Setting Up a Goal within Google Analytics
What is a goal?
I wrote this in an earlier post:
Google Analytics lets users set goals. A “goal” is a certain webpage within a website that a webmaster is hoping users eventually reach. For product based websites, webmasters hope users reach a thank you/checkout complete/registration confirmation page. Once a user has reached this page, the webmaster knows that a transaction has been completed. This transaction(s) is typically the “goal” for the website.
Analytics lets users create up to 4 goals per website. However, if the goal is some form of monetary transaction, then the website needs to be set up as an Ecommerce website. On the main page of Analytics, it displays the list of website profiles. The third column on this list is Settings. Click the Edit link for the desired website. The top section of information is labeled “Main Website Profile Information”. Click the Edit link for this section. Click the “Yes” radio button next to E-Commerce Website. Click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page.
Next, set up a goal. The first thing that needs to be determined is the URL of the goal page. Typically, for an ecommerce site, this would be the URL of the receipt page. It may vary though per user/website. The section below profile information is labeled Conversion Goals and Funnels. Click the EDIT link for G1. Enter the URL in the GOAL URL box. Enter a name for the Goal (Transactions Complete, Newsletter Signups, etc). Click the Active Goal radio button to Yes. At this point, the basic setup of the goal is complete and the changes can be saved.
Analytics lets webmasters setup a funnel. A funnel is the series of webpages a user may take on their way to the final goal page. Webmasters can enter the URL’s of the pages a user may take enroute to completing a transaction. How is this helpful? Webmasters can then determine how many visitors enter the “funnel” versus how many complete the funnel, i.e. reach the goal. Using a funnel tracks where users may “drop-out” of the transaction. This information can be used to answer the following questions: Where are users dropping out? Is the checkout process TOO difficult? Is the checkout process too long and the user changed their mind about their purchase?
The power of Analytics is truly found in this kind of ecommerce tracking.
Posted by Paul Flyer on Friday, January 20th, 2006 in Web Analytics
» Google Analytics - Marketer View - CPC vs Organic Conversion :: Recommended Web Tools Says:
January 20th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
[...] This report compares the value of two groups of website visitors. Which convert better, visitors arriving via paid referrals or those arriving through organic search? In order to use this report a goal must be set up and a website set up as an ecommerce website. See my post on setting up goals in Google Analytics. [...]