CXL Growth Marketing Minidegree: Week 10
I recently signed up for the Growth Marketing Midigree at the CXL Institute and got a scholarship for the program (so exciting!), getting 12 weeks to complete the Minidegree, starting from April 19th. During this time, I will be writing one article on a weekly basis, describing my experience and summarizing the most important points of this education, showing why this probably is the best education program I’ve ever gone through. This is the sixth article of the series.
Still into the Google Analytics course and I think I’ll be extending these 12 weeks into another few months. I’m obviously not going to make it to finish everything in two weeks and I really want to get to the end and listen to all the courses because they are all very valuable and provide in-depth views into growth marketing.
So, just as a reminder, the course starts with an introduction to Google Analytics and then continues with all the reports GA can provide. This is how the program goes, as a part of the “Getting to Know GA” module:
- Realtime Reports
- Audience Reports
- Acquisition Reports
- Behavior Reports
- Conversion Reports
Then, we continue with the next module, called “Getting Started with GA,” which covers the following topics:
- Account Settings
- Property Settings
- View Settings
- Filters: The Basics
- Understanding Traffic: Types of Traffic
- Understanding Traffic: Customizing Traffic Sources (Part 1 and Part 2)
- Understanding Results: Destination Goals
- Understanding Results: Duration Goals
- Understanding Results: Pages per Session Goals
- Understanding Results: Event Goals
- Understanding Results: E-Commerce
- Analyzing Reports — The Basics
- Wrap Up & Resources
- Final Exam
A week ago, we dug deep into the parameters at the property level. Back here, there’s a lot more than there is at the account level. Make sure all of the items are ticked in the basic setup, which is extremely crucial to complete. Also, double-check that the user settings are accurate. After that, go through them all and adjust your tracking information. You should devote some effort to the tracking information area.
As a result, think about the data collection and retention policies you have in place. If you don’t know the answers, work with someone on your team who does, since you can’t always make those decisions, and you don’t always want to bear the responsibility. So chat to your coworkers and figure out who’s in control.
You may then link any Google goods you want to other Google products you’re using, most likely Google Ads and Google Search, but possibly AdSense or BigQuery, which may be important in your situation.
All of these can be connected to one another. It’s then only an issue of being aware of the advanced features. Mercer believes you don’t need to do anything further at this point, but you should be aware.
There was also talk on data retention, Google Signals, and the Google Ads linking troubleshooter. If you’re trying to link accounts and it’s not functioning due to a misunderstanding, there are numerous websites that can help. Back there, they’ve developed a helpful little wizard that you can use to fix the problem.
As for View Settings, you have to examine them. Create multiple sorts of views, such as backup, test, and production. You should have at least one of each, and ideally three. You should have a minimum of three. You’ll need a backup view! That’s all it’s for; you’re not going to touch it, you’re not going to add filters or objectives or anything; it’s just there in case of need.
You’ll need a testing view to test your filters and objectives, as well as make sure everything is tracking correctly. Then, once you’ve checked that everything is tracking correctly, they’re transferred to the production view, allowing you to start utilizing it to obtain real-world responses. However, you don’t really have a choice; you must build at least those three views. If you decide later that you want to answer other questions, you have a number of different production views, or we’ll have different testing views, that’s great, you can build those as well.
Consider the General Settings, Bot Filtering, Site Search, and Time Zone, which are the more important options. If you’re going to split that out, I think managing your Brand Terms is critical, especially if you have a strong brand. You may certainly skip through it if you don’t want to. It’s also critical to familiarize yourself with current objectives and filters.
After finishing Account Settings, Property Settings, View Settings, last week I started with Filters: The Basics. Here’s what this lesson covers:
- Setup & Use Basic Filters
- Make the Data Easier to Read
- Present “Cleaner” Data
- Fix “Fractured” Page Reporting
Here are some resources for this lesson:
- About Filters https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033162
- Basic Filters for Every Site (Bounteous) https://www.bounteous.com/insights/2015/12/10/basic-google-analytics-filters-every-site/
Here’s what you should do after this lesson:
- Practice Creating and Using Filters: ○ TBV (Trust But Verify!) ■ Realtime Reports
- Does the Filter match the purpose of the View?
- Practice assigning Filters (at “Account” level)
- AVOID: ■ Duplicate Filters ■ Changing Your Backup View
The next lesson was the beginning of the Understanding Traffic series. The first one was about Types of Traffic. This is what the lesson covers:
- The Defaults
- The Customizations
- The Reports to Dive Deeper
Here are some resources regarding this lesson:
- Default Search Engines https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2795821
- Google Ads vs Google Analytics Reports https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1257084
After finishing this lesson, you need to explore your traffic sources and understand:
- What’s bringing you the most traffic?
- Are there opportunities to customize?
- Do accounts need to be linked?
- What specific pages are referrals coming from?
Continuing with GA this week too, it seems like the content is quite demanding so I won’t be putting any pressure on myself. Going with the flow :)
