… let’s think about quantitative analytics.

Quantitative analytics is the most common form of marketing data. It’s the clickstream data that is compiled by services such as Google Analytics (GA).

Clickstream data gives marketers the ability to track user behavior on websites and apps. In other words, it gives marketers insight into “what” users do online.

For instance:

To gain a complete understanding of ACME’s quantitative data, it will require the use of more than one tool.

GA is the most popular clickstream tool used today (according to BuiltWith, at least 29,134,826 live websites use GA).

However, marketing automation tools will also benefit you in your collection, analysis, and reporting of ACME’s clickstream data.

Today, on the modern web, it’s important to not only know “what” people are doing on your websites and apps … but it’s equally important to know “who” is visiting your websites and apps.

That’s where tools like Leedfeeder comes in handy.

Leedfeeder is not a replacement for GA. It integrates with GA and works to complement it by uncovering which companies and who visited your website (even if the site visitors never fill out a contact form or send an email). You’ll also be able to see exactly which web pages they were viewing.

Enhancements such as this to your clickstream data makes your quantitative analytics more actionable.

In my judgment, knowing what company and who visited your website is the most important enhancement that you can add to GA.

… your job is to implement a quantitative research approach to ACME’s marketing analytics.

How would you approach this scenario, ?

In this use case, let’s assume you are using GA to collect your clickstream data since it is the most popular.

Out of the box, GA is powerful and free. But a lot of time is wasted in GA reporting on vanity metrics.

To maximize GA’s effectiveness and your time, I recommend you do these five things:

1.) Hire a Marketing Analytics Expert

With all things considered, quantitative marketing analytics is a full-time job … at the very least, it’s a part-time job.

There is an abundant amount of clickstream data that is not measured or acted upon each month at most organizations that could lead to serious wins and competitive advantages.

Furthermore, quantitative analytics requires a special skill-set. The best marketing analyst have great problem-solving skills, they are technical, they have a high business IQ, they have keen attention to detail, and most importantly … they can read, recognize patterns, and analyze data.

2.) Configure Automated Email Reporting

Often times, marketing professionals don’t spend enough time or spend too much time reviewing their GA clickstream data.

To solve this dilemma, savvy marketers automate GA reporting by configuring email reporting.

Start by identifying the most important GA metrics you want to track each day, week, or month. For example, you can receive reports on the total visitors, unique visits, time on site, bounce rate, demographics, and so on.

… you can create as many automated alerts and reports in GA as you need.

I suggest that you set up dozens of automated email reports. It will help you take a holistic view of your clickstream data. And it will save you boatloads of time.

3.) Set Up Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool offered by Google that provides advanced search engine related data about your website and mobile site. GSC has it’s own dashboard, but it also integrates into GA.

GSC provides marketers with advanced tools and insights that can help them improve their organic search rankings.

It makes your quantitative clickstream data more actionable by providing you with the search queries, clicks, impressions, click-through-rate, and average position of your website on Google.

It also gives you the ability to inspect URLs on your website for crawl errors, analyze your internal & external links, determine if your website is mobile-friendly, and much more.

4.) Optimize & Analyze User Behavior Flows

Perhaps the most actionable clickstream analytics is your user behavior data.

When you analyze how your users behave when clicking from page to page on your website, you will begin to see patterns. And it will give you deep insights into how to make your pages more useful.

The ultimate goal of your website is to convert users into leads or customers. Therefore, optimizing the user behavior flow and improving your conversion funnels can lead to residual wins.

5.) Optimize for Organic Search & Conversions

Just like optimizing to improve user behavior, optimizing for organic search can lead to residual wins as well. And it’s perhaps the primary purpose of clickstream analytics.

This is also where a full-time or part-time analyst will be most useful. During their quantitative research process, they should be able to tell you exactly what to do in order to improve organic search traffic.

Additionally, they should be able to advise you on how to implement a conversion rate optimization testing program to increase online leads and sales.