Using Analytics to Learn About Your Customers

Looking at web traffic data is extremely useful if you use a website to do business or communicate with customers. Although analytics can be a little overwhelming to a beginner, it is one of the best ways to gather information about your client base. So, how do you get to know your customers through data?

Google Analytics (Web Traffic)

First, there are a few types of analytics data that may offer a good picture of your customer base’s needs and wants. Google Analytics data offers information about what pages individuals are accessing on your website, what page they navigated from, how long they remain on the site, and how often they return, if they return at all.

In addition to those things, Analytics also offers demographics data. With a look into Google’s demographics for your website, you can determine the general age, gender, and location of your customer base.

Social Media Analytics

The other major type of data you’ll be assessing when learning about your customer base is analytics for your social media accounts. Each of your profiles has a way to track engagement and see what posts are doing the best. Many social media channels also offer you information on the demographics of your audience as well.

Using Analytics Data to Learn About Your Customers

Google and social media channels are great places to collect data about your customers, but what do you do with the data once you have it?

Different types of information can be used in different ways. Using your social media analytics, you can establish new and better ways to communicate with your customers. For instance, if your Facebook audience is mostly male but you’ve been posting female-targeted information, you may want to change your approach to cater to your followers and your current customer base.

Another way analytics can help is by revealing what your client base needs or finds interesting. Using social media analytics, you can see this by identifying posts getting high engagement. Creating similar engaging posts can help continue that level of engagement with your customers. You can do this with Google Analytics as well.

With Google, you can see what pages people are clicking on your website, how they are getting there, and how long they stick around. All of these pieces of information can help you establish a successful content strategy. For instance, if the majority of people visiting your website discover your page via Google search, you’ll want to be sure to maintain good SEO practices and identify valuable keywords for your site.

On the other hand, you can also use this data to find out what isn’t working. If certain pages have a high bounce rate, you can begin to plan a course of action to alter your web content. On Google Analytics, the bounce rate will appear as a percentage. The lower your site’s bounce rate, the better. A bounce rate of 26 to 40 percent is considered to be excellent. For news, events, and blogs this tends to sit around 60 to 70 percent.

However, you’ll want to watch for anything out of the norm. Bounce rates below 20 percent and above 90 percent could be a sign there is something wrong with your site. If your bounce rate is unreasonably high, there is likely a problem with the design of your website, the compatibility, or the site’s load times.

Having a bounce rate under 20 percent sounds great, but if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. A few reasons for a low bounce rate would be duplicate coding, incorrect tracking, or third-party add-ons. Although having less than 80% of your visitors bounce isn’t impossible, it isn’t likely. Most of the time, you’ll be able to identify this issue by keeping a close eye on your analytics. Usually, your bounce rates will fall flat or drastically change.

If you want to better your bounce rates, engaging your website visitors is the best way to do so. For many sites, adding video, blogs, and having regular activity can increase the number of visitors as well as decrease the site’s bounce rate.

Data and numbers are important for every business to run successfully. But don’t forget, it is also important for business owners to remember personalizing experiences for your customers will keep them coming back. Be sure to communicate with your customers regularly and maintain a good customer relationship management system in place. Even with all the analytics data in the world, communication is key!

DCA Virtual offers assistance with social media management and can help you track what is working for your client’s needs, based on analytics. Call to schedule a consultation today! (704) 910-2736