. That kind of data is priceless.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed? The free online Ecommerce Analytics course from Google (there are several others, including one on the Fundamentals) can give you a good introduction. Even if you’re planning on outsourcing everything, it’s a wise idea to gain at least a rudimentary understanding of what’s going on under the hood.

After all, this is your business. And the enhanced plugin gives you the tools to make it stronger, better, and more profitable.

Easy? Heck no. But nothing worthwhile ever is.

Have you implemented the Enhanced Ecommerce plugin for Google Analytics? What obstacles – and solutions – did you encounter? Leave your comments below.

About the Author: Aaron Agius is an experienced search, content and social marketer. He has worked with some of the world’s largest and most recognized brands to build their online presence. See more from Aaron at Louder Online, their Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Google Analytics’ Enhanced Ecommerce Features posted first on Kissmetrics Blog

from Blogger http://scottmcateerblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-step-by-step-guide-to-using-google.html

from Scott McAteer https://scottmcateer.wordpress.com/2017/01/04/a-step-by-step-guide-to-using-google-analytics-enhanced-ecommerce-features/

from WordPress https://dianesaddler.wordpress.com/2017/01/04/a-step-by-step-guide-to-using-google-analytics-enhanced-ecommerce-features/

from Diane Saddler http://dianesaddler.tumblr.com/post/155404625624
from Tumblr https://jillfleisher.tumblr.com/post/155404861486

5 Surprising Marketing Predictions for 2017 – and What We’ve Learned from 2016

2016 has been an exciting year full of unexpected booms and busts in the marketing and technology world, making us look toward 2017 with eager anticipation. So what predictions came true and which ones started with a bang, but ultimately fizzled out? Let’s take a closer look:

1. Blended Marketing Continued to Dominate in 2016

To the surprise of no one who monitors these kinds of things, mobile marketing continued to dominate the web as I predicted back at the end of 2015. However, just as the incredible rise of ad blockers on the web has filtered out much of the advertising noise, so too are consumer bombarded by omni-channel offers that don’t really meet their needs, or happen at inopportune times.

As a result, consumers are being much more selective about the apps they install, the sites they visit and the emails they receive. If you’re not doing enough to stay at the top of their minds in ways that aren’t intrusive, you’re giving yourself a one-way ticket to UnsubscribeLand.

This is why many businesses look at omni-channel as more risk than reward. Do you really want to be everywhere the customer is all the time? Does the customer want you to be? Are you more of an elegant butterfly in their minds, or a pesky fly? If you don’t take the time to refine and chart your marketing course appropriately, they’ll make that decision for you.

Social media and mobile media continued to blur the lines with integrated shopping, recommendations, videos and reviews – creating an even greater push to get noticed among the amalgamated chunk of product pitches, retargeting ads and “I’m-an-authority-look-at-me” videos. As more and more advertisers step up to the plate, they look at what others are doing and then copy their efforts – rather than test on their own to see what their unique audience would respond to.

And, in an effort to get in on this big, blended push, Google shifted its search results to include video, recent news, location information and other details to help match the user with their search request even faster and more thoroughly than before.

So if everything’s coming together in a more finely-tuned customer experience, what didn’t really take off as well as we expected it to?

2. From Lifestyle Apps to Augmented Reality

I had originally predicted that 2016 would see the rise and greater adoption of lifestyle apps – meaning apps that people installed as a reflection of who they were. These could be a combination fitness-weather-diet tracker app rather than having apps for all three of these items. But the looming spectre of data overages constantly nipping at their heels means developers have tended to go easy on what’s available via app versus the much more open and accommodating web.

What stirred everyone’s imagination was augmented reality. The undisputed summer hit was Pokemon Go, but it, too, failed to gain much traction after the initial buzz wore off. Still, it was a masterpiece of gamification and as mobile becomes more powerful, we can look forward to seeing what augmented reality can do – particularly when you’re able to bring together the aforementioned apps into an all-in-one experience that isn’t just helpful, but subtly addictive too.

3. Talk To Me – Dash Buttons and the Internet of Things

Voice-guided search, wearable devices and innovations like the Amazon Echo and Google Home are starting to bridge the gap between the internet you access on your computer, and the internet you access everywhere.

Awkward attempts to blend e-commerce with that always-on, on-demand functionality has come out in the form of Amazon Dash buttons – WiFi connected devices that let you instantly order your favorite household products, but they’re more of a novelty than a really useful and innovative design. Watch them become as memorable and curious as the CueCat.

What will be changing for marketers is an increasing investment in understanding analytics and getting a truly cross-channel view of the consumer. Rather than throwing out a bunch of things that the company “thinks” the customer might want, they’re finally gathering enough intelligence (and enough of an understanding to know what to do with it), that they can track a consumer from a search on their home computer to a product description page on their mobile phone, to an order form on their company laptop.

This is known as advanced attribution, and it’s going to change the way we market to customers in ways we probably can’t even imagine. But think of the potential of engaging that consumer at the right time and place, on the right device, when they’re at the right stage of the buying cycle, and you can see precisely how much of a game-changer this technology is.

4. A Bigger Focus on Tools and Services that Fill in the Gaps

Things like predictive analytics and personalization tools are great – but they’re mostly in a vacuum. That means you can’t really leverage them to see the big picture, as well as the granular details you need in order to make decisions with confidence.

Expect innovations in 2017 to help bridge the gaps with many of these services, allowing for greater integrations with existing systems and a better, visual picture of what all that information really means. Kissmetrics is one such type of service. Rather than plop a bunch of analytical data in your lap, it zeroes in on who is doing what, and allows you to track and monitor their engagement across devices.

Other types of services that are not even part of the analytics industry are popping up to fill in the empty spaces left by other innovators. Uber, Airbnb, Amazon Echo/Google Home and many other services like these are becoming ubiquitous in our lifestyle because of the service they provide — a service we never even knew we needed until we saw its potential.

Tools like these are poised to change the way we market on the web, and you can expect even more integrations with popular software and SaaS products to broaden their reach and capabilities.

5. The Power and Passion of Social Media – Who Decides What You Get to See?

Although this doesn’t just apply to marketing, the U.S. election was watched, dissected, ranted and raved over across social media platforms. So much so, that “fake news” and allegations started littering people’s news feeds.

But this then begs the question – should you encapsulate yourself in a bubble – seeing only what you want to see, or should companies give you a little bit of everything and let you choose accordingly? Who decides? Social media has a very powerful and passionate audience on its side – and a significant amount of data that it’s going to have to make some definitive and perhaps unexpected decisions on. After all, not offering a balance can affect user engagement, and losing user engagement is the one thing that no social network wants to imagine – it’s their lifeblood. How they plan to approach this particular conundrum remains to be seen, but you can bet that eventually they’ll be forced to decide – and not everyone may agree with the results.

What Do You Think is in Store for 2017?

Do you think we’ll see some surprising changes on how we market to consumers in 2017? What do you think will happen? Share your own predictions with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversion rates through compelling copywriting, user-friendly design and smart analytics analysis. Learn more at iElectrify.com and download your free web copy tune-up and conversion checklist today!