Your Smarter Data Analytics Strategy. Clark Boyd, October 2017

Transcription

1 Your Smarter Data Analytics Strategy Clark Boyd, October 2017

2 Hello! I m Clark Boyd I am a digital marketing consultant and I m here to talk analytics strategy. You can find me clarkboyd.digital

3 1. What We ll Cover Today

4 Our Agenda Why do you need an analytics strategy? The theory: How analytics works Answering the right questions Putting it into practice Culture technology The people & skills you need Key tips and takeaways

5 2. The Importance of an Analytics Strategy

6 499,999,999,999 Moments processed by Google Analytics each day

7 What Analytics Can Tell Us Which channels drive the most conversions? What are your leaking buckets (places where people leave your website)? Whether people use multiple devices before purchasing your products? What are the look-to-buy ratios for your individual products and product categories? What landing pages need to be improved and in which channel?

8 Why We Need a Clear, Documented Strategy

9 The Main Analytics Strategy Challenges

10 The Main Analytics Strategy Challenges

11 The Main Analytics Strategy Opportunity

12 Categories of Analysis

13

14 Predictive Analytics in Action: Fort Defiance

15 Prescriptive Analytics in Action: Hopper

16 Adaptive Analytics in Action: Walmart

17 The Three Core Elements of an Analytics Strategy Data Technology People

18 Analytics is not about dashboards. It is about driving tangible improvement against business outcomes.

19 3. How analytics works

20 The Hierarchy of User-Session-Hit

21 Adobe vs. Google Analytics Terminology Source: SEER Interactive

22 JavaScript Code Event Hit

23 Hits are a Subset of Sessions

24 Sample Code For A Hit

25 Cross-Domain Tracking

26 Standard Analytics Dimensions

27 Dimension-Metric Pairings

28

29 4. Defining the right questions.

30 Data without context is meaningless. Web Analytics 2.0

31 Analytics and Attribution

32 Analytics and Attribution Analytics Tells us where visitors came from, how long they spent on site, which products they browsed or purchased. Attribution Helps identify patterns and trends across all marketing channels and allows us to give value to the contributions of each activity.

33 Irrelevant Data

34 Confusing Data

35 Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? T.S. Eliot

36 Examples of Good Questions How can we deliver a better experience for customers on a mobile device? Are we creating products that align with modern consumer demand? Do customers return to our site to make a purchase after viewing our blog content? Does my direct mail activity affect traffic levels from specific territories?

37 Areas of Investigation Potential Issue Example Questions Data Sources - Where does our data come from? What data do we need to address our challenges and objectives? Data Quality - Is the data structured or unstructured? Are there gaps in the data sets? Data Governance - Who is responsible for managing the data? What data privacy issues do we need to tackle? - How can we evaluate the effectiveness of our analytics strategy? Is relevant data available? Internal Processes

38 Natural Language Processing

39 Tip: Work Backwards to Gain Insights

40 Objective: Improve content marketing effectiveness Goal Question Answer Generate more traffic from our content editorial calendar When do people engage with our content? Visits/shares by day and time of day

41 Objective: Move into new markets Goal Question Answer Identify and capitalize on international growth markets In which territories do people engage with our site and buy products? Pages per session by country; sales by territory

42 The Process for Defining Good Questions 3. Campaign Measurement 1. Business Objectives 2. Digital Goals

43 Analytics: Opportunities and Frameworks

44 Dimension-Metric Pairings

45 The Analytics Strategy Framework

46 Putting the Plan into Action

47 5. You Can t Optimize What You Don t Measure

48 What we see Typically, we look at a dashboard or just a few key metrics. What exists However, analytics can tell us so much more about what really drives people to make decisions. We just need to know where to look.

49 Deciding on KPI s KPIs have to be structured: to provide insight on the right business questions to define responses to deviations to build consensus on the metrics to be tracked to align analytics process to the right business teams

50 An Essential (but tricky) Metric

51 Implementing CLV

52 Client ID versus User ID Google will automatically assign a Client ID to each device. That brings with it some measurement challenges. However, there is an option to implement a User ID.

53 Implementing User ID Tracking Enable User ID at the property level of Google Analytics and create a User ID view Include information in the site s privacy policy. Website owners are required to inform visitors that User ID information is being tracked but is not personally identifiable. Set the User ID to track on all authenticated sessions. This is where help is needed from a developer to tag all pages on the website Ensure sure the User ID is not recording when users are not logged in.

54 Macro and Micro Conversions Sales PDF download Video view Time on page Pages per session Sessions by source/medium

55

56 GA Essentials: Event Tracking

57 Measurement Pitfall No. 1: Bounce Rate

58 Solution: Scroll Depth Tracker

59 6. Putting it into practice

60 Connecting Data Sources Google Analytics has four scopes that data can live at: User, session, hit (page and/or event), or product. A data connection will also exist at one of these four scopes. Marketing tools like campaign management software or remarketing will almost always want to connect at the Session level. In Google Analytics, traffic sources and campaign data are session-scoped. User data such as a CRM or a customer database will almost always want to connect at the User level. A/B tests are usually user-scoped as well, since the same user should be served the same test on consecutive visits. Surveys may be user-scoped or session-scoped, depending on the type of questions being asked and whether it s specific to the user s current visit to the site. Picking the right scope is critical to making your reports work correctly.

61 Advanced Segments

62 Data Segmentation We base segments on the dimensions and metrics in our Analytics reports; for example: User Type exactly matches Returning User Country/Territory exactly matches United States Ecommerce Conversion Rate > "0.2%"

63 Adding Cohorts for Context

64 Mobile Paths to Purchase There are also many ways to segment your data to see how device types perform. Using Path Options allows us to see what role mobile plays, beyond just bringing more traffic over time.

65 Primary and Secondary Dimensions

66 Social Media Measurement

67 Content Marketing Measurement

68 Content Marketing Measurement Content groupings can help answer questions including: Which content delivers best against our business goals? Does our content gain traction over time? Can we say that content marketing has a positive impact on SEO? Do social shares correlate with increased sales? When is the best time for us to promote our content on social media?

69 Dealing with Data Sampling

70 Tip: Customize Channel Groupings

71

72 GA Misunderstanding: Custom Segments

73 Turning Events Into Funnels

74 Tip: Download Tag Assistant

75 Tip: Install the Chrome Extension

76 7. The Attribution Puzzle

77 Traditional Attribution Models

78 Assisted Conversions

79 Accurate Attribution: Getting Closer...

80 Data-Driven Attribution

81 The Challenges of Switching Attribution Models Expectations of channels are deeply ingrained; attribution requires a willingness to adapt.. Changing models means some channels gain while others lose. No model is perfect, so we always have to accept that we are going with the best available fit. It is important to frame attribution as a much more important area of investigation than just digital marketing. Accurate attribution gleans insight on our customers that we would otherwise never know.

82 A Look to the Future

83 8. Reporting to different stakeholders

84 Visualisation is the key to arriving at profound insights, faster

85 Know Your Audience

86 Factors to Consider Frequency of report production Level of analytics literacy Content within report Structure Level of contextual analysis

87 Executive Dashboard

88 CMO Dashboard

89 Content Dashboard

90 Content Segment

91 Tech Dashboard

92 Customizing GA Dashboards Goals: Business objectives can be grouped into one dashboard. Segments: Some stakeholders will want to zone in on particular areas of activity or audience segments. Content groupings: Show how different types of content affect user behaviors.

93 Integrating Other Data Sources

94 Dashboard Examples Ecommerce dashboard Facebook dashboard

95 9. The Team

96

97

98 Data Has Become Everyone s Job

99 A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead. Graham Greene

100 The Core Elements of the Team

101 The Analytics Center of Excellence

102 Developing a Growth Mindset

103 Implementing an Analytics Strategy

104 Putting the Plan into Action

105 10. Key takeaways & tips

106 Key takeaways: How to develop a smarter analytics strategy Begin with the business objectives you want to deliver on and the questions you want to answer. Data quality and data management are the building blocks of an analytics strategy. Storytelling is an undervalued analytics skill. Think beyond the dashboard to consider what the data tells you about your audience, then convey this narrative using charts and graphs. Technology is essential, but so is culture. Analytics needs to be ingrained throughout the organisation in concrete, tangible ways. Include a measurement plan that is realistic but ambitious, to demonstrate the progress you have made. Document and share your analytics strategy with all relevant teams.

107 Some Handy Resources and Further Reading 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Science Platforms Scroll depth plugin GA filters Datorama: How AI is transforming marketing Demo account GA Chrome extension Tag assistant AI and predictive analytics

108 Thanks! Any questions? You can find me