A Concern About Accuracy
We at Next Analytics were recently contacted by a business person who believed that their Google Analytics data was flawed. Our client explained that they used an eCommerce platform for everything, including the shopping cart. The client was confident that their transactions were not all being captured by GA and wanted to verify what was wrong.
The client wanted to compare reliable data from their eCommerce platform to the data presented by GA. They also wanted to know what dimensions were causing data to be missed. Using Next Analytics, they could compare the source data to Google Analytics data and check for discrepancies.
Why Verify Your eCommerce?
The client was interested in more than just making sure their sales numbers were correct. They thought it was important to know what source, medium, and campaign had produced the conversions. Without reliable data, they could never be sure how their marketing campaigns were performing, or which of their ads were driving sales.
Getting Actionable Data
Once our objectives were clear, we at Next Analytics suggested an analytics strategy which would produce an actionable report. We will need data from the eCommerce site and from Google Analytics. Using Next Analytics, we can create a day-by-day report for the past three months. Next Analytics is capable of integrating data from a variety of sources, so this is easy once we have the data.
Creating a chart that shows transactions over time, the client can spot discrepancies between the data.The client is able to find a day when the transactions reported by Google Analytics are different from the data reported by the eCommerce platform. Now that we have an example of a discrepancy, we can begin digging deeper.
The Power of Next Analytics
Using Next Analytics, we will segment using different dimensions to find out what is causing the discrepancy. Are some products not being tracked? Are sales from a single region, or during a certain time of day, not being captured by GA? If the transactions themselves are not the issue, we can try segmenting the data differently. Perhaps the transactions are not returning the prices they should be.
Make a Difference with Your Business
If your data is not being reported correctly, it can impact the quality of your business decisions. You need to know how well your marketing, advertising, and sales are performing. Correctly attributing sales to your campaigns will mean that you know what works with your customers. Next Analytics gives you reliable reports for actionable information.