Last month, all MogoARTS team members became certified in Google Analytics. To do this, we each studied with the Google Analytics Academy and courses, and took the required assessment. The assessment is 70 questions long and focuses on the fundamentals of digital analytics, as well as Google Analytics platform principles. A passing score of 80% is required. Even if you don’t intend on being a Google Analytics wizard, studying and researching the way Google Analytics works and the recommended best practices for use will allow you to use the tool to continually improve your art organization’s website, and ultimately, your patrons’ online experiences with your brand.
Google Analytics: Understanding Your Patrons’ Experience on Your Website
According to Google, “there are key actions on any website or mobile application that tie back to a business’ objective.” This can be different depending on the main purpose for your website. For arts marketers, some common objectives are using your organization’s website to build your CRM or ticketing platform contact database, and acquiring new patrons. Whatever your objectives are, Google analytics can help you measure whether your site is functioning in line with these goals.
Manage and Measure Your Patrons’ Website Experience
A key reason arts marketers should be eager to analyze and improve their patrons’ website experiences is because you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Utilizing Google Analytics will give you helpful insight into the online behavior of your patrons. For example, you can see what percentage of your patrons are accessing your website via a mobile device, how many pages they view in a typical visit to your site, and what pages on your site cause your patrons to leave your site, or “drop off.” Measuring these various factors and touchpoints allows you to make decisions and optimizations that will enhance your patrons’ experience with your site and allow you to encourage site visits and ticket sales.
Define Goals and Expectations for Website Optimization, and Act Quickly
If you do opt to use or are already using Google Analytics, it’s critical that these metrics are not viewed “in a vacuum.” The metrics you define and measure should be based on what you know about your patrons and the actions you wish for them to take on your site, like sign up for your email list, or buy tickets. Let’s use ticket sales as an example goal. If it normally takes three steps, on three pages of your site, for patrons to buy tickets, you would want to make sure your patrons’ average pages viewed per visit was three or more. Google Analytics can help you answer questions like these, and then optimize your website in areas that may be harming your patrons’ experiences of your brand and your website.
Learning Google Analytics
There’s a lot to learn about Google Analytics, so where do you start? Fortunately, Google provides a library of online educational tutorials and other Google Analytics Resources to help marketers and others who would be interested in measuring website performance and tracking conversions.
For more information about Google Analytics and for other Google Analytics resources, take a look at the below: