The Importance of Data Tracking for Ecommerce Stores

So, what’s their secret? They know the importance of quantitative and quantifiable data tracking. What’s so special about it? It is not random numbers. It can help understand consumer behavior and determine the efficiency of marketing campaigns. Failure to track performance means that you don’t value insights. Any marketing material should bring significant results. By practicing data tracking, you can find out a strategy’s efficiency or not.

Data Monitoring with a free tool

Monitoring data is not as complicated as you think it is. Unlimited data insights are available using online tools. If the budget is tight, that’s not a problem because what we recommend is 100% free to use. Even top marketers utilize and swear by it. In fact, it has more than 50 million registered accounts worldwide. It’s no other than Google Analytics or GA.

You’ve probably heard of Google Analytics, but what exactly is it? It is an online analytics software solution. It helps website owners track website traffic sources, buyer behavior, and more.

Dashboard shopping cart report vs. Google Analytics for Ecommerce

All ecommerce has some sort of dashboard analytics report, right? Yes, they do, however, data is somewhat limited to sales data per se. Google Analytics has a unique tracking code that allows metric monitoring. It can record website visitor behavior, location, age, interests, and gender.

Getting started with Google Analytics for ecommerce

From bloggers to media outlets, anyone can use Google Analytics to their advantage. Yes, even ecommerce websites. The best part is it’s not complicated to join. You need to allot 10 to 30 minutes of your time. Before you can use it, you need to set-up Google Analytics for ecommerce first. Here’s how:

Join Google Analytics and set-up ecommerce tracking

• • Step 1 – You need to sign-up first. Head to Google Analytics or click here. You will need to provide business information like your store’s URL.

• • Step 2 – Once you’ve signed up, Google Analytics will generate a line of code. It will take less than 30 seconds. Copy and paste it to the head section of your website. The majority of ecommerce platforms have a dedicated Google Analytics integration setting. All you have to copy and paste the code there.  If you have a Shopify store, you can go to the dashboard and then Preferences. Scroll down, and you will find the Google Analytics section. You can paste the Google Analytics code there. If you are having a hard time connecting GA, you can always follow Google’s instructions here.

• • Step 3 – When you have the pixels on your website, go back to your Google Analytics account. Head to Admin panel>All Website Data> Ecommerce Settings. Switch it to “On.” Advanced features are available too.

• • Step 4 – With the ecommerce tracking enabled, the next step is adding an ecommerce tag.

Head to Google Analytics’ Conversion navigation

Once you’ve connected Google Analytics for ecommerce, you can get real-time store data. From the left-side navigation bar, click Conversion and then Ecommerce. Underneath Ecommere is store overview, product performance, sales, performance, transactions, and purchase time. Here’s a quick run-down of some of the tabs:

• • Overview is a summary of your ecommerce store’s performance. You will find revenue, conversion rate, number of transactions, as well as average order value. If you have an existing marketing campaign, you can also review its performance from this tab. Other relevant data included are top sellers and product name and revenue.

• • Product performance provides a more detailed overview of the items listed in your store. It shows revenue performance, number of unique purchases, number of orders, and more.

• • Sales performance is somewhat like product performance. But, it is more concerned with individual product order details like tax and shipping.

Other relevant Google Analytics features

Google Analytics is not only for tracking your ecommerce store’s performance. You can also use valuable data to improve your website and listing. To give you a better idea of how, here are some tips:

• Improve website content

  Customers have different wants and needs. If you want to know more about their product preferences, you can use Google Analytics’ Search Term report. You can access it going to the left navigational panel, click Behavior>Site Search>Search Terms. Data results can give you a better idea of what new products to add. You can also use it for your content marketing initiative.

• Analyze your target demographic’s interests

  Besides search term results, Google Analytics also provides customer information like their interests. To view these data, you need to go to Interests. Then, click Affinity Categories. Here, you will find out the website visitors’ interests. With this data on-hand, you can launch segmented and personalized content campaigns.

• Determine the traffic source

  Google Analytics’ Acquisition Report is one of the most useful features for ecommerce websites. The Acquisition Report provides details on how potential customers can find you. You can determine where they came from. It can be through social media, referral, direct, or email. If one of the traffic sources have poor performance, you can increase marketing.

Determining success is not based on assumptions. It roots from applying the right marketing tactics and scaling performance. Even when you are a start-up, online tools like Google Analytics can help. It can track and monitor valuable data down in a few clicks. These gathered data are not only for record-keeping. They also provide valuable insight into the performance of your store. You can understand several significant metrics like consumer behavior, content performance, and more. Then, use this information to figure out which marketing strategy is working or not. You can also read why multichannel ecommerce strategy is great for business too.