The beginning of every year presents an ideal opportunity to conduct a digital marketing analysis for your business. By gathering valuable insights and making strategic improvements now, you can set the stage for success throughout the rest of the year.
Even if you have a team member dedicated to Analytics, it’s beneficial to personally review your data at least once a year. This keeps you informed about key trends and enables data-driven decision making.
To help you get started with your yearly digital marketing analysis, we’ve outlined some practical steps. Google Analytics provides vast amounts of information, which can feel overwhelming at times, but don’t worry – this ‘guide’ will give you a clear starting point. Log into your Google Analytics account and let’s get started!
Analyse your marketing channels’ performance
Understanding which marketing channels are performing well and which need improvement is essential.
1. Go to ‘Reports’ – ‘Acquisition’ – ‘Traffic Acquisition’. Set the time period to ‘Last calendar year’, click the ‘Compare’ toggle, and choose the ‘Same period last year’ option.
2. Evaluate key metrics. Examine the channels that bring in the most conversions, such as purchases or sign-ups (in GA4 conversions these are called ‘Key Events’) and those that drive the most traffic to your website. Reflect on your investment in each channel:
– Are you allocating most of your budget to a channel that delivers minimal leads?
– Is there a low-investment channel that yields significant results?
– Which channels bring in conversions with high monetary value, and which support longer-term goals (like newsletter subscriptions)?
– Which channels are growing and bringing you more traffic this year and which are on the decline? Does this align with your overall strategy?
3. Calculate Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS). This metric helps you assess the efficiency of each traffic channel.
Here’s the formula:
ROAS = Gross Revenue from Ad Campaign / Cost of Ad Campaign
For example, if you spent € 500 on a campaign that generated € 2000 in revenue, your ROAS is 4:1 (or 400%). This means that for every € 1 you spend, you generate € 4 in revenue. Calculating this for each channel provides valuable insights for optimising your budget allocation.
4. Traffic vs. User Acquisition in GA4. In GA4, you have two distinct reports: Traffic Acquisition and User Acquisition. You can have a look at both reports in the left-hand side menu under the ‘Acquisition’ section.
– User Acquisition focuses on how new users find your website, providing insight into the success of campaigns targeting first-time visitors and the growth of your audience base.
– Traffic Acquisition includes all sessions, whether from new or returning users. This shows the performance of campaigns designed to drive overall website activity or engage repeating visitors.
– By examining both, you can ensure your strategy addresses both growth and sustained engagement – crucial for long-term success. So, after you are done analysing the ‘Traffic Acquisition’ report, open the ‘User Acquisition’ one and go through the same steps. You might uncover interesting differences in your first-time visitors’ session sources.
Assess your website’s best-performing pages
1. Go to ‘Reports’ – ‘Engagement’ – ‘Pages and Screens’. Identify the pages that receive the most traffic and have the highest engagement metrics. Also, have a look at key events (aka conversions) metrics.
2. Evaluate content relevance. Are the top-performing pages focused on the products or services you want to prioritise? Ensure these pages are regularly updated and contain fresh, useful and engaging content.
3. Address underperforming pages. If certain pages are underperforming but are critical to your business, it may be time to take action. Consider the following questions:
– Is the content clear and engaging?
– Are there any unnecessary barriers to user interaction? What could be improved first? You might want to add infographics, simplify navigation, or create more accessible conversion points throughout the page.
Evaluate conversion data
Understanding your key events data in GA4 is crucial for optimising your digital strategy. Whether you’re identifying trends by marketing channel, analysing overall patterns, or diving into specific reports, your conversion data tells an important story.
For a quick overview of conversion performance, we recommend using the ‘Explore’ feature in GA4. Yes, it takes a bit of Google Analytics wizardry, but the magic is worth it! Once it is set up, this report becomes your ultimate tool, a ‘one report to rule them all’, offering a clear, customisable view of your conversion data. Here’s how to create this invaluable report:
1. Access the template gallery. In GA4, go to ‘Explore’ in the left-hand menu. Then, click on ‘Template Gallery’ in the top-right corner. From there, scroll down to ‘Use Cases’ and choose the ‘Key Events’ template.
2. Set your date range. Once the report builder opens, adjust the date range on the left-hand side. Select ‘Last calendar year’ to ensure you're reviewing the full year’s data.
3. Customise the report. The default report breaks down conversions by device, which might not always be the most relevant view. To focus on pages, follow these steps:
– On the left-hand side under ‘Dimensions’, click the plus sign (+).
– Use the search bar to search for ‘Page’. From the suggestions obtained, select ‘Page path and screen class’, then click ‘Confirm’.
– Drag ‘Page path and screen class’ to the ‘Rows’ section, placing it right after ‘Event name’.
4. Simplify for clarity (optional – or maybe not!). If the ‘Device category’ column isn’t useful to your analysis, scroll down to the ‘Columns’ section and remove it.
5. Analyse conversion locations. You now have a custom report showing where conversions are happening across your website. Reflect on the data:
– Are certain types of conversions dominating while others are nearly absent?
– Could poor user experience, like a cumbersome contact form, be deterring some actions?
– Do most conversions occur on a specific page? If so, what can you learn from this page to improve others?
6. Explore additional insights. The template also includes two other tabs:
– Conversion trends over time – to see how conversions fluctuate throughout the year.
– Traffic source breakdown – to identify which channels drive the most impactful conversions.
By setting up this report, you gain a powerful tool to identify trends, troubleshoot issues, and optimise your website’s performance. And it is also fully customisable. Once you’ve become familiar with the initial setup, you can explore various dimensions and metrics, adding extra tabs to tailor the report to your specific business needs and goals.
When you’re finished, simply give the report a name so you can easily locate it later. And that’s all! You can always return to this report in the ‘Explore’ section without needing to set it up again; Google will allow you to pick up right where you left off.
These steps lay the groundwork for your annual digital marketing analysis. By regularly reviewing your performance data and adjusting based on insights, you’ll optimise your strategies and drive better results throughout the year.
But if you ever find yourself in need of a helping hand for a more in-depth digital marketing analysis, to align your strategy, or figure out the best way to allocate your marketing budget, don’t worry – we’ve got your back!
Happy analysing!
For more information, bespoke strategies and efficient digital marketing solutions, just contact the CLARITY® girls through info@yourdigitalclarity.com or visit our website at yourdigitalclarity.com.
