Merchant Tips: Using Google’s Universal Analytics to Add Revenue with Data

Search remains the backbone of every E-commerce and M-commerce business. While all kinds of exciting promotions are possible in social media and content marketing, you ultimately want your business to be there when people are searching to buy stuff.

The problem that most marketers struggle with is simple: how do they take advantage of the data they have to make their business appear in front of the right people at the right time? With mobile, this is harder than ever, which is why Google has come up with a solution. That solution: Universal Analytics.

Google UA is a platform where you can gather together data from your customers’ and potential customers’ browsing on websites, in mobile apps, and on digital devices like game consoles. With Universal Analytics, you can find out how much traffic you’re getting from organic searches, referrals, and particular search terms. You can also see how long customers spend on your site, what they look at, and what is causing bounce rates to go up or down.

The best value of UA is how it segments customers. Not only can you group visitors into geolocation and new or returning traffic, but you can also segment audiences according to what they actually do on site and off site. The biggest benefit to this is that you can see what is turning customers on (and off), and modify your site and mobile app to give customers more of what they want and less of what they don’t.

If used correctly, Universal Analytics will help E-commerce vendors make more money, so it’s definitely worth learning. It’s also worth keeping abreast of, because Google is constantly improving and refining the platform. Google offers a simple guide to upgrading to the platform on their site, as well as a full list of features and benefits for users.