Just Add AdWords

You've signed up for Google Analytics. And, you have an AdWords account. So why not link your AdWords account to your new Google Analytics account to get the most out of both services? If you already use AdWords to drive traffic, Google Analytics is the perfect instrument panel. ROI, Revenue per Click, and conversion rates correlated by search result position -- all right in front of you. Plus there are a few reports that have been created specifically for AdWords users: the AdWords Analysis report and the AdWords Keyword Positions report.

When you link your accounts, everything is done for you: Analytics will automatically tag your AdWords links so you can see detailed campaign tracking data, and Analytics will begin importing cost data from your AdWords campaigns for ROI calculations. By simply linking the two accounts, you'll be able to easily identify which campaigns and keywords are working and which aren't.

Here's how you do it. First, make sure that you have used the same Google Account for both your Analytics and AdWords accounts. If not, don't worry - just add your AdWords username to your Analytics account as an Account Admin.

Then just follow these 5 steps:
1. Log in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com
2. Click the Analytics tab
3. In the "Steps to get Google Analytics" box, click "I already have a Google Analytics account" (at the bottom of the page)
4. From the Existing Google Analytics Account drop-down list, select your Analytics account number
5. Click "Link Account"

That's it! Your two accounts are now linked. If you want to learn more about using AdWords with Google Analytics, you might find this article from Conversion University helpful: Optimizing your AdWords ROI with Google Analytics.

Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

Read More

Watchfinder clocks 1300% ROI using precision Remarketing with Google Analytics

Watchfinder is a leading UK retailer of premium, pre-owned watches. The company was founded in 2002 as an online-only store selling watches from more than 80 premier manufacturers. Today, it has an annual turnover of £25 million and has recently opened a flagship boutique in the London Royal Exchange.

Counting the hours 

Considering the average order value on Watchfinder’s site is over £3,500, the company found buying decisions tended to take time, often spanning weeks or months. In fact, less than 1% of visitors were completing purchases on their first site visit. Watchfinder’s challenge was to re-engage and also maintain a conversation with these visitors, encouraging them to return and make an order. In addition to driving customers back to its site, Watchfinder also wanted to encourage customers to visit its new physical boutique in the London Royal Exchange.

A moment to reconnect

Watchfinder’s agency Periscopix – a Google Analytics Certified Partner – suggested Remarketing with Google Analytics as a great way to reconnect with users. Remarketing with Google Analytics allows advertisers to tap into valuable insights about website visitors who show an interest in products, identify the most relevant audiences, and run ads across the Google Display Network that are tailored to that audience using the industry’s most powerful segmentation capabilities.

Periscopix created 20 highly focused lists of visitors who demonstrated intent but did not purchase. Specifically, lists were based on various aspects of user context such as location, language, and what stage of the purchase funnel they were in. On-site behavior helped establish groups that had spent a certain amount of time on the site or had viewed a certain number of pages. Other lists were created around users who had viewed a specific watch brand on the site.

Additionally, traffic performance analysis across a variety of GA dimensions revealed that certain ISP’s in the London financial district yielded traffic with much higher engagement and above average conversion rates. As a result, Periscopix designed segments around investment banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to engage with employees at these companies.

Google Analytics’ functionality enabled Periscopix to convey tailored messages to these key groups of interested consumers. For example, London-based users were retargeted with ads encouraging visits to the new London store, while visitors to the .co.uk site from France were retargeted with ads promoting the French site. 

Time well spent

Thanks to clear reporting in Google Analytics, it’s been easy to see the impressive results from Watchfinders’ remarketing campaign. Six months in, Periscopix reveals the return on investment is 1300%. Average order value on the site has also increased by 13%, resulting in 34% lower CPAs than Watchfinder’s non-brand search campaigns. 

Across all tactics used, the remarketing list that produced the highest conversion rates, both in terms of goals and transactions, was made up of visitors who browsed for 10 minutes or more on their initial site visit without purchasing.

Given Watchfinder's early success with Remarketing with Google Analytics across the Google Display Network, the brand is excited to increase investment in this area going forward.

Be sure to check out the whole case study here.

Posted by the Google Analytics Team

Read More

Zillow uses Google Analytics Premium to make data-driven decisions

Google Analytics Premium lets Zillow grow and scale their company.

“A host of functions at Zillow use Google Analytics every day… Marketing, business intelligence, design, engineering and usability are using it to drive product decisions, user experience decisions, and business decisions.”

- Jeremy Wacksman, VP Marketing at Zillow

Zillow is the home and real estate marketplace that helps people share vital information about home values, rentals, mortgages and a lot more. Zillow was founded in 2005 and now has over 110 million U.S. homes in its living database. (That name? A combination of “zillions of data points” and the pillows where happy homeowners rest their heads.)

Recently we sat down with Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow’s VP of Marketing, to learn how they’ve been using Google Analytics Premium to help them grow at such an amazing pace. Here’s what he told us:

This comment stands out: “As an Internet company that has reinvented itself as a mobile-first business, analytics across devices is a big challenge for us.”  

A lot of companies are reinventing themselves for mobile today, and we’ve been working hard to make sure Google Analytics Premium can help them measure all those new cross-device journeys. The goal, as always, is to help businesses gather meaningful data, easily discover insights that they can act upon to improve results and boost the bottom line.

Learn more about Google Analytics Premium here.

Posted by Adam Singer, Google Analytics Advocate

Read More