How to use web metrics to understand your audience better

Ever opened up your analytics dashboard and thought, ‘Wtf does all this mean?’

Acquisition, conversion paths, bounce rate?

When it comes to analytics, we chuck around metrical jargon that can cause foggy minds and glazed eyes.

It can all sound way more technical than it actually is.

There's a lot to take in when it comes to analytics. There's so much information to absorb, and each component tells you something different about your audience.

Let's highlight the key metrics in a whistle-stop tour of analytics, without being too jargony.

Data-driven marketing

Analysing metrics is for data-driven marketers.

Times are tough financially, so it’s best to look at the numbers before making bold moves and spending company budgets.

Analysing metrics is doing the homework needed to get some information about your audience and fill in any blanks about your buyer persona.

It keeps you steering on the right track as you navigate the unpredictable seas of marketing. It tells you where you should be spending your time, energy, and ultimately - money.

They are useful points of reference to bring up in your marketing reports, and always a go-to for those 'justifying investments' meetings.

What can you find out from metrics?

Tracking tools tell us all we need to know about what is happening on the other side of the screen. It gives us an insight into...

Audience demographics
Consumer behaviour
How users interact with your marketing content

All of this data is tracked and compiled into one big database. It helps us to identify patterns in behaviour so that we can make smarter marketing choices.

Then, of course, you have a load of different types of analytics that measure your different marketing platforms.

Social media analytics
Web analytics
Attribution analytics
Call analytics

There's a whole library of different analytics tools to choose from. But the chances are, you're probably using Google Analytics, like 90% of other marketers out there.

It’s easy to use, it's simple to grasp, and best of all – it’s free.

Or perhaps you’ve fully set up camp in your CRM, and you’re using in-house analytics (like HubSpot).

But with so many different metrics and figures popping up everywhere – how do we know which ones to keep an eye on?

Keep your eye on these web analytics

Audience/User: Tells you everything you need to know about your audience. Demographics, hobbies/interests, which devices they use, what they eat for breakfast. Okay maybe not the latter - but you can take a good guess based on the richness of audience data. The 'User' section provides key info that will confirm who your buyer persona is.
Page views: Calculates views per page. This will inform you which pages are most popular by view.
Bounce rate: Measures how long your audience is spending on your pages before 'bouncing' away. The lower the number of your bounce rate, the better. High bounce rates mean more users have bounced off. This could mean your pages are not engaging enough, or they take too long to load.
Conversion path: Tells you how your anonymous visitors became known leads. How did they get there?
Average session duration: This gives you an idea of how long your users spend on your pages. A metric of engagement.

What are you looking for?

What do you want to find out from metrics? How will these audience insights shape your marketing? Did you want to find out that your users are mainly from Birmingham just for fun?

Get a goal in place. Your goal could be anything from increasing user engagement to getting more conversions. Or perhaps you just want overall general feedback about your site and users.

Personalising metrics

Once you've cracked the basics of an analytics tool, you can start measuring your own customisable metrics depending on your goals.

The 'Event' section is your best friend here.

Let's say you need to push engagement. You've released a new video on your landing page to reduce bounce rate and increase average session duration. You can track the engagement of the video by using the 'event' tracking. You can track the views, average watch time, and where they stop watching.

This information will inform and improve future video content.

You can set up as many events as you want, to track and measure the things that you need. Eventually, your tracking can become completely customisable to your business goals. Not only does it track and record data, but it's a lens into your buyer persona. It's the closest thing you'll ever have to a live view of your customers interacting with your site.