Set Up Powerful Goals in Web Analytics: A Step-by-Step Guide

What Are Goals in Web Analytics?

Goals in web analytics represent a user action that you want to track. This could be anything from a user completing a transaction to downloading a PDF or even simply visiting a key page on your website. Setting goals allows you to define what success looks like for your website, and to track how well you’re achieving it.

For example, if your goal is to increase newsletter sign-ups, you can set up a goal to track how many users fill out the form. If your goal is to boost online sales, you can set up a goal to track completed purchases.

Why Are Goals Important in Web Analytics?

Setting up goals is crucial for several reasons:

• Measure Performance: Goals help you understand how well your website is performing. Without defined goals, it’s challenging to measure success accurately.
• Optimize Conversion Rates: By tracking specific actions, you can identify potential issues in your conversion funnel and optimize it for better results.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Goals provide valuable data that help you make informed decisions, refine strategies, and ultimately grow your business.
• Targeted Marketing: With clear goals, you can better understand user behavior and create more targeted marketing campaigns that drive conversions.

Step 1: Define Your Objectives

Before you set up goals, you must define your objectives. What actions do you want users to take on your website? Your goals should align with your business objectives. For example, if you run an e-commerce website, your primary goals may be:

• Track completed purchases (e-commerce goal)
• Measure the number of users who add products to their cart (micro-conversion goal)
• Monitor newsletter sign-ups (lead generation goal)

If you run a blog, your goals may be different:

• Track how many users share your posts on social media (engagement goal)
• Measure time spent on content (engagement goal)
• Monitor the number of newsletter subscriptions (lead generation goal)

Clearly defining your objectives will help you create focused and relevant goals that support your website’s success.

Step 2: Choose the Right Metrics

Once you’ve defined your objectives, the next step is choosing the right metrics to track. Depending on your website’s goals, the metrics you track will vary. Common metrics to track include:

• Pageviews: How many times a page on your website was viewed.
• Sessions: The number of visits to your website.
• Event Tracking: Specific actions a user takes on your site, such as clicks, downloads, or video plays.
• Goal Completions: The number of times users achieve a predefined goal (e.g., submitting a form, completing a purchase).
• Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave your website without interacting with other pages.

These metrics will help you determine whether users are meeting your goals. In Google Analytics, for example, you can set up goals that track specific user actions and measure the completion of those actions.

Step 3: Set Up Tracking Tools

The next step in setting up powerful goals is ensuring you have the right tracking tools in place. The most common tool for web analytics is Google Analytics, which offers robust goal-tracking features.

To set up goals in Google Analytics:

1. Log in to Google Analytics: Navigate to the Admin section of your account.
2. Select a Property: Choose the property you want to set up goals for.
3. Go to Goals: Under the “View” column, click on “Goals.”
4. Click on New Goal: Select the “New Goal” button to create a new goal.
5. Choose a Goal Template: Google Analytics provides several templates based on common actions like destination, duration, pages/screens per session, or events.
6. Configure the Goal: Fill in the necessary details, such as the goal name, goal type (e.g., destination, event), and goal-specific information (such as URL for a destination goal or specific event tracking for an event goal).

Step 4: Set Up Specific Goal Types

Web analytics platforms, including Google Analytics, allow you to track several types of goals. Some common goal types include:

• Destination Goals: These track when a user visits a specific page, such as a thank you or confirmation page after completing a purchase or form submission.
• Duration Goals: These track how long a user stays on your website. For example, you may want to measure users who stay on your website for a minimum of 5 minutes.
• Pages per Session Goals: These track the number of pages a user visits in a session. If a user visits a specific number of pages, you can track that as a goal.
• Event Goals: These are used to track specific user interactions, such as clicks, downloads, or video views. Setting up event goals requires you to set up event tracking on your website.

Choose the goal type that best aligns with your objectives. Each goal type helps you track different user actions, so it’s important to choose the right one for your needs.

Step 5: Test and Validate Your Goals

After setting up your goals, it’s crucial to test them to ensure they are tracking correctly. Google Analytics provides a “Goal Verification” feature, which allows you to test if the goals are firing properly. To do this:

1. Go to your Google Analytics account and navigate to the “Goals” section.
2. Select the goal you want to test.
3. Click on the “Verify this Goal” button.

Testing ensures that your goals are being tracked as intended, and it helps identify any issues before they impact your data collection.

Step 6: Analyze Your Data and Make Improvements

Once your goals are set up and running, it’s time to monitor the data. Use the analytics reports to assess goal completions, track user behavior, and identify trends.

You can analyze your data in different reports within your web analytics platform:

• Goal Completions: This shows how many times your goal has been completed.
• Goal Conversion Rate: The percentage of users who complete your goal compared to the total number of users.
• Funnel Visualization: This shows where users drop off in the conversion process (for multi-step goals).

Use this data to identify any areas where users are not converting as expected and make improvements. For example, if you see a high drop-off rate on a checkout page, you may need to optimize your checkout process to reduce friction.