Business owners always ask, “How do I know which marketing activity worked?” Luckily, with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) this question has become easier to answer. GA4 is the latest iteration of Google’s website analytics platform. In this Juxt Learn Tip of the week, you’ll see how to leverage website traffic data features to measure website conversions by traffic source. Just ask our digital campaign development experts–not all leads are created equal—some traffic sources may be more likely to convert into paying customers, while others may simply be browsing or not be ready to take action and purchase your products or services. That’s why GA4 has different data categories for tracking user activity. The first category is “events.” A website event is a collection of all user interactions and system occurrences. Website events can include things like scrolling, page views, etc.
A website conversion is a specific, often smaller, list of activities users could engage in on your website that are valuable for your business. Examples of conversions would be touching a phone number on your mobile website and calling, completing a form, subscribing to a newsletter etc.
One way our Troupe describes the difference between these two data categories is to imagine you are hosting an in-person networking event. The event venue in this scenario would be the equivalent of your website. You send out invites to your professional network several different ways: social media posts inviting colleagues, lovely printed invitations mailed to contacts’ offices, and emails to several lists of local professionals. Now it’s the day of the event. Attendees walking in the door is much like website traffic. As people walk in the door, you track how they heard of the event. In this fictitious scenario, website events are literally everything the users are doing, they share business cards, they go to each other’s booths, they buy drinks and enjoy appetizers. Website conversions would be actions like the number of follow up meetings set.
Tracking how people get to your event and their actions after they arrive can help you plan better for your next event. Maybe those beautiful printed invitations were pricey but every person who attended after receiving one set up a follow up meeting. This is how marketers look at incoming website traffic. Social media outreach can be broken down into relevant platforms and marketing campaigns can be tracked. Evaluating the conversions from each of these efforts can inform your budget planning and campaign tactics to ensure those high-converting traffic sources remain supported and active as the year unfolds. With this video, our Troupe wants to empower businesses to gain a deeper understanding of where their customers are traveling to on their company website.
Don’t let the complexity of analytics intimidate you, with our step-by-step instructions you’ll be able to harness actionable traffic insights you need to propel your business forward.
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