Analytics tips you should already know

Recently Steve and i took a trip down to Portland for a Google Analytics seminar. it went pretty much as expected, lots of discussion about reg ex characters and code modifications, more googley goodness than i could handle. by the time we got back from portland my brain was spinning faster than hunter s. thompson on a roller coaster and subconsciously i think i blocked out that i was ever even in portland. that was, at least, until today when a friend who is currently running an ecommerce site mentioned those three words known to retailers and marketers worldwide"¦. "back to school"

As if a spell had been lifted those faithful words seemed to have brought back everything i had learned in portland and delivered me from my google analytics induced delirium. i quickly snapped to attention, this is game time for many ecommerce sites. this is the time for ecommerce sites to not only "sell, sell, sell," but to "learn, learn, learn." alas many sites are focused on the "˜sale' and neglect all of the great data they could be getting to help them increase sales. thus the top 5 back to school analytics tips were born.

1. get analytics! - if your site doesn't have any sort of analytics you are a step behind. there are all types of tools out there to measure site metrics, but you need to decide now. if you are on a budget and want something that is free and reliable, go with google analytics.
   
2. set filters - once you have confirmed your tracking software is working you will want to be sure you are filtering out visits and page views from yourself and employees. any worthwhile tool will have a filtering feature that should allow you to either block or separate data from your reports. filters will play a large role in your analytics and neglecting to use them may result in largely inaccurate data.
   
3. customize "“ particularly in google analytics it is important to customize your dashboard. i am often surprised by how few people take advantage of google's dashboard. not only will you save yourself time by laying out your most important data in one central place, but i find having all of my favorite metrics in one place allows me to see patterns i would have missed otherwise.
   
4. set goals "“ goals are always a huge part of analytics, especially for ecommerce sites that need to track sales. the most widely used goal is the basic conversion which typically measures the number of sales that have been made. the easiest way of setting up a conversion is by having a single page that is obtainable only by completing the conversion or checkout process, a good example of this is the "thank you page" that users are typically sent to after submitting their credit card information.
   
5. don't just sit there, fix it! "“ the final tip is simple, if your analytics show something is wrong, try fixing it sooner rather than later. if you're shopping cart is being abandoned nine times out of ten that is probably something that needs immediate attention. the same thing goes for marketing campaigns big or small, if you see that a campaign isn't moving in the right direction it is probably time to look at that campaigns approach.

It all comes down to this: the more you know about how people find your site and behave once they are in your site, the better you will be at catering to their needs. the better you are at catering to your customers needs the more successful you will become.