Listrak Google Analytics Integration tutorial
By Brent Shroyer, Listrak Product Manager - Updated 5/11/07 for new Google Analytics layout
Listrak has launched our third party web analytics integration initiative with a direct tie in to Google Analytics. If you are currently using Google Analytics on your site, you now have the ability to enable Google Analytic tracking links automatically in your Listrak email campaigns. If you do not have analytics in place or would like to use Google Analytics along side of your existing system, it is freely available to all site owners. You can get more information and sign up for a free account at http://www.google.com/analytics/.
The Listrak Google Analytics integration system will allow you to see clickstream data passed on from Listrak to the analytics package and the goals you have set up. The medium will be shown as "Email", the source as "Listrak", and the campaign as the subject line use for the send. We will also pass along the title tag of the link and the email address so that you can track this data all the way through to a goal conversion. For an in depth overview of how you can use this data to your benefit, read our "Using Web Analytics to Increase Reporting Capabilities of Email Marketing Campaigns and Boost Relevancy and Response" whitepaper.
Turning on the Google Analytics Integration System
To turn on the Google Analytics encoded links in your email sends, open your list settings under the "Manage" menu. In the "Third Party Web Analytics Integration" area, click the "Extend Listrak link tracking with Google Analytics". In the text box that appears, enter the URLs of the sites that you want to pass the links on to. The reason for this domain listing area is to make sure we attach only the clickstream data to the links that you would like information passed through. If you link to other external sites from your email, you would not want this data attached. In the example below, we have the analytics integration system enabled with analytic tracking links coming from the www.listrak.com domain.
Setting Up Your Email Links
After you have enabled the Google Analytics integration, the tracking code will be applied to all links automatically, if link tracking is enabled. An important note: Make sure you add title tags to all of your links. The title tags will be passed through as "keywords" so that you can track goals back to the specific links in the email creative. Establishing thought-out names for your title tags will lead to cleaner reports in your analytics. If title tags do not exist, the system will pull the page name instead.
Setting Up Your Goals
It is important to have goals set up in Google Analytics so that you can use this data to see true conversions. See "How do I set up goals?" in the Google Analytics help system. You will be able to see goal conversions based off of the information passed though Listrak and on to the analytics package.
Google Analytics Reports
There are many reports where you can see the data that is passed from Listrak to your Google Analytics account. Below are examples of these reports. The reports contain two tabs - Site Usage and Goal Conversion. Under the Site Usage tab you will find: Visits - The total number of visits to the site; Pages/Visit - The average number of pages viewed per visit; Avg. Time on Site - the average amount of time spent on the site before leaving or closing the browser; % New Visits - The percentage of new visits to the site vs. repeat customers; Bounce Rate - A Bounce is considered a visitor hitting the initial page and leaving without going to another page on the site. Under the Goal Conversion tab you will find: Visits - The total number of visits to the site; A column for each goal conversion showing its conversion percentage; Conversion Rate - the overall conversion rate from all of your goals; Per Visit Goal Value - revenue divided by number of visits (this will only show information if ecommerce or goal value information is set up for the account).
The data passed through from Listrak is as follows:
Listrak Info = Google Analytics Data
Email = Medium
Listrak = Source
Subject Line = Campaign
Link Title = Keyword
Email Address = Ad Content
You will be able to gather the following information from the Google Analytics reports:
- Tie goal conversions back to a specific email address
- Tie goal conversions back to the link in the email
- Average amount of page views per visit tied to a specific email address or link
- Average time on the site tied to a specific email address or link
- Landing page bounce rate tied to a specific email address or link
- Overall conversions from a specific email send or from all Listrak sends
- Overall average amount of page views per visit for all Listrak sends or specific sends
- Overall average time on site for all Listrak sends or specific sends
- Overall landing page bounce rates for all Listrak sends or specific sends
- Number of total visits from all Listrak sends or specific send
Referring Source - Totals from all Listrak Sends
Traffic Sources > All Traffic Sources
Listrak / Email will be shown as a referring source with totals from all campaigns sent from your Listrak account for the time period selected.
Campaigns - Email Sends by Subject Line
Traffic Sources > Campaigns
To view data from the individual emails sent through Listrak, navigate to the Campaign area. Remember, the subject line of the email is passed through as a campaign. You should see all of your campaigns including the ones sent from Listrak for the time period selected displayed in this report.
To view data based on the email links or by the specific email addresses, click on the campaign name (subject line). You will now see a detailed page for this email. Click on the segment dropdown and select "Keyword" to view data by the link or "Ad Content" to view data by specific email address.
By selecting "Keyword" you will see a list of the links by the title tag they were given. We can see how many visits came through each link, the average number of pages viewed for each click, the average time spent on the site, and the landing page bounce rates. By clicking the Goal Conversions tab we can see all of the goal conversion percentages for the time period selected.
By selecting "Ad Content " you will see a list of the links by the email address. We can see how many visits each user made, the average number of pages viewed for each visit, the average time spent on the site by this subscriber, and by clicking the Goal Conversions tab we can see all of the goal conversion percentages by email address for the time period selected.
There are many other segment options to choose from to see detailed information such as regional data and system settings. For more information on what can be done with Google Analytics, view the Google Analytics Help Center.
