Google Analytics is one of the most popular platforms on the Internet for tracking visitors. It’s a free system that can be very influential in business decisions if you know how to understand the data. The system does more than merely show how many people are visiting the website.

Below are five important aspects of Google Analytics and what they can do from an eCommerce perspective. By analyzing the data yourself, you can develop stronger marketing strategies as well as improve customer interaction.

Benchmarking Channels

Analytics gives you access to benchmarking tools that show you how the site stacks up against similar organizations. This metric can be focused either in local markets or world wide. By comparing your stats against the competition, you can see areas that need improving to attract more consumers. Some of these include sessions from referrals, email, social media and search engines. Since Google displays the data side-by-side, you can easily see how the site performs against the competition.

Behavior of Visitors

Under the Behavior category, there is a tool for Site Content. This section will show you the most popular pages on the website. In other words, it will display the most attractive item you sell. This can help you develop ideas for marketing items that are less seen by visitors. It may also give you ideas about how to cross-sell other goods by combining popular items.

Social Acquisition

Social media plays an integral part in every day life. Because platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are heavily used by the masses, many businesses market on those platforms. Through the Social Acquisition portion of Analytics, you can see where marketing campaigns on those sites are succeeding and where they are lacking. This data can be useful to help create marketing strategies to improve traffic from those areas. It may also show whether your current social campaigns are effective.

Site Speed

One of the most important keys for any site to perform well is that of speed. Most consumers will abandon a cart if it takes longer than three seconds to load. As a result, you need to make sure the online store is quick and easy to use. Analytics includes a way to monitor the speed of your site through various browser applications.

Ecommerce Tracking

Perhaps one of the most important parts of Analytics for the online store is the capacity to track eCommerce. By integrate the cart through eCommerce tracking in Analytics, you can see product and sales performance clearly. This data is invaluable when trying determining trends and how profitable certain goods are when compared to the rest of the inventory. This data could include things such as average price, quantity and category of the item in your store.

The best shopping cart eCommerce software will integrate with Google Analytics. By understanding your consumers, you can develop a better way to do business online. Take the time and explore how your website is performing on the Internet. Let your visitors show you ways to improve the site through their actions.