by shama@camphorsolutions.comGoogle Analytics is a type of analytical service provided by Google to track and monitor website traffic and application traffic at mobile and other related events. It is a part of the Google marketing platform which works as a separate platform and gives detailed reports of the web traffic.
This service began in November 2005 after it acquired the web analysis statistical software program, Urchin. The Google Analytics service is the most widely used web platform used by users as of 2019. It is an application found on the web or as an Android or iOS application. Google Analytics consists of an integrated software development kit that helps in gathering data from various sources. Various tools help in the development of applications by having a debugger, compiler, or software framework.
Google Analytics is the most widely used application as it’s free of cost. The application has a user base ranging from individual marketers, new start-up organizations, and even big enterprises. It offers detailed data as reports that can be customized or manipulated accordingly by users. The website data comes in the form of who is visiting the concerned site, what is being read and information about the purchase and downloads being done.
However, there are certain loopholes associated with Google Analytics. The data that is collected is kind of an aggregate or as facts and figures in a collective form. Analytical software is considered good when the accuracy of the data is matched well. The more accurate the data better the analytics. So, let us look into some Google Analytics
loopholes that need corrections or closure.
Google Analytics Loopholes
Loopholes can be related to glitches in a system or adequacy that needs to be removed or amended as soon as possible. Some of the Google Analytics loopholes are:
Vanity Metrics
Vanity metrics can be described as the increased number of traffic as in users or followers with likes and comments. This could be an overnight increment or a quick build-up that occurred in a few days. It is like an analytics measurement that happens by visitors-to-lead or click-by-rate conversions that are calculated in the form of concrete figures analysing the web traffic.
You may feel elated with more than 100,000 likes or page views of your content posted online but the truth behind is different to what it seems to be. One of the Google analytics loopholes is not to fall for these vanity measurements as quoted. The marketers will look around the analytics at Google by heading over to the option of ‘Behaviour ’ and then to ‘All Pages’ where the exact calculation is seen in the source/medium option. Figures are shown under the options: Page views, unique page views, Bounce rate, and Exit rates.
The percentage of web traffic showing in the bounce rate and the exit rates are the truth you need to see. The people who visited your content just came and went with a shot. Exit rates show the conversion percentage as to how many are stuck around on your webpage. The Google Analytics platform helps you analyse your page and set goals for conversion and lets you see it individually for each page. One of the most important Google Analytics loopholes that a person needs to be aware of as there will be phone calls coming in.
Tracking Phone Calls on the Page
Whenever there is a decrease in the network traffic or a downfall in the conversion rates, a contact number may help you get the desired increment. Any phone call for your content, as an enquiry or a buyer, should be well-tracked. You can get full tracking information of the event as to when a person is clicking your number and placing a call. Just setting up a website and getting random phone calls with no traceable record would be equivalent to a no- conversion rate.
A code can be set up on your page before the phone number that you have mentioned. This code gets you integrated with Google Analytics. You can look down the option of top events under the behaviour section and see the data of phone calls coming in. You can even add the option of the landing page to discover the source of the phone calls ringing in. This is like setting up a caller ID with Google Analytics instead of picking up every phone call and tracing the source behind it.
Conversions Are Not Customers But Just Leads
One of the most misleading Google Analytics loopholes is taking conversions on your page to be the customers. Ideally, they are the main lead that needs to be converted into consumers. Whenever there is an ending day or the end of the month, these figures hold a lot of relevance to further your upscale your process.
It can be explained as when you see the analytics and realise that the organic search just got 2 new leads while the social got 11 leads in comparison. Suddenly, the decision came to drop the organic campaign and go ahead with the social media campaign. However, this is not what it really seems to be. These leads are not 11 customers but just conversions as leads.
These leads need to be converted to customers. We make the decision based on this micro- conversion rather than the sales. This can be explained, for instance, by the two leads from organic get converted to customers at a lesser price than the 11 leads of social. This helped in increasing the sales better.
This issue can be addressed with Google Analytics by adding the option of value to it. You can put the average lead value that you get after the average value of the client and the average closing rate of the sales staff. This value helps you analyse your conversions to customers better.
Attribution Bias
Another Google Analytics loophole that creates a problem is the attribution bias which a person should be careful of. There is a lot of importance on Pay-per-click (PPC) when it comes to website traffic in the form of conversions. Just looking at the PPC conversions is like seeing only the last touch done. Well, it is just not only the PPC that is responsible for your lead conversions to customers that many people fall for in Google Analytics. It accounts
not just for PPC but organic search and direct web traffic also contributes to the conversions.
The Google Analytics tool can give you a visualization of conversions of individual channels that are of PPC, organic, and direct traffic. Let’s understand this with the help of an example of a big enterprise which is involved in
selling its brand and products. There is a Google Analytics bar that consists of options dispersed on the justify and right sides of the bar. The options to the justify are social and display.
The options to the right are organic search, Generic paid search, Referral brand paid search, email, and direct website link. The channel options mentioned on the justify side of the option bar are associated with the sales while the options mentioned on the right side of the option bar are associated with the last interaction done which is before a purchase occurs. These options can help you analyse the conversions better. It makes it easier for a new lead to be converted and even for the existing conversions to refine their search as they can directly
access the website for the purchase.
While surfing on the internet, every person doesn’t know the direct links heard but they work by social or display advertisements or by clicking through the PPC advertisement and may eventually reach the site. So, some things come across while surfing the internet and working your way through links. When these leads get converted to customers through the above ways of direct reach, PPC, or organic search; get counted in the Google Analytics software. The already existing customers are then reached out via emails with advertisements or
promotional events. The direct referral process helps you get sales but the conversions done through other options also contribute to better sales.
Let us evaluate this Google Analytics loophole with the analysis platform: There needs to be an attribution model associated with these conversion rates. A good attribution model is a multifactorial process, not a single-day report to be written. In the section of conversion reports, various paths of conversion and assisted conversions can be seen. You see the option of Last click or the direct conversion. Next, you go to the option of attribution and visualize the first interaction. This will give you the whole first interaction conversion rates with all the associated channels like direct, organic search, social networking, paid search, email, display, and referrals.
There may be conversions of the leads by more than one channel like PPC, direct, and social. So, each channel will get a 25% credit share. This can be visualized under the option of multi-channel funnels which will give you the conversion report achieved with the combination of channels.
Misleading Metrics
Misleading metrics is another Google analytics loophole that should be carefully analysed with its related context. The metrics lacking the right context will always lead to misinterpretation and misleading data. These misleading metrics are seen in the form of bounce rates and exit rates of the network traffic. An exceptionally high bounce rate for a website is not considered a good sign. These high bounce rates are generally noticed for the content related to blogs and articles and are very low regarding e-commerce websites.
Let’s understand this with the help of an example. For instance, an individual is running their website and high bounce rates are seen with it in comparison to the average industry values. The reason behind this comes out to be that there are new landing pages seen for the PPC campaigning that are deriving web traffic. The intent behind the landing pages is the conversion of the leads and not directing back their search or any distraction with blog content.
These high bounce rates are due to these landing pages which is getting your site a visit as well. If the bounce rates are high and the exit rates also are somewhere less or equivalent to the same margin then where the metrics do is lacking for conversion. High bounce and exit rates may not be always due to poor design or layout of the website or
unsatisfactory content. It is the slow speed of the loading of the page that is responsible for the major traffic loss at your site. The average waiting time for a page to load is about three to five seconds, after which the person tends to find something else.
Conclusion
Analytics has been a major part of the functioning of small or big businesses. It is considered the gold standard in the industry when it comes to the detailed analysis of various parts that govern the business. As everything may not be; essentially working perfectly and some errors, so are the Google Analytics loopholes.
The Google Analytics loopholes are some common issues that, a marketer needs to be aware of. It may be like simplifying a complexity or a simple context is quite complex that we don’t think about it. Google Analytics is a careful evaluation for making smarter decisions and not second-guessing yourself.
