Google Analytics + Google Checkout

Big news today for e-commerce site owners: you can now use Google Analytics with Google Checkout. Simply add a JavaScript call and a hidden field to each page that displays the Google Checkout button and you'll be able to see conversions and revenue metrics for your Checkout transactions. Here are the complete instructions.

This feature makes life even easier if you are an AdWords customer, because you'll also see ROI and Revenue per Click for every transaction that resulted from one of your keywords. (Keep in mind also that for every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free on Google Checkout.)

Learn more about Google Checkout here or read the post on the Google Checkout blog.

Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

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Tracking Google Checkout sales, part 1

We occasionally get questions from our new users of Google Checkout. They've read all about how to track e-commerce transactions with Google Analytics; now they would like more specific details for implementing tracking.

Merchants can use Google Analytics to track buyers who leave their sites to complete the checkout process with Google Checkout. With the help of Google Analytics, Google Checkout merchants will be able to separately track activity on:

1) the Login page, or the first page to appear after a buyer click the Google Checkout button,

2) the Place Order page, which appears after the buyer logs in to Google Checkout, and

3) the Order Confirmed page, which appears after the buyer places the order.

Additionally, Google Analytics will provide a wide range of information on every order placed. Like current Google Analytics e-commerce tracking implementations, this will include the order-ID, total price, tax, shipping charge, city, state/region, and country. It'll also include the item-specific information such as product name, price, and quantity.

There are two methods that Google Checkout merchants use to post their Checkout API requests so that Google Analytics can include Checkout data. Each method requires a slightly different Google Analytics implementation. Today we'll give you a technical overview of the first method, and then will include the second method in our next post.

Method 1 for posting Checkout API requests into Google Analytics
In a standard Checkout API request, a form on the merchant's web page displays a Google Checkout button while containing an encoded version of the customer's shopping cart. When the user clicks the Google Checkout button, the form posts the encoded shopping cart data directly to Google Checkout. To track shoppers while using this method, merchants will need to make the following changes:

1. Once you have Google Analytics set up and tracking your website, add the JavaScript call below to each page that displays a Google Checkout button. HOWEVER, before making this call, your page should display all of the forms that display Google Checkout buttons. Your page should also include the standard Google Analytics tracking code before making this call.

 <script src="http://checkout.google.com/files/digital/urchin_post.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> 

2. Add the following hidden input field to each form on your site that displays a Google Checkout button:

 <input type="hidden" name="analyticsdata" value=""> 

3. For each form that displays a Google Checkout button, add an onsubmit attribute to the <form> element. The onsubmit element should call the setUrchinInputCode JavaScript function as shown in the following example:

 <form action="..." method="POST" onsubmit="setUrchinInputCode();" > 

For more information, take a look at help document, Using Google Analytics to Track Google Checkout Orders, and stay tuned for Part 2.

Posted by Adam Wooley, Google Analytics Team

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Debugging browser errors

Adding the Google Analytics tracking code to your website is easy—simply add the JavaScript snippet to the source code. But what happens when you make changes to your website and start to see browser error messages? Don't panic. Check these issues to avoid common mistakes.

1. Check the tracking code
Correctly installed Google Analytics tracking code does not generate browser errors. If you're seeing them, first check that your tracking code is installed exactly as it appears in your Google Analytics profile setting. Learn how to find your tracking code in the help center article Where Can I Find My Tracking Code?

2. Test your page
Google Analytics uses JavaScript code that is designed not to interfere with other JavaScript on your website. That said, when an error occurs, browser error messages often reference the first script executed. On a site using our tracking code, that is usually the first script executed, which makes debugging confusing. When debugging JavaScript on a site tracked by Google Analytics, try commenting out or temporarily removing the tracking code until you can detect and correct the error. Once your code is bug-free, adding the tracking code back in should not cause any browser errors to occur.

3. Secure your site
Another feature of many dynamic sites is the use of a secure section for things such as shopping carts or user registration. When tracking these areas, check the secure status of your pages. If you're seeing an error or a notice that some portions of the page are not secure, make sure you are using the secure version of the tracking code. Compare the standard versus the secure version:

Standard: <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">

Secure: <script src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">

For more information, take a look at this article in the troubleshooting section of the help center: How can I obtain tracking code for secure pages?

We want you to maximize the power of your site by using Analytics—and that includes successful integration of the tracking code without introducing errors or preventing you from perfecting the other code on your site. Properly installing the tracking code, carefully testing your site, and ensuring secure sites are tracked securely are some of the ways you can make Google Analytics work for you.


Posted by Cari Templeton, Google Analytics Team

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Start Remarketing with Google Analytics Instant Activation

For many advertisers, remarketing is an essential tactic. But remarketing can be a difficult journey, even for the savviest digital marketer. We repeatedly see marketers struggle with tagging hurdles and complex implementation challenges, with the result that only 1 in 5 remarketers successfully completes their setup.

To help make it easier for advertisers to reach their most qualified customers, we’ve enabled remarketing with a single toggle. Instead of manually updating all of your site tags, simply use Instant Activation and get started with remarketing in four easy steps.

Identifying quality visitors and maximizing conversions

GlobalTechLED.com is a producer of LED lighting. Thanks to Instant Activation, John Burns, Director of Marketing, was able to start remarketing quickly. Without waiting for IT to re-tag his site, John successfully launched Global Tech LED’s first remarketing campaign and saw fast results by reaching their highest potential customers.

After enabling remarketing, Global Tech LED leveraged Google’s powerful machine-learning technology in two ways for their online campaigns: Smart Lists for remarketing automatically created lists of visitors who were most likely to engage in a subsequent session on GlobalTechLED.com. Then, Conversion Optimizer instantly adjusted the campaigns’ bids get more conversions at a lower cost, eventually freeing up more time and resources for the company.

As a result, GlobalTechLED.com is currently reaching their performance and outreach goals. To date they’ve doubled their display campaigns’ CTRs and have almost five times more clicks on their remarketing campaign compared to their other campaigns. Website traffic increased by over 100% in the first 30 days of the campaign, and international traffic skyrocketed. They’ve also seen a 75% decrease in CPA for their campaigns.

These kind of results were exactly what the company was looking for. According to John, "We’ve been trying to hit these specific numbers in the account for a couple of months, and Google Analytics Remarketing helped us achieve these in only a couple of days." Read the full case study here.

Four easy steps to get started

Ready to get started with remarketing? You can, with just four steps.

1. In your Google Analytics Property’s settings, choose ‘Audiences’ under the ‘Remarketing’ section.


2. Choose the AdWords account where you’d like to share your Audience and click ‘Next Step’.


3. Click “Enable” to create your first audience of All Users.  You can also come back later and create more complex audiences, like ‘visitors who have spent more than six minutes on site’, ‘visitors who visited more than five pages’, or ‘abandoned cart’.

This step automatically activates Advertiser Features if you haven’t done so already, which also enables Audience Demographics and Interests Reporting. You can manage this setting at any time in the Admin tab, under the ‘Advertiser Features’ section in your Property Settings.


4. Click ‘Create Campaign’ and complete the remarketing campaign creation process in AdWords. Congratulations, you are now a Remarketer!


We’re really excited to make Advertiser Features in Google Analytics simpler and enable all Google Analytics users to be more successful across all their marketing channels. Stay tuned for future improvements!

Happy Analyzing!

Posted by Avi Mehta and Rosanne Borja, Google Analytics Team

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Retailers: Three Insights to Drive Q1 Results

Now that we’ve survived the holiday season, it’s time to get the year started with some Q1 insights from Google Analytics!  Over the holiday season, retailers are inundated with data about the best shopping days, when to start their sales, and predictions about which items will be popular.  But what to do once the furor dies down?  How can retailers make the most of Q1?  

Here at Google Analytics, we delved into our Q1 data from 2013 and 2014 in the US to provide some insights to guide you in the first quarter of 2015.  In particular, the weeks around Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl provided some notable trends.  Our analysis encompasses millions of businesses large and small who are using Google Analytics.  See the end of this article for more about our dataset.

The Day of the Big Game:  A Low Point for Online Shopping

We took a look at the first big marketing event of Q1:  Super Bowl Sunday.  The day of the big game, we saw lower numbers across the board.  Sessions were down 11% compared to the average for the quarter.  Similarly, transactions and conversion rates were down on average 16% and 5% respectively.  In both 2013 and 2014, the sessions and transaction numbers for the day of the Super Bowl fall into the bottom quartile for the quarter.

Clearly, on the day of the game, online purchasing is not a priority.  However, as we see later on in this post, this period of time serves as the turning point for transactions and conversion rates in the quarter.  The brand advertising that is such a big part of Super Bowl Sunday may help businesses capitalize on increased consumer buying behavior later in the quarter.

Best Romantic Shopping Day:  The Sunday before Valentine’s Day

We also delved into the second big marketing event of Q1:  Valentine’s Day.  In particular, we evaluated the week preceding the big day to find any pre-holiday patterns.  It turns out that in both 2013 and 2014, the Sunday before Valentine’s Day sees the biggest spike in week-over-week transactions with an average bump of 10%.  The same holds true for conversion rates and sessions, with an average increase of 6% and 4% respectively.  Besides a week-over-week increase, we also see that transactions are 5% higher on that day than for the average Sunday in the quarter.  The bump in transactions could indicate that consumers are using that Sunday to find and purchase their gifts, making it a good opportunity to invest in getting consumers to your site for some Valentine’s Day shopping.  If you plan to invest in advertising for this holiday, one way to prepare for Valentine’s Day is to adjust your bids.

Between the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day:  The Q1 Turning Point

Unless you’re lucky enough to sell items for diet, exercise, or other big new year’s resolutions, retailers often see sales slow in Q1 as consumers reduce gift-buying.  The chart below shows that for most of January, transactions are indeed below the average for the quarter.  

When should retailers spend marketing dollars to bounce back from this holiday hangover?  We see that transactions in both 2013 and 2014 start to ramp up as the key marketing dates approach: Valentine’s Day and Super Bowl Sunday.  In particular, the week of February 5th (also known as the week after the Super Bowl and the week before Valentine’s Day) marks the first time that transactions hit the average or above for the quarter.  

The graph below shows that in 2013 the week after the Super Bowl was above the average, whereas in 2014 that week was at the quarterly average.  In both years, this week has the highest week over week growth in transactions and conversions rates for Q1 at 6% for both metrics.  Sessions, however, display only a 0.4% increase week-over-week, not even close to being the highest for the quarter.  Based on this information about sessions, it’s clear that the uptick in buying behavior is not simply a function of consumers spending more time online, it’s an indication of increased intent to purchase during the time they do spend online.  If we look at average conversion rates before that week compared to the average conversion rates for that week and the rest of the quarter, we see a 6% increase.

So, as you plan your budgets, promotions, and campaigns in Q1, keep in mind that consumer activity will tend to increase throughout the quarter.  In particular, transactions tend to get a big bump during the week between Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day.  We know it’s hard to get back in gear after the holidays, but we hope our insights will help you think clearly and creatively about your marketing plans in the first quarter.

About the Data & Charts 

In order to perform this analysis, we looked at billions of sessions from authorized Google Analytics clients who have shared their website data anonymously (read more).

Posted by Jocelyn Whittenburg and Daniel Waisberg

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AccuWeather Unlocks Cross-Channel Impact Using Google Analytics Premium

“The ability to overlay our own data on top of traditional dimensions and metrics has provided valuable insights into the kind of information our consumers are looking for.” 

-- Steve Mummey, Director of Browser Products at AccuWeather

AccuWeather is the world’s largest weather media company with over 1 billion people a day relying on AccuWeather’s suite of products to give them real-time weather information. Today we wanted to highlight AccuWeather’s success with the Measurement Protocol in Google Analytics Premium. The Measurement Protocol is a feature where businesses can send requests to Google Analytics from countless customer touchpoints. 

Measuring the complete customer journey

AccuWeather needed to find a way to increase the impact of digital across all its channels and products. They were determined to find a robust solution that collected data from each customer touchpoint to give a comprehensive analysis to make better business decisions.

The team wanted to sought out accomplish four goals: 1) analyze the effectiveness of weather forecast emails 2) attribute credit to campaigns that drove users to app store pages, 3) better understand their mobile audience, and 4) collect this new data without compromising AccuWeather’s fast and simple user experience.

Google Analytics Premium solves the challenge

Using Google Analytics Premium, plus the Measurement Protocol, allowed AccuWeather to report on a variety of the company’s services simultaneously from one source. AccuWeather was able to have information from emails, mobile devices, and QR codes sent through the Measurement Protocol. This feature provided the AccuWeather team with a complete picture in the Google Analytics reporting interface alongside their other metrics.

Data-driven decisions that drive action

As a result of the sophisticated and comprehensive set of Google Analytics Premium features, AccuWeather has been able to more accurately identify the source of app downloads to track application traffic from QR codes and other offline campaigns to the app stores.

The team’s analysis revealed that 10% of the brand’s mobile traffic came from devices that either did not support JavaScript or had the feature disabled. Without using the Measurement Protocol in Google Analytics Premium, they would never have been able to account for this portion of its audience. The team can now include this audience in its product and monetization decisions.

Pleased with the success of this solution, AccuWeather now plans to apply it to other parts of its business to uncover new insights, new leads, and, of course, new customers. 

You can read AccuWeather’s full story and dive deeper into the results here. To learn more on the Measurement Protocol, check out this video.

Posted by: the Google Analytics Premium team

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Boost Conversions by Infusing Google Remarketing with Marketo Real-Time Personalization

Personalization is a hot topic for today’s marketers, a group that spends nearly half of their budget attracting new prospects. But customer expectations have risen; content must be relevant to acquire new customers and move them to convert.

Some pioneering marketers are seeing better performance by using real-time personalization and remarketing simultaneously. Knowing who a customer is and what they do is a big step toward providing the hyper-relevant content that customers crave.

Join Marketo’s Mike Telem and Mike Tomita on January 15th at 10am PT/ 1pm ET as they discuss the importance of real-time personalization for marketing results. Google’s own Dan Stone will give an overview of the ways Google Analytics technology can be used to power advanced remarketing, while the Marketo team will share the ways their company uses real-time personalization and Google Analytics to generate more leads at a lower cost.

Looking for tips on how to get your organization started? Reserve your spot today!

Posted by Kelley Sternhagen, Google Analytics Marketing

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