Testing landing pages? We put together a list of essential Google Analytics landing page tools, reports, and features to make sure any landing page testing program is properly measured. Don’t miss out on these features.
1. UTM Parameters
In order to properly track any campaign in Google Analytics, ensure that you’re using the proper UTM parameters and that your mediums match those that are acceptable to GA’s default Channel tracking. See if your mediums match up with Google’s preferred ones: Default channel definitions by Google.
Also check out this great Unbounce article to learn more about how to set up UTM parameters to properly track all of your campaigns and landing pages.
2. Cross-Domain Tracking
In order to make sure that your Unbounce pages or 3rd party landing pages don’t show up as self-referrals, don’t forget to set up cross-domain tracking. Here is a great resource on how to properly set it up for whichever Google Analytics implementation you have (e.g., ga.js, analytics.js, gtm.js, etc.). Lastly, you’ll need to set up each of the sub domains as an excluded referral to make sure post-landing page conversions are attributed back to the right marketing sources.
You should definitely be taking advantage of Google Analytics Landing Page Report feature. Use it to track the overall performance of your pages and also to identify top landing pages on your domain that would be ripe for testing. Utilize Shortcut Reports so that your specific, customized GA report is always handy. Deploy Dashboards to ensure that you get the high-level landing page data that you need on the fly.
Use A/B Experiments specific to Google Analytics, which allow you to determine which page variations yield the highest conversions. This is a great alternative to 3rd party tools and can help you set up tests for pre-existing pages on the site.
Set up Goal and/or Event Tracking to determine the behavior of your users and the overall success of your campaign(s). Event Tracking and Goal Funnels can help you see where users are falling off during the conversion process, so you can start improving that conversion funnel based on real data.
Create remarketing lists in Google Analytics that feed into AdWords. These lists can capture those users who land on the page and interact with it but do not convert. In essence, you are recapturing the highly engaged users who are on the fence, so you can bring them back and close the sale.
Tailor Google Analytics to your business’s needs and make the landing page tracking truly customizable. With custom dimensions and metrics, you can:
• Label users who interact or submit a form on your site and remarket to them for future campaigns
• Track certain metrics that are only present on your page and are not standard GA metrics
• Bucket your users into different groups and see how they perform over time.
Maybe Facebook didn’t do such a great job at closing the conversion on the first visit, but you discover (through Attribution) that those users came back the next day via Google/Organic and convert. If you had turned off your Facebook campaign, then it could have been detrimental to your overall conversions. See how users that were introduced to your site via the landing page eventually convert on other KPIs—and where they came back through. This will assist with budget planning and campaign adjustments in the future.
GA defaults your campaigns into predetermined groups that aren’t reflective of what your business focuses on. Create customized Channel Groupings to solve that, bucketing your traffic into the correct channels and making reporting and analyses more efficient.
With GA’s custom alerts, you can be alerted when conversions, traffic, and/or behavior rises or falls on the landing page. This helps you stay aware of its progress on a daily basis so you can proactively address drop-offs or get notified if any features break.
Import cost data into GA from other sources that aren’t linked directly to GA (i.e. AdWords) so you can utilize the ROAS feature in the Attribution reports.
Set up Marketing Promotions in the Enhanced Ecommerce reports to see how that landing page affects your overall ecommerce performance.
Bonus: Essential Google Analytics Reports
Also have a look at these essential Google Analytics Reports to understand your website traffic. These reports will help you zero in on critical KPIs to measure how efficiently your website is working for your business.
Google Analytics is replete with useful tools and features that can help you measure your landing page’s performance and understand how to optimize and improve your campaigns.
For more information about Google Analytics or to receive a free Google Analytics implementation audit, get in touch today.
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