Even in today’s competitive market, where every dollar counts, many Ottawa businesses overlook a powerful and readily available tool: Google Analytics. This free platform offers significant insights into customer behavior, website performance, and marketing campaign effectiveness. However, the misconception that ‘free’ equates to ‘worthless’ leads many to neglect this valuable resource. In this article, we’ll explore why Ottawa businesses are missing out on a significant competitive advantage by underutilizing Google Analytics, and we’ll examine the commitment necessary for a meaningful implementation.
Value in simply having it
Many businesses have Google Analytics installed but rarely use it. Simply having it means it’s collecting data so at least there’s a historical record of website activity that someone, at some point, could dig into. At a minimum, Google Analytics shows how many people visit your site, what pages they’re interested in, and it provides a basic picture of where they’re coming from, such as from Google or Facebook. Having this baseline information is better than not having it, and a measure of comfort can be taken in knowing your site at least has a pulse.
Upping your Game
Getting more significant insights out of Google Analytics requires effort beyond what it takes to launch it, but this extra effort makes a big difference. For example, in addition to seeing which pages are popular, businesses can learn which videos, PDFs, and call-to-action buttons attract the most interest. Beyond that, they can learn how people interact with contact forms, live chat, and potentially even email addresses and phone numbers. For sites that exist to generate leads, this is crucial because within Google Analytics you’re able to connect the dots between the people who reach out to you and where they came from. This allows businesses to compare the number of leads generated between various marketing initiatives such as paid search and social media posts. The same concept holds true for ecommerce sites – potentially with an even greater degree of detail. For example, businesses can contrast their return on investment between Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
Roll up your sleeves
This extra layer of insight becomes available to businesses willing to put in the effort to systematically collect the necessary data. Some tracking configurations can be set up within Google Analytics itself (in the Admin area). While the latest version of Google Analytics, known as GA4, offers the potential to track form submissions, video views, and file downloads, its reliability can be inconsistent due to the wide variety of third-party platforms used by businesses. Also, Google doesn’t even try to provide some types of tracking, such as ecommerce tracking. Fortunately, alternative solutions are available. A good starting point is to consult the documentation provided by the vendors of your contact forms, video players, and other relevant tools. Other times the solution involves yet another platform called a tag manager. Google offers a free version of this as well – aptly called Google Tag Manager. Businesses configure it to track things like forms and videos when other options don’t work – this includes the ability to track ecommerce shopping behaviour. As activity is tracked, it’s passed along to Google Analytics so the data gets incorporated into reports, thus providing richer insights.
Free, but neglect it at your peril
Despite being completely free, Google Analytics offers plenty of worthwhile information, especially for businesses willing to put in additional effort. Those who set up extra tracking are rewarded with deeper insights into customer behavior, website performance, and marketing campaign effectiveness – while others risk making costly decisions based on assumptions rather than data.
Implementing advanced tracking and extracting actionable insights from Google Analytics can be complex. Many businesses find that partnering with a knowledgeable consultant can significantly streamline this process, ensuring accurate data collection and maximizing the platform’s potential.
Whether you choose to invest internal resources or enlist expert help, the key is to embrace data-driven decision-making.
While many Ottawa businesses overlook Google Analytics, those that leverage it will gain a significant competitive advantage by becoming more agile, allocating budgets more effectively, and ultimately achieving greater success. In these days of constantly rising costs, such a resource with zero monthly fees ought to be impossible to ignore.
