Feedgrowth

Follow the yellow brick road Use analytics to track online customer behavior

Posted by tom klein May 23, 2007 at 2:30 am

Web site hits don’t mean anything. What’s important is creating the customer outcomes you want.

Google offers a free tool called Google Analytics. It lets you see if your website users are exhibiting desired behavior and achieving specific goals. Two days ago, the feed growth! idea entitled Two Thumbs Up generated 33 click throughs (as shown on this report) to the intimidatingly cool website of Toolbox Design - our graphic design partner.

Consider what the desired outcomes are for your site and use tools like Google Analytics to determine if you’re getting the behavior you want. We could have just as easily tracked listening to a podcast or downloading a PDF sales brochure. Do you know what your customers did on your site on Monday?

Implementing the Google Analytics capability requires putting code on each of your web pages (which isn't visible to users). This code will also help you track many other important data - including location of visitors (what state), length of visit, number of pages visited, etc. You can learn more at this feature overview.

For almost every company, the website is a strategic asset - not just something that the IT department does. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer to determine the objective for every page of your site. Once the objectives are clear, apply metrics to determine if your site is delivering or not. We'll be returning to this topic to cover what to do when the site doesn't do what you want it to.

Discount Tire Case Study Review of Google Analytics Yahoo! Conversion Analytics

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One Comment on “Use analytics to track online customer behavior”

Great concept launch. Love the illustrations, graphic design, and easy click ability. Best part of the concept is its execution. Short. Easy to understand. And relevant. Can't wait for the next tip. You're adding value with every word. Keep spreading the Good word. Intelligent Analytics and web-page management, what a concept! What a great way to help others and show your competencies.
Tim O'Keefe posted on 23/ 07 at 6:10 am