November 5, 2024 • 38 mins
In this episode of Growth: Powered by FareHarbor, Rebekah sits down with FareHarbor’s GA4 experts, Elle and Adam, to give a high-level understanding of everything you need to know about Google Analytics 4. They discuss the key differences between UA and GA4, how tour operators can leverage GA4’s event tracking features, and what you are (probably) missing in your tracking. This episode will give you the tools to make data-driven decisions and elevate your online booking strategy. Let us know what you think!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to Growth powered by Fair Harbor where we explore the strategies behind thrivingtour and activity businesses.
Whether you're just starting out or scaling up, this podcast is packed with insights tohelp you succeed.
Now here's your host, Fair Harbor's Community Manager, Rebecca Cosley.
(00:27):
Hello.
Hello, Fair Harbor, Fair Harbor clients.
Hello, listener.
Welcome to Growth Powered by Fair Harbor.
On this episode of Growth Powered by Fair Harbor, we are going to be talking about GoogleAnalytics for the mystery of it all.
We're going to debunk some myths today.
And we're doing that with my two guests, Adam Marka.
(00:48):
Hello, a senior account manager here at Fair Harbor.
And we also have Ellie Arutza and analytics.
project manager here at Fair Harbor who has saved my lifetime and time again with GoogleAnalytics questions.
So I am very lucky to have her here on this episode.
Again, we have Adam and Ellie here to talk about Google Analytics for debunking somemyths, talking a little bit about that little migration I've been hearing about that
(01:16):
happened last year.
So Adam, I'll let you take it away.
Let's hear what she got.
I'd love to hear about Google Analytics.
All right.
Well, first I'm just going to give a
quick kind of to sensor about what my role is at Fair Harbor Senior Account Manager.
Essentially, I'm a problem solver and a growth consultant who works directly with theirHarbor clients.
(01:36):
And I'm on this podcast because I'm part of a small team of account managers who's beentraining under Ellie to help pass a GA four related knowledge and solutions on to the rest
of the account management team.
So before we get into the interview, I'd like to make a quick clarification ofterminology.
In July, 2023,
Google Analytics made a big upgrade from a system they called Universal Analytics or UA towhat is now called Google Analytics 4 or GA4.
(02:07):
The terms Google Analytics and GA4 will often be used interchangeably in thisconversation.
So, Ellie, it goes without saying that at Fair Harbor, you play a key part in helpingaccount managers understand Google Analytics.
Can you share a bit about your role as the GA4 expert at Fair Harbor?
and how you became so passionate about data analytics?
(02:27):
course, as the analytics project manager at Fair Harbor, my role is all about connectingour platform with client data in Google Analytics.
I make sure the data we collect is accurate and valuable, working closely with our teamsand clients to add and maximize its use for boosting revenue.
What hooked me on data is pretty much realizing it's more than just numbers and I lovenumbers.
(02:53):
is the story of how people interact with a business.
And Ferhabo gets me to apply that passion every day, helping client understand the data,optimize the operation, and ultimately drive more bookings.
That's what keeps me really excited, actually.
Very cool.
Thanks a lot.
So what would you say is a common misconception people have about Google Analytics 4,especially since the migration away from Universal Analytics last year?
(03:20):
I think the
Biggest misconception is probably thinking it's just an updated version of universalanalytics.
A lot of people jump into G4 expecting it to work like the old UA and then they totallythrown off when they realized things are really, really different in G4.
(03:40):
G4 is not just a tweak to what we had before.
It's a whole new platform.
It's designed around user centric analysis.
event-based tracking instead of the old session-based model we're used to in UA.
So some of the feature and metrics that were second nature for you in Universal Analytics,either on the animal or they work very differently in a different way.
(04:06):
So for example, how G4 handles events and conversion is a big change.
It can be a bit of a learning curve if you're still in the UA mindset.
Another thing some people assume is that all UA data automatically rolled over into G4,but that's not the case.
G4 only starts collecting data from the moment you set it up.
(04:30):
So if you didn't migrate things properly, you're now missing out on a lot of historicaldata.
So yeah, the key takeaway is that G4 is a different beast and it really requires a freshperspective.
But once you get past that, there's a lot of powerful stuff you can really do with it.
Yeah, I fully agree.
(04:51):
It was pretty intimidating at first and hard to find, a little frustrating that I couldn'tfind the information that I wanted to find, but now I feel like I find so much more than I
used to.
So for those who don't know, what are the biggest differences between Universal Analyticsand GA?
Great question.
So there's a lot of differences, but I would just give you a few ones.
(05:12):
So first, if you're coming, when you're coming from UA,
The biggest differences you will notice in GFO is how it tracks data and how you interactwith that data.
So first off, GFO is all about events.
As I said before, in an universal analytics, everything was organized around sessions,which means it was really focused on what people did in a single visit to your site.
(05:38):
GFO flips that on its head.
It's all about what actions user takes.
over time.
Every click, every scroll, every video play or page view is considered an event.
And that gives you way more flexibility in how you analyze user behavior.
(05:58):
Another big shift is in the reporting.
UA had a ton of pre-built reports that were pretty rigid.
GFO is way more customizable.
You can build report that fits exactly what you want to see, which is awesome, but alsomean there's a bit more setup involved.
And let's not forget about privacy.
(06:21):
Privacy is a big thing these days and GFO is designed with the future of data privacy inmind.
It has stronger control around the data collection and storage, which is super importantas you know, regulation keep tightening up.
So in a nutshell, GFO is more flexible.
It's more user-focused and way more future-proof compared to UA.
(06:45):
But it might take a little bit of getting used to it, but it's built to handle the waypeople interact with the web today and also tomorrow.
Fantastic.
So as someone who's deep into GA4, what would you say is one feature that most peopleoverlook or underutilize?
It's definitely one feature in GA4 that I think
(07:07):
flies under the radar for a lot of people.
The explore workspace.
Say you're of digging into explore, you're missing out on a lot of major insights.
Explore lets you go beyond the standard report.
really plays around your data.
You can create custom funnels, segment users, and do analysis to see exactly how peoplenavigate through your site.
(07:34):
It's like having
The sandbox when you can start, when you can, it's like having a sandbox when you can testout different hypothesis without messing with your main data.
Most people stick to the default reports, but explore is where you can start answeringthose what if question that can really, really drive strategy.
Plus it's not really hard to get started with once you dive in.
(07:57):
So yeah, one thing you should spend more time in GFO is definitely the explore workspace.
Yeah.
Explorer is definitely one of those parts that.
of the GA4 that is initially very intimidating.
But then you have to understand what a few of the little sections are.
It turns out it's just kind of maybe not the best visual user interface, but then thefunctionality is great once you understand it a little more.
(08:23):
So Fair Harbor has recently released the ability to track events within our bookingplatform.
Can you walk us through what this means for our clients and how they can benefit from it?
Of course.
So we have adding the ability to track events within the booking flow and that's, that's agame changer.
What is great, basically this event lets you see exactly how user are interacting withyour Ferhabo booking flow.
(08:51):
Instead of just knowing that someone visited a page or completed a booking, we can nowtrack every action along the way, like visiting the item description, selecting a date and
abandoning the booking.
So this kind of granular data is gold because it lets you identify where user might begetting stuck or what booking flow configuration are really driving conversion.
(09:17):
For example, they see a lot of people entering the booking flow from a certain button, butnot completing the booking.
can dig in and figure out why.
Maybe it is not enough information.
Maybe the offer is not.
compelling enough.
On top of that, tracking events means you can optimize your booking funnel in real time.
(09:41):
You can test different layout, booking flow configurations, or even pricing strategy andsee exactly how these changes impact user behavior.
So in short, by tracking those events, you get way much clearer picture of how usersinteract with your booking flow, which leads to smarter decision and ultimately, which is
(10:04):
your goal, more bookings.
Great.
So these last few questions have been talking about some great functionalities of GA4, butalso we've been discussing how they can be kind of intimidating and it can be a bit
complex at first.
So for clients who are new to GA4, what would you say are the top metrics or reports theyshould be focusing on?
(10:28):
So for clients just getting started with GA4,
There few key metrics and reports that you should focus on to hit the ground runningstraight away.
First up, the engagement rate.
It's a big one.
Unlike the old bounce rate in universal analytics, engagement rate gives you a clearerpicture of how actively your user interacting with your sites.
(10:53):
It's not just about whether they left quickly or whether they are really engaged.
more whether they're really engaged, sticking around, clicking through pages orinteracting with your content.
Another must watch is the user acquisition reports.
This is where you can see where traffic is coming from, whether it's organic, social mediaor paid ads.
(11:19):
It helps you understand which channel of ringing the most valuable user, not just in termsof volume, but in quality and engagement.
And lastly,
The pages and screen report is a must check.
It tells you which pages are getting the most views and how user are navigating throughthem.
This helps you identify what contents or feature resonating with your user and what theremight be opportunities to optimize or improve the user experience.
(11:49):
So by focusing on this report that I just talked about, you can get a solid understandingof your audience, how users are engaging with your contents and
where you can make strategic improvements pretty much.
Great, great.
So a lot of operators start off small and they have a lot of hats on, including beingtheir own marketing representative.
(12:13):
Where would you have them start in understanding GA4 and what mistakes do you often seewhen beginners are trying to grasp Google Analytics?
So when you're juggling multiple roles, especially as your own marketing person, divinginto a difficult field,
a bit overwhelming, but honestly, the best place to start is by getting comfortable withthe home dashboard.
(12:36):
This is where you can get a quick snapshot of your key metrics, like how many users you'vehad, where they're coming from, or what they are doing on your site.
It's a great way to get the lay of the land without getting too deep right away.
Another key area to explore early on would be the lifecycle reports.
(12:57):
These reports break down the customer journey from acquisition to retention, showing youhow users move through your sites.
That's really great way to see where you are attracting users, how they are engaging withyour content or whether they're coming back.
I give you a clear picture of what's working and where you might need to focus moreeffort.
(13:19):
And for a few common mistakes, a big one that I see
is beginner trying to recreate the exact same reports they were used to in universalanalytics.
GFO, as I said before, is very different.
It's more flexible, but that also means it takes a different mindset.
So instead of looking for one-on-one comparison, it's better to explore what GFO offers onits own term, like event-based tracking and the ability to customize your report more
(13:48):
freely.
Another mistake is not setting up key events early on.
These are crucial for tracking what really matters to your business, whether it's a sales,a form submission or any other key action.
Without setting this up, you're missing out on a lot of the powerful inside G4 can offer.
(14:08):
So start simple, explore the basics and don't be afraid to experiment.
G4 is built to give you more control.
It's all about getting comfortable with the new tools and finding what really, reallyworks for you.
So you just brought up
key events.
And that was recently, that's a new term that isn't even new to GA4 at the transition fromUA, but is new as of a couple months ago.
(14:36):
So I guess I can explain that essentially what we used to call conversions are now calledkey events.
And it's that simple unless there's more to it that I'm missing.
But I do find that
One mistake I find some of my clients making is they seem to choose too many key eventsand then I feel like they lose their value.
(15:00):
Can you give any insight about what they should and shouldn't make be a key event?
Yes.
So key events is replacing the word conversion events.
So when you think at a key event, it needs to be something very important on your websitethat you want to track.
As I said, it needs to be the purchase event either.
key events because it's a conversion, then form submission could be very important foryou.
(15:26):
So it could be a key events.
A page view is not a key event.
It's not very important.
You should be tracking page views.
And I see that very often in clients, Google analytics, they turn page view into a keyevents.
So please stick with what's really important in your websites and what you really want totrack and what you really want to have.
(15:48):
a conversion rate about.
So keep to something that is really valuable for you to analyze the data later.
It's almost like an end goal.
Like if you were a loan agent lead generation is that's the end goal.
I got people here.
So I get their email address so that I can market to them and try to sell a loan to them.
(16:13):
Or if you're trying to build your mailing list, you get that email address, you're done.
Or of course, Fair Harbor, we're here trying to sell tours and activities.
so once we get that conversion, once we get that sale, that is a key event.
along the way?
Exactly.
So do you have any anecdotes you can share about a client or an account manager who made adata driven decision based on what they found in Google Analytics for?
(16:41):
Well, Adam, you're working every day with clients.
think you have more anecdotes than me.
So you might want to answer to that question.
right.
Ellie, you're flipping the script on me.
Let's see.
I do have a few examples that I come to mind.
So one of them is from a client of ours who started off in Arizona and their businessmodel essentially is to rent out male models to bartend and otherwise elevate bachelorette
(17:13):
pool parties.
Yeah.
So...
There you go.
Male models hanging out at a pool party with you.
Obviously, you can imagine how this might be a popular concept.
So they're no longer just in Arizona.
And by the time I was working with them in this particular part of the interaction withthem, they had multiple locations.
(17:35):
So they had three different locations and each location had three different pages ofinformation on it.
So when looking at the Google Analytics data,
I noticed that people were bouncing between these three pages a lot and they weren'tstaying very long on them and they would often then just disappear, meaning low conversion
(17:58):
rate.
They weren't getting those sales.
So that led me to actually look at their website and evaluate the information on thesepages.
And it turned out no one page had all the information that someone would need toconfidently book.
And we also all know that
extra clicks and information that's difficult to find lead to poor conversion rates.
(18:22):
So I worked with the client to consolidate their three pages per location down to one pageper location with very clearly stated, clearly stating all the most important information.
And then the conversion, the overall conversion rate of their Fair Harbor dashboard wentup from 9 % to 13%.
(18:46):
So I thought that was a really huge win and it shows how valuable building a websitecorrectly can be.
And then how Google analytics data can lead you to identify issues like that.
That's like a 50 % increase, 45 % increase.
(19:07):
Huge.
I do have one other example.
So I was on a call with a client based in Florida.
And I asked them what their most common incoming calls were about.
And he mentioned that he has a lot of elderly clients who aren't necessarily the most techsavvy.
And so many of them called confused about his customer type options.
(19:29):
We took a look at the J4 demographics report and we confirmed that the overwhelmingmajority of his clients indeed were over 50 years old.
So it just kind of confirmed, okay, we are working with older clientele and
In general, that is an age bracket that didn't grow up with technology, so they're not assavvy.
(19:51):
We created a booking funnel report in that Explore section of GA4, which Ellie said is themost underutilized.
And we confirmed there that there was a big drop off at the point where customers werechoosing their customer type.
So this gave us confidence that we needed to overhaul this portion of his Fair Harboritems.
(20:13):
So simplified and clarified the differences between the customer types, both in the FairHarbor booking flow and on his website, before you get into Fair Harbor, then people knew
what was happening when they were going through the booking process.
And in that part of the booking funnel that was completed 10 percentage points more oftenthan it was before we made those changes.
(20:39):
So holding on to a lot more clients who
were happy customers who were happy to book, but then just kind of got lost and confused.
That's really incredible.
Do you often find in your work with clients, there is a gap that can be filled betweenlike the reporting that Fair Harbor provides and what GA4 can provide as far as
(21:04):
identifying an audience or figuring out what do I need to fix in my book form to getpeople to hit complete booking?
Yeah.
There's something that we always recommend calling B called be the Booker where just whenyou look at your website, when you look at the fair Harbor booking flow, just think
logically, if I was someone who didn't know anything about this, am I getting all theinformation I need to know?
(21:30):
And then once you think you have some, once you have some philosophies, some theoriesabout what maybe could be improved, you can use Google analytics to then
verify is there actually an issue happening here or is this just a perceived issue or youcan go the other way around and look at data and like find where there's a big drop off in
(21:52):
the booking funnel and say what the heck's happening here and then try to dissect whatmight be causing people to to exit the booking process.
In the end, it usually comes down to not enough information or confusing information.
and giving people the information they need in the right order.
And Ellie, are there any tabs in GA4 that...
(22:17):
Or sections of GA4 that can help with that gap as well that people don't often recognize?
I know you both mentioned the booking funnel isn't often utilized.
If I'm trying to identify my audience, maybe I'm trying to look at my social mediastrategy.
Maybe I'm trying to see what pages are working on my website, what marketing decisions Imight want to make or in my branding.
(22:39):
What is a good tool within GA4 to be like, this is my age range.
this is the gender that identifies with the product I'm selling.
So if you want to analyze your social media and if you're running ads with social media,first you need to set up those UTM parameters into your social media platform, into your
(22:59):
campaign.
So then it can be recognized into GA4.
When it's recognized into GA4, then you can
analyze the performance of those specific campaign.
There's a bunch of reports about it.
You can go into first into the acquisition reports to understand volume coming throughthose ads.
Did those ads brought any revenue?
(23:23):
How the people are interacting with those ads.
Then you will move on into the engagement report.
This is all about the behavior of those people that have been acquired through those ads.
If you want to dig deeper,
into those specific campaigns, this is where you will go into the explore workspace.
I've mentioned a lot about the explore workspace before, but this is where you will beable to build those custom reporting that really, really go granular about those specific
(23:54):
campaigns.
Gosh, you know it all.
I really tried to stump you.
I really did.
But you know it all.
And for anyone who's unfamiliar with campaigns or any of
any of the verbiage or definitions that we are describing in this episode, we will haveresources as well.
Fair Harbor has a learning guide called Compass that Ellie has contributed to extensivelywhen it comes to Google Analytics.
(24:18):
So we'll have additional resources for you there.
Awesome.
Adam, I know I kind of jumped in there with my curiosity, but I'll leave it over to you.
Now Ellie, let's talk about data-driven decisions.
How can Fair Harbor clients leverage Google Analytics for to make smarter choices in theirbusinesses?
So data-driven decision is our way to act.
(24:41):
And G4 is a powerful tool for helping you make smarter choices.
So first off, G4 focuses on events, is a game changer.
Client can track specific action that user takes on the booking flow, like viewing an itemdescription, moving to the book form, or even appending a cart.
(25:01):
By analyzing these events, clients can see exactly where users are engaging and where theymight be dropping off, which helps in fine-tuning the booking process to boost conversion.
Another big advantage of G4 is the audience builder.
These features allow clients to create highly specific segments of users based on theirbehavior, like repeat visitors, high spenders, or people who didn't
(25:31):
complete the booking.
On this audience or define, they can be used to tailor marketing efforts, be sent toGoogle Ads, or even personalize the booking experience, ensuring that the right message is
getting to the right people at the right time.
And as already mentioned before, again, the Explore Workspace is the tool that is supervaluable.
(25:55):
Let's you dig deeper into your data.
You can uncover pattern.
test out different hypothesis without being, you know, without being, without needing tobe a data scientist.
For example, you can explore which marketing channel are driving the most valuabletraffic.
And this is what I explained to Rebecca before.
I'll see how changes in pricing might be affecting booking rates.
(26:19):
So in short, G4 equips you with the insight you need to make informed data-drivendecision.
that can significantly impact your botan line.
It's all about ensuring the data to guide actions that improve the customer experience anddrive more bookings.
So a lot of you listening to this podcast maybe are even signed up for Google Analyticsyet.
(26:47):
Maybe you're here hoping that this episode will give you the understanding and themotivation to get your fair
GA4 setup.
So we are going to have some resources linked at the bottom of this podcast that you canuse to get started.
(27:07):
In that guide, it'll teach you how to add the Google Analytics code to your website and toFair Harbor.
And that's really all you need to know to start collecting data.
There's other tutorials that you can look into as well as listening to some of what Elliesaid to
kind of poke around and start seeing some of those basic reports that are most important.
(27:31):
If you've been collecting data for four months or so, then that's enough for your FairHarbor account manager to begin to analyze and they can draw those conclusions for you.
And then that will make you more comfortable with drawing future conclusions yourself aswell.
So get that linked up.
You've got the data and your Fair Harbor account manager can...
(27:54):
can help you analyze that and make improvements to your business.
think that's a great point, Adam, on a question of when should clients feel comfortable tostart making data-driven decisions once they implement that code?
Because I see so often in the Fair Harbor community, people are asking questions witheither they're making some decisions based on their gut versus looking at the data they
(28:20):
have.
And it can be a little bit confusing to know,
How do I know once I implement that code and I just started this campaign, when do I knowto check that data and know that it's true, it's data I should be making decisions on?
Is that a timeframe or how much context am I supposed to be adding whenever I'm making anew change or starting a new campaign?
(28:43):
So first, when you installed the scripts into your website and then connect it to FairHarbor, make sure that
It's tracking effectively and make sure that you set up the unwanted referral list withfairhabit.com and your root domain.
So if you have set this up, then the data should be working in flowing in a good way.
(29:05):
Then in terms of the timeframe, it really depends on the volume of user coming to yoursite.
If a very high volume of user, then you can start analyzing the data after a month,depending on your traffic.
If you have a very, very low traffic, then you should wait a little bit longer, but youcan start making, you know, start building your campaign straight away.
(29:29):
You don't need to wait to have data.
can, you can start doing it as soon as you have implemented scripts and, made all thoseconfiguration into your G4 property.
yeah, I'd like to jump in and give another shout out to the Fair Harbor help docs.
So the fair Harbor help doc will tell you step by step.
(29:51):
how to put the code on your website, how to put the code into your Fair Harbor dashboard,what settings to change in your Google Analytics account to make sure you're collecting
the best data.
And also in order for Fair Harbor to be able to look at that data as well and help youcome to these data-driven decisions, an account manager will provide you with an email
(30:18):
address for you to attach to that account.
so that we can see it.
So those are four steps, one, two, three, four listed in the Google Analytics help doc.
Once you're on Google Analytics, a lot of people are also wanting to use Google ads.
And in order to see Fair Harbor conversions, meaning sales made on Fair Harbor, in orderto see that show up in your Google ads account, there's a different help doc about Google
(30:47):
ads.
And if you're working with a third party marketing agency, they probably have their ownway that they think they should be setting up Google ads to track with Fair Harbor.
And Fair Harbor does not connect the same way as just a website that's not using kind of athird party that has a light frame or an eye frame, an internal frame within the website.
(31:11):
So please follow our instructions, not Google's instructions or what
your third party marketer says.
And those are probably the biggest keys to get set up right.
Awesome.
Thank you.
Any other final thoughts from either of you as we wrap up the episode?
Circling back to data driven decisions and also to using Google Analytics to confirm ordeny your gut instincts.
(31:42):
A lot of that just comes down to understanding
What, where in Google analytics, like if you have a gut feeling, where in Googleanalytics, what data do you need to find to confirm or deny that gut feeling?
And that can be a little bit daunting if you don't understand Google analytics that well,but luckily you do have, you know, Fair Harbor employees here to help you with that.
(32:05):
And plenty of resources.
You know, if you are doing a marketing campaign, even if, know, whether it's Google ads orjust
any marketing campaign.
You can look at the demographics, again, like where people live who are booking.
can even...
If you have a big enough data set, you can even find out the conversion rates of people indifferent cities.
(32:33):
And so that gives you an idea who to market to.
What age groups not only are the most popular but are converting the best?
What cities are converting the best?
You can look at like...
Ellie mentioned engagement rates.
So certain pages that have higher engagement rate.
Okay.
What's going on?
That's great.
(32:53):
Compare that to pages that have web pages that have lower engagement rates and maybefigure out what could I do to keep people on this page longer?
Or is there just not that much content and they're not there that, or I guess that's nottrue.
If they were in, if they were engaged and moved to the next page, that'd be fine.
(33:14):
It would be them leaving the site if the rate was poor.
But yeah, another thing is how long are people staying on a page?
So if you have a lot of content on a page, meaning a lot of words and pictures to look at,but people are staying a very short time, maybe that's not a very effective page.
Look into changing that.
One thing is a lot of words on a page doesn't necessarily keep people's eye.
(33:37):
A big thing that I think is important is organizing big blocks of content.
they're not paragraphs, but there's like lots of different sized wordings, know, likeheadings and subheadings.
And I love bullet points as well.
So different ways to organize the information.
So it breaks it up into smaller pieces and there's different ways for little bits to catchyour eye and keep you engaged.
(34:04):
Because you see a giant block of text, you're like, I'm not here to read a novel andyou're out.
In a TikTok world, my attention span is probably
three seconds.
So I can attest to that as a consumer that too much text on a page.
like, I'm trying to book an experience.
I'm not trying to read a novel.
The most important is the architecture of the page.
(34:26):
Make sure that is, you know, everything is laid out in a way that is easy to understand.
Again, don't write a novel because no one will read it anyway.
And you can know that with the
control event that you have in GFO.
That event fires when the user goes down 90 % of the page, which usually no one goes down90 % of the page.
(34:51):
So you can have a look at this event and see if that's what's happening on your website.
So gut feeling are good.
It's good to have gut feelings, but always verify your gut feeling with your data.
Always go into your reports and try to find the evidence that your gut feeling were true.
Don't just follow those gut feelings blindly because you might think about something as aperson, but that may be a very different story if you look at the data.
(35:21):
So always verify that with the data.
Amazing.
Now, I started quite a bit ago at Fair Harbor and when I was an account manager forcertain accounts, obviously there was context.
benchmarks of data.
So we talked a little bit about like bounce rates.
(35:41):
Is there any benchmarking that's still applicable when looking at that kind of data?
Like is there a healthy bounce rate?
Is there a healthy like scroll rate if that's a thing?
You know, how can you gauge what's like good and bad in that kind of sense?
In terms of the engagement rates, a healthy engagement rate is above 65%.
(36:02):
So try to hit that benchmark when you look at your different pages or when you look atyour other websites, be careful with that engagement rates, because if you see an
engagement rate that is 95 % or over, it is probably something wrong on your websites.
You probably turn on an event to a key event.
(36:24):
That's mean
For example, you turn on the page view as a key event.
That's mean every time the user will visit a page, will trigger any that, you know, userengagement events.
And then it will think that the user is engaged, which is not that user just visited thepage view.
So make sure that the engagement rate is healthy.
(36:48):
Both 65%, but if you see a hundred percent of engagement rate, that means that thisprobably is something wrong with your data.
Do have any other benchmarks?
So session key event rates should be above 2.4%.
This is the minimum above 2.4 % that should be good.
Average engagement time, that really depends on your website.
(37:11):
Again, if you have a lot of engaging content on your website, you will be a lot higherthan if you have a very simple but effective homepage with the right call to action that
will then
guide the user down the booking process.
So the average engagement time really depends on your website.
(37:32):
It can't be two seconds.
It can't be four minutes.
So try to understand how long users should stay on your website to then build your ownbenchmark.
That was, again, trying to put you on the spot and you said, not today.
Today, Rebecca.
So I appreciate that.
That's the last question I had.
I thought for, was like, wow, we are blowing through all of these questions.
(37:56):
And then we just, we just got into the meat of it and I love it.
We found more and more to talk about.
So thank you too so much for all of the insight, Adam.
I loved the anecdotes.
I think that they provide a real value in showing that this stuff really does matter andit takes a little bit of legwork.
It takes a learning curve.
but the data that it provides is worth all of that effort.
(38:18):
So I really appreciate you diving into your experiences there.
And Ellie, I don't even know where to start with my gratitude with you.
You are so incredible at your job.
I certainly appreciate you taking time out of your workday to be on this episode.
And like Adam mentioned earlier, all the great help docs we have, I think there's even aCompass article or two that would be helpful for the things we talked about today.
(38:41):
I will have all of that listed in the
description of this episode.
And while you're there might as well throw us a star.
Well, actually maybe five, maybe six of them, if you have that capability, give us afollow and hopefully we'll see you next time.
Thank you both for your time.
Thank you listeners for listening.
(39:02):
And I hope everyone has a great day.
It's good to see you and I'll see you next time.
Thanks so much for having us Rebecca.
Thanks so much.
Welcome to Growth powered by Fair Harbor where we explore the strategies behind thrivingtour and activity businesses.
Whether you're just starting out or scaling up, this podcast is packed with insights tohelp you succeed.
Now here's your host, Fair Harbor's Community Manager, Rebecca Cosley.
(00:27):
Hello.
Hello, Fair Harbor, Fair Harbor clients.
Hello, listener.
Welcome to Growth Powered by Fair Harbor.
On this episode of Growth Powered by Fair Harbor, we are going to be talking about GoogleAnalytics for the mystery of it all.
We're going to debunk some myths today.
And we're doing that with my two guests, Adam Marka.
(00:48):
Hello, a senior account manager here at Fair Harbor.
And we also have Ellie Arutza and analytics.
project manager here at Fair Harbor who has saved my lifetime and time again with GoogleAnalytics questions.
So I am very lucky to have her here on this episode.
Again, we have Adam and Ellie here to talk about Google Analytics for debunking somemyths, talking a little bit about that little migration I've been hearing about that
(01:16):
happened last year.
So Adam, I'll let you take it away.
Let's hear what she got.
I'd love to hear about Google Analytics.
All right.
Well, first I'm just going to give a
quick kind of to sensor about what my role is at Fair Harbor Senior Account Manager.
Essentially, I'm a problem solver and a growth consultant who works directly with theirHarbor clients.
(01:36):
And I'm on this podcast because I'm part of a small team of account managers who's beentraining under Ellie to help pass a GA four related knowledge and solutions on to the rest
of the account management team.
So before we get into the interview, I'd like to make a quick clarification ofterminology.
In July, 2023,
Google Analytics made a big upgrade from a system they called Universal Analytics or UA towhat is now called Google Analytics 4 or GA4.
(02:07):
The terms Google Analytics and GA4 will often be used interchangeably in thisconversation.
So, Ellie, it goes without saying that at Fair Harbor, you play a key part in helpingaccount managers understand Google Analytics.
Can you share a bit about your role as the GA4 expert at Fair Harbor?
and how you became so passionate about data analytics?
(02:27):
course, as the analytics project manager at Fair Harbor, my role is all about connectingour platform with client data in Google Analytics.
I make sure the data we collect is accurate and valuable, working closely with our teamsand clients to add and maximize its use for boosting revenue.
What hooked me on data is pretty much realizing it's more than just numbers and I lovenumbers.
(02:53):
is the story of how people interact with a business.
And Ferhabo gets me to apply that passion every day, helping client understand the data,optimize the operation, and ultimately drive more bookings.
That's what keeps me really excited, actually.
Very cool.
Thanks a lot.
So what would you say is a common misconception people have about Google Analytics 4,especially since the migration away from Universal Analytics last year?
(03:20):
I think the
Biggest misconception is probably thinking it's just an updated version of universalanalytics.
A lot of people jump into G4 expecting it to work like the old UA and then they totallythrown off when they realized things are really, really different in G4.
(03:40):
G4 is not just a tweak to what we had before.
It's a whole new platform.
It's designed around user centric analysis.
event-based tracking instead of the old session-based model we're used to in UA.
So some of the feature and metrics that were second nature for you in Universal Analytics,either on the animal or they work very differently in a different way.
(04:06):
So for example, how G4 handles events and conversion is a big change.
It can be a bit of a learning curve if you're still in the UA mindset.
Another thing some people assume is that all UA data automatically rolled over into G4,but that's not the case.
G4 only starts collecting data from the moment you set it up.
(04:30):
So if you didn't migrate things properly, you're now missing out on a lot of historicaldata.
So yeah, the key takeaway is that G4 is a different beast and it really requires a freshperspective.
But once you get past that, there's a lot of powerful stuff you can really do with it.
Yeah, I fully agree.
(04:51):
It was pretty intimidating at first and hard to find, a little frustrating that I couldn'tfind the information that I wanted to find, but now I feel like I find so much more than I
used to.
So for those who don't know, what are the biggest differences between Universal Analyticsand GA?
Great question.
So there's a lot of differences, but I would just give you a few ones.
(05:12):
So first, if you're coming, when you're coming from UA,
The biggest differences you will notice in GFO is how it tracks data and how you interactwith that data.
So first off, GFO is all about events.
As I said before, in an universal analytics, everything was organized around sessions,which means it was really focused on what people did in a single visit to your site.
(05:38):
GFO flips that on its head.
It's all about what actions user takes.
over time.
Every click, every scroll, every video play or page view is considered an event.
And that gives you way more flexibility in how you analyze user behavior.
(05:58):
Another big shift is in the reporting.
UA had a ton of pre-built reports that were pretty rigid.
GFO is way more customizable.
You can build report that fits exactly what you want to see, which is awesome, but alsomean there's a bit more setup involved.
And let's not forget about privacy.
(06:21):
Privacy is a big thing these days and GFO is designed with the future of data privacy inmind.
It has stronger control around the data collection and storage, which is super importantas you know, regulation keep tightening up.
So in a nutshell, GFO is more flexible.
It's more user-focused and way more future-proof compared to UA.
(06:45):
But it might take a little bit of getting used to it, but it's built to handle the waypeople interact with the web today and also tomorrow.
Fantastic.
So as someone who's deep into GA4, what would you say is one feature that most peopleoverlook or underutilize?
It's definitely one feature in GA4 that I think
(07:07):
flies under the radar for a lot of people.
The explore workspace.
Say you're of digging into explore, you're missing out on a lot of major insights.
Explore lets you go beyond the standard report.
really plays around your data.
You can create custom funnels, segment users, and do analysis to see exactly how peoplenavigate through your site.
(07:34):
It's like having
The sandbox when you can start, when you can, it's like having a sandbox when you can testout different hypothesis without messing with your main data.
Most people stick to the default reports, but explore is where you can start answeringthose what if question that can really, really drive strategy.
Plus it's not really hard to get started with once you dive in.
(07:57):
So yeah, one thing you should spend more time in GFO is definitely the explore workspace.
Yeah.
Explorer is definitely one of those parts that.
of the GA4 that is initially very intimidating.
But then you have to understand what a few of the little sections are.
It turns out it's just kind of maybe not the best visual user interface, but then thefunctionality is great once you understand it a little more.
(08:23):
So Fair Harbor has recently released the ability to track events within our bookingplatform.
Can you walk us through what this means for our clients and how they can benefit from it?
Of course.
So we have adding the ability to track events within the booking flow and that's, that's agame changer.
What is great, basically this event lets you see exactly how user are interacting withyour Ferhabo booking flow.
(08:51):
Instead of just knowing that someone visited a page or completed a booking, we can nowtrack every action along the way, like visiting the item description, selecting a date and
abandoning the booking.
So this kind of granular data is gold because it lets you identify where user might begetting stuck or what booking flow configuration are really driving conversion.
(09:17):
For example, they see a lot of people entering the booking flow from a certain button, butnot completing the booking.
can dig in and figure out why.
Maybe it is not enough information.
Maybe the offer is not.
compelling enough.
On top of that, tracking events means you can optimize your booking funnel in real time.
(09:41):
You can test different layout, booking flow configurations, or even pricing strategy andsee exactly how these changes impact user behavior.
So in short, by tracking those events, you get way much clearer picture of how usersinteract with your booking flow, which leads to smarter decision and ultimately, which is
(10:04):
your goal, more bookings.
Great.
So these last few questions have been talking about some great functionalities of GA4, butalso we've been discussing how they can be kind of intimidating and it can be a bit
complex at first.
So for clients who are new to GA4, what would you say are the top metrics or reports theyshould be focusing on?
(10:28):
So for clients just getting started with GA4,
There few key metrics and reports that you should focus on to hit the ground runningstraight away.
First up, the engagement rate.
It's a big one.
Unlike the old bounce rate in universal analytics, engagement rate gives you a clearerpicture of how actively your user interacting with your sites.
(10:53):
It's not just about whether they left quickly or whether they are really engaged.
more whether they're really engaged, sticking around, clicking through pages orinteracting with your content.
Another must watch is the user acquisition reports.
This is where you can see where traffic is coming from, whether it's organic, social mediaor paid ads.
(11:19):
It helps you understand which channel of ringing the most valuable user, not just in termsof volume, but in quality and engagement.
And lastly,
The pages and screen report is a must check.
It tells you which pages are getting the most views and how user are navigating throughthem.
This helps you identify what contents or feature resonating with your user and what theremight be opportunities to optimize or improve the user experience.
(11:49):
So by focusing on this report that I just talked about, you can get a solid understandingof your audience, how users are engaging with your contents and
where you can make strategic improvements pretty much.
Great, great.
So a lot of operators start off small and they have a lot of hats on, including beingtheir own marketing representative.
(12:13):
Where would you have them start in understanding GA4 and what mistakes do you often seewhen beginners are trying to grasp Google Analytics?
So when you're juggling multiple roles, especially as your own marketing person, divinginto a difficult field,
a bit overwhelming, but honestly, the best place to start is by getting comfortable withthe home dashboard.
(12:36):
This is where you can get a quick snapshot of your key metrics, like how many users you'vehad, where they're coming from, or what they are doing on your site.
It's a great way to get the lay of the land without getting too deep right away.
Another key area to explore early on would be the lifecycle reports.
(12:57):
These reports break down the customer journey from acquisition to retention, showing youhow users move through your sites.
That's really great way to see where you are attracting users, how they are engaging withyour content or whether they're coming back.
I give you a clear picture of what's working and where you might need to focus moreeffort.
(13:19):
And for a few common mistakes, a big one that I see
is beginner trying to recreate the exact same reports they were used to in universalanalytics.
GFO, as I said before, is very different.
It's more flexible, but that also means it takes a different mindset.
So instead of looking for one-on-one comparison, it's better to explore what GFO offers onits own term, like event-based tracking and the ability to customize your report more
(13:48):
freely.
Another mistake is not setting up key events early on.
These are crucial for tracking what really matters to your business, whether it's a sales,a form submission or any other key action.
Without setting this up, you're missing out on a lot of the powerful inside G4 can offer.
(14:08):
So start simple, explore the basics and don't be afraid to experiment.
G4 is built to give you more control.
It's all about getting comfortable with the new tools and finding what really, reallyworks for you.
So you just brought up
key events.
And that was recently, that's a new term that isn't even new to GA4 at the transition fromUA, but is new as of a couple months ago.
(14:36):
So I guess I can explain that essentially what we used to call conversions are now calledkey events.
And it's that simple unless there's more to it that I'm missing.
But I do find that
One mistake I find some of my clients making is they seem to choose too many key eventsand then I feel like they lose their value.
(15:00):
Can you give any insight about what they should and shouldn't make be a key event?
Yes.
So key events is replacing the word conversion events.
So when you think at a key event, it needs to be something very important on your websitethat you want to track.
As I said, it needs to be the purchase event either.
key events because it's a conversion, then form submission could be very important foryou.
(15:26):
So it could be a key events.
A page view is not a key event.
It's not very important.
You should be tracking page views.
And I see that very often in clients, Google analytics, they turn page view into a keyevents.
So please stick with what's really important in your websites and what you really want totrack and what you really want to have.
(15:48):
a conversion rate about.
So keep to something that is really valuable for you to analyze the data later.
It's almost like an end goal.
Like if you were a loan agent lead generation is that's the end goal.
I got people here.
So I get their email address so that I can market to them and try to sell a loan to them.
(16:13):
Or if you're trying to build your mailing list, you get that email address, you're done.
Or of course, Fair Harbor, we're here trying to sell tours and activities.
so once we get that conversion, once we get that sale, that is a key event.
along the way?
Exactly.
So do you have any anecdotes you can share about a client or an account manager who made adata driven decision based on what they found in Google Analytics for?
(16:41):
Well, Adam, you're working every day with clients.
think you have more anecdotes than me.
So you might want to answer to that question.
right.
Ellie, you're flipping the script on me.
Let's see.
I do have a few examples that I come to mind.
So one of them is from a client of ours who started off in Arizona and their businessmodel essentially is to rent out male models to bartend and otherwise elevate bachelorette
(17:13):
pool parties.
Yeah.
So...
There you go.
Male models hanging out at a pool party with you.
Obviously, you can imagine how this might be a popular concept.
So they're no longer just in Arizona.
And by the time I was working with them in this particular part of the interaction withthem, they had multiple locations.
(17:35):
So they had three different locations and each location had three different pages ofinformation on it.
So when looking at the Google Analytics data,
I noticed that people were bouncing between these three pages a lot and they weren'tstaying very long on them and they would often then just disappear, meaning low conversion
(17:58):
rate.
They weren't getting those sales.
So that led me to actually look at their website and evaluate the information on thesepages.
And it turned out no one page had all the information that someone would need toconfidently book.
And we also all know that
extra clicks and information that's difficult to find lead to poor conversion rates.
(18:22):
So I worked with the client to consolidate their three pages per location down to one pageper location with very clearly stated, clearly stating all the most important information.
And then the conversion, the overall conversion rate of their Fair Harbor dashboard wentup from 9 % to 13%.
(18:46):
So I thought that was a really huge win and it shows how valuable building a websitecorrectly can be.
And then how Google analytics data can lead you to identify issues like that.
That's like a 50 % increase, 45 % increase.
(19:07):
Huge.
I do have one other example.
So I was on a call with a client based in Florida.
And I asked them what their most common incoming calls were about.
And he mentioned that he has a lot of elderly clients who aren't necessarily the most techsavvy.
And so many of them called confused about his customer type options.
(19:29):
We took a look at the J4 demographics report and we confirmed that the overwhelmingmajority of his clients indeed were over 50 years old.
So it just kind of confirmed, okay, we are working with older clientele and
In general, that is an age bracket that didn't grow up with technology, so they're not assavvy.
(19:51):
We created a booking funnel report in that Explore section of GA4, which Ellie said is themost underutilized.
And we confirmed there that there was a big drop off at the point where customers werechoosing their customer type.
So this gave us confidence that we needed to overhaul this portion of his Fair Harboritems.
(20:13):
So simplified and clarified the differences between the customer types, both in the FairHarbor booking flow and on his website, before you get into Fair Harbor, then people knew
what was happening when they were going through the booking process.
And in that part of the booking funnel that was completed 10 percentage points more oftenthan it was before we made those changes.
(20:39):
So holding on to a lot more clients who
were happy customers who were happy to book, but then just kind of got lost and confused.
That's really incredible.
Do you often find in your work with clients, there is a gap that can be filled betweenlike the reporting that Fair Harbor provides and what GA4 can provide as far as
(21:04):
identifying an audience or figuring out what do I need to fix in my book form to getpeople to hit complete booking?
Yeah.
There's something that we always recommend calling B called be the Booker where just whenyou look at your website, when you look at the fair Harbor booking flow, just think
logically, if I was someone who didn't know anything about this, am I getting all theinformation I need to know?
(21:30):
And then once you think you have some, once you have some philosophies, some theoriesabout what maybe could be improved, you can use Google analytics to then
verify is there actually an issue happening here or is this just a perceived issue or youcan go the other way around and look at data and like find where there's a big drop off in
(21:52):
the booking funnel and say what the heck's happening here and then try to dissect whatmight be causing people to to exit the booking process.
In the end, it usually comes down to not enough information or confusing information.
and giving people the information they need in the right order.
And Ellie, are there any tabs in GA4 that...
(22:17):
Or sections of GA4 that can help with that gap as well that people don't often recognize?
I know you both mentioned the booking funnel isn't often utilized.
If I'm trying to identify my audience, maybe I'm trying to look at my social mediastrategy.
Maybe I'm trying to see what pages are working on my website, what marketing decisions Imight want to make or in my branding.
(22:39):
What is a good tool within GA4 to be like, this is my age range.
this is the gender that identifies with the product I'm selling.
So if you want to analyze your social media and if you're running ads with social media,first you need to set up those UTM parameters into your social media platform, into your
(22:59):
campaign.
So then it can be recognized into GA4.
When it's recognized into GA4, then you can
analyze the performance of those specific campaign.
There's a bunch of reports about it.
You can go into first into the acquisition reports to understand volume coming throughthose ads.
Did those ads brought any revenue?
(23:23):
How the people are interacting with those ads.
Then you will move on into the engagement report.
This is all about the behavior of those people that have been acquired through those ads.
If you want to dig deeper,
into those specific campaigns, this is where you will go into the explore workspace.
I've mentioned a lot about the explore workspace before, but this is where you will beable to build those custom reporting that really, really go granular about those specific
(23:54):
campaigns.
Gosh, you know it all.
I really tried to stump you.
I really did.
But you know it all.
And for anyone who's unfamiliar with campaigns or any of
any of the verbiage or definitions that we are describing in this episode, we will haveresources as well.
Fair Harbor has a learning guide called Compass that Ellie has contributed to extensivelywhen it comes to Google Analytics.
(24:18):
So we'll have additional resources for you there.
Awesome.
Adam, I know I kind of jumped in there with my curiosity, but I'll leave it over to you.
Now Ellie, let's talk about data-driven decisions.
How can Fair Harbor clients leverage Google Analytics for to make smarter choices in theirbusinesses?
So data-driven decision is our way to act.
(24:41):
And G4 is a powerful tool for helping you make smarter choices.
So first off, G4 focuses on events, is a game changer.
Client can track specific action that user takes on the booking flow, like viewing an itemdescription, moving to the book form, or even appending a cart.
(25:01):
By analyzing these events, clients can see exactly where users are engaging and where theymight be dropping off, which helps in fine-tuning the booking process to boost conversion.
Another big advantage of G4 is the audience builder.
These features allow clients to create highly specific segments of users based on theirbehavior, like repeat visitors, high spenders, or people who didn't
(25:31):
complete the booking.
On this audience or define, they can be used to tailor marketing efforts, be sent toGoogle Ads, or even personalize the booking experience, ensuring that the right message is
getting to the right people at the right time.
And as already mentioned before, again, the Explore Workspace is the tool that is supervaluable.
(25:55):
Let's you dig deeper into your data.
You can uncover pattern.
test out different hypothesis without being, you know, without being, without needing tobe a data scientist.
For example, you can explore which marketing channel are driving the most valuabletraffic.
And this is what I explained to Rebecca before.
I'll see how changes in pricing might be affecting booking rates.
(26:19):
So in short, G4 equips you with the insight you need to make informed data-drivendecision.
that can significantly impact your botan line.
It's all about ensuring the data to guide actions that improve the customer experience anddrive more bookings.
So a lot of you listening to this podcast maybe are even signed up for Google Analyticsyet.
(26:47):
Maybe you're here hoping that this episode will give you the understanding and themotivation to get your fair
GA4 setup.
So we are going to have some resources linked at the bottom of this podcast that you canuse to get started.
(27:07):
In that guide, it'll teach you how to add the Google Analytics code to your website and toFair Harbor.
And that's really all you need to know to start collecting data.
There's other tutorials that you can look into as well as listening to some of what Elliesaid to
kind of poke around and start seeing some of those basic reports that are most important.
(27:31):
If you've been collecting data for four months or so, then that's enough for your FairHarbor account manager to begin to analyze and they can draw those conclusions for you.
And then that will make you more comfortable with drawing future conclusions yourself aswell.
So get that linked up.
You've got the data and your Fair Harbor account manager can...
(27:54):
can help you analyze that and make improvements to your business.
think that's a great point, Adam, on a question of when should clients feel comfortable tostart making data-driven decisions once they implement that code?
Because I see so often in the Fair Harbor community, people are asking questions witheither they're making some decisions based on their gut versus looking at the data they
(28:20):
have.
And it can be a little bit confusing to know,
How do I know once I implement that code and I just started this campaign, when do I knowto check that data and know that it's true, it's data I should be making decisions on?
Is that a timeframe or how much context am I supposed to be adding whenever I'm making anew change or starting a new campaign?
(28:43):
So first, when you installed the scripts into your website and then connect it to FairHarbor, make sure that
It's tracking effectively and make sure that you set up the unwanted referral list withfairhabit.com and your root domain.
So if you have set this up, then the data should be working in flowing in a good way.
(29:05):
Then in terms of the timeframe, it really depends on the volume of user coming to yoursite.
If a very high volume of user, then you can start analyzing the data after a month,depending on your traffic.
If you have a very, very low traffic, then you should wait a little bit longer, but youcan start making, you know, start building your campaign straight away.
(29:29):
You don't need to wait to have data.
can, you can start doing it as soon as you have implemented scripts and, made all thoseconfiguration into your G4 property.
yeah, I'd like to jump in and give another shout out to the Fair Harbor help docs.
So the fair Harbor help doc will tell you step by step.
(29:51):
how to put the code on your website, how to put the code into your Fair Harbor dashboard,what settings to change in your Google Analytics account to make sure you're collecting
the best data.
And also in order for Fair Harbor to be able to look at that data as well and help youcome to these data-driven decisions, an account manager will provide you with an email
(30:18):
address for you to attach to that account.
so that we can see it.
So those are four steps, one, two, three, four listed in the Google Analytics help doc.
Once you're on Google Analytics, a lot of people are also wanting to use Google ads.
And in order to see Fair Harbor conversions, meaning sales made on Fair Harbor, in orderto see that show up in your Google ads account, there's a different help doc about Google
(30:47):
ads.
And if you're working with a third party marketing agency, they probably have their ownway that they think they should be setting up Google ads to track with Fair Harbor.
And Fair Harbor does not connect the same way as just a website that's not using kind of athird party that has a light frame or an eye frame, an internal frame within the website.
(31:11):
So please follow our instructions, not Google's instructions or what
your third party marketer says.
And those are probably the biggest keys to get set up right.
Awesome.
Thank you.
Any other final thoughts from either of you as we wrap up the episode?
Circling back to data driven decisions and also to using Google Analytics to confirm ordeny your gut instincts.
(31:42):
A lot of that just comes down to understanding
What, where in Google analytics, like if you have a gut feeling, where in Googleanalytics, what data do you need to find to confirm or deny that gut feeling?
And that can be a little bit daunting if you don't understand Google analytics that well,but luckily you do have, you know, Fair Harbor employees here to help you with that.
(32:05):
And plenty of resources.
You know, if you are doing a marketing campaign, even if, know, whether it's Google ads orjust
any marketing campaign.
You can look at the demographics, again, like where people live who are booking.
can even...
If you have a big enough data set, you can even find out the conversion rates of people indifferent cities.
(32:33):
And so that gives you an idea who to market to.
What age groups not only are the most popular but are converting the best?
What cities are converting the best?
You can look at like...
Ellie mentioned engagement rates.
So certain pages that have higher engagement rate.
Okay.
What's going on?
That's great.
(32:53):
Compare that to pages that have web pages that have lower engagement rates and maybefigure out what could I do to keep people on this page longer?
Or is there just not that much content and they're not there that, or I guess that's nottrue.
If they were in, if they were engaged and moved to the next page, that'd be fine.
(33:14):
It would be them leaving the site if the rate was poor.
But yeah, another thing is how long are people staying on a page?
So if you have a lot of content on a page, meaning a lot of words and pictures to look at,but people are staying a very short time, maybe that's not a very effective page.
Look into changing that.
One thing is a lot of words on a page doesn't necessarily keep people's eye.
(33:37):
A big thing that I think is important is organizing big blocks of content.
they're not paragraphs, but there's like lots of different sized wordings, know, likeheadings and subheadings.
And I love bullet points as well.
So different ways to organize the information.
So it breaks it up into smaller pieces and there's different ways for little bits to catchyour eye and keep you engaged.
(34:04):
Because you see a giant block of text, you're like, I'm not here to read a novel andyou're out.
In a TikTok world, my attention span is probably
three seconds.
So I can attest to that as a consumer that too much text on a page.
like, I'm trying to book an experience.
I'm not trying to read a novel.
The most important is the architecture of the page.
(34:26):
Make sure that is, you know, everything is laid out in a way that is easy to understand.
Again, don't write a novel because no one will read it anyway.
And you can know that with the
control event that you have in GFO.
That event fires when the user goes down 90 % of the page, which usually no one goes down90 % of the page.
(34:51):
So you can have a look at this event and see if that's what's happening on your website.
So gut feeling are good.
It's good to have gut feelings, but always verify your gut feeling with your data.
Always go into your reports and try to find the evidence that your gut feeling were true.
Don't just follow those gut feelings blindly because you might think about something as aperson, but that may be a very different story if you look at the data.
(35:21):
So always verify that with the data.
Amazing.
Now, I started quite a bit ago at Fair Harbor and when I was an account manager forcertain accounts, obviously there was context.
benchmarks of data.
So we talked a little bit about like bounce rates.
(35:41):
Is there any benchmarking that's still applicable when looking at that kind of data?
Like is there a healthy bounce rate?
Is there a healthy like scroll rate if that's a thing?
You know, how can you gauge what's like good and bad in that kind of sense?
In terms of the engagement rates, a healthy engagement rate is above 65%.
(36:02):
So try to hit that benchmark when you look at your different pages or when you look atyour other websites, be careful with that engagement rates, because if you see an
engagement rate that is 95 % or over, it is probably something wrong on your websites.
You probably turn on an event to a key event.
(36:24):
That's mean
For example, you turn on the page view as a key event.
That's mean every time the user will visit a page, will trigger any that, you know, userengagement events.
And then it will think that the user is engaged, which is not that user just visited thepage view.
So make sure that the engagement rate is healthy.
(36:48):
Both 65%, but if you see a hundred percent of engagement rate, that means that thisprobably is something wrong with your data.
Do have any other benchmarks?
So session key event rates should be above 2.4%.
This is the minimum above 2.4 % that should be good.
Average engagement time, that really depends on your website.
(37:11):
Again, if you have a lot of engaging content on your website, you will be a lot higherthan if you have a very simple but effective homepage with the right call to action that
will then
guide the user down the booking process.
So the average engagement time really depends on your website.
(37:32):
It can't be two seconds.
It can't be four minutes.
So try to understand how long users should stay on your website to then build your ownbenchmark.
That was, again, trying to put you on the spot and you said, not today.
Today, Rebecca.
So I appreciate that.
That's the last question I had.
I thought for, was like, wow, we are blowing through all of these questions.
(37:56):
And then we just, we just got into the meat of it and I love it.
We found more and more to talk about.
So thank you too so much for all of the insight, Adam.
I loved the anecdotes.
I think that they provide a real value in showing that this stuff really does matter andit takes a little bit of legwork.
It takes a learning curve.
but the data that it provides is worth all of that effort.
(38:18):
So I really appreciate you diving into your experiences there.
And Ellie, I don't even know where to start with my gratitude with you.
You are so incredible at your job.
I certainly appreciate you taking time out of your workday to be on this episode.
And like Adam mentioned earlier, all the great help docs we have, I think there's even aCompass article or two that would be helpful for the things we talked about today.
(38:41):
I will have all of that listed in the
description of this episode.
And while you're there might as well throw us a star.
Well, actually maybe five, maybe six of them, if you have that capability, give us afollow and hopefully we'll see you next time.
Thank you both for your time.
Thank you listeners for listening.
(39:02):
And I hope everyone has a great day.
It's good to see you and I'll see you next time.
Thanks so much for having us Rebecca.
Thanks so much.
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