How Google Analytics Can Guide Creative & Media
Google Analytics gathers more than the number of website pageviews during a given time period; it is constantly gathering information on your customer. Once collected, this information can provide consumer insights to guide both creative design and media decisions.
With Google Analytics, one can divide site visitors into very granular segments including, but not limited to visitors by: device (Mobile visitors), Language, Hour of the Day, and even Days Since Last Visit. These metrics can be combined, mixed, and matched to create very specific audience segments.
Creative Design from Google Analytics
Analytical data from Google provides insights into regional consumer preferences. Examining Custom Segments of site visitors by country, state, or city, and then overlaying which products were most viewed and purchased by those segments, can guide print design. For example, if visitors from City A repeatedly view and purchase one product, then media placements in City A should feature that product. Google Analytics City segments are so localized that ad placements in City A can feature one product, while ads placed in Suburb of City A can feature another.
Another way Google Analytics can guide creative is through keywords. Keywords provide a wealth of information into how potential customers reach a website. Consumers using ‘branded keywords’ to reach a site indicate their decision to use that brand. Category keywords driving purchases on a site indicate successful SEM efforts, well structured landing pages, and weaker brand loyalty. These insights can guide offline creative by identifying where to place the creative emphasis – on the product, price, or brand.
Media from Google Analytics
Google Analytics can also guide media decisions. As previously mentioned, the device used by consumers to access your site is trackable through Google Analytics. Research may indicate a strong mobile audience that might be better reached through mobile ads, apps, or other majority-mobile outlets such as Twitter. Likewise, poor search engine traffic numbers may suggest the need for increased SEO or Paid Search efforts. How consumers reach a website is as important as what they do once there.
Clearly, Google Analytics provides a plethora of data regarding website use. However, it is the analysis of that data that generates actionable insights into consumer behavior and gives the data value. These insights are not limited to recommending modifications to a website, as they can also be used to drive a variety of decisions regarding the presentation and media mix of a brand.
