Leading companies are focused on creating stronger customer experiences that span multiple channels and feel cohesive and meaningful to end-users. But many teams struggle to effectively combine legacy tools and emerging technologies required to build effective omnichannel experiences.
Autodesk partnered with ActionIQ to develop a future-proof stack that would empower a self-service approach to achieving superior omnichannel CX. Join this virtual session to learn how you can accelerate your approach to mastering omnichannel customer journeys.
It’s never been a more critical time to put your customers first. Delivering timely and relevant customer experiences separates your brand from the competition. But a CMO Council survey found that only 7% of marketers say they can provide real-time, data-driven engagements across all touchpoints.
Join Shutterfly’s Head of Marketing Tech Ops Neta-Lee Katz and ActionIQ’s Director of Product Marketing George Phipps as they discuss how Shutterfly achieved timely and relevant customer journeys in its CX strategy while streamlining operations and reducing resources dedicated to customer audience management.
How do you know when your marketing is excellent, important or had the impact you expected? Ultimately, it comes down to being able to measure marketing performance. Marketing performance is the key to knowing where to spend the next marketing dollar.
If marketers can’t quantify the outcomes of their initiatives, it will prevent them from continuing to receive funding for their marketing budgets. And those outcomes have to be told in a way that the business will understand, care about and believe.
In order to do so, marketers must first align their marketing goals and their marketing outcomes. The focus must not only be on successful execution, but also on accurate measurement. Once you have the data, you have to act on the results so that you drive better audience management, better activation, better modeling and an overall better customer experience.
How do you go about improving marketing performance and reducing cost per conversion as the ecosystem shifts and the effectiveness of third-party cookies continues to decline?
Join Acxiom’s Dana Goff, head of financial services strategy practice, and Gloria Ward, director of Identity Strategy, as they share real-world experiences on how to quickly access and leverage usable insights, create a long-term replacement campaign measurement and improve multi-touch attribution (MTA) results – with more visibility, more matches and better underlying data.
Watch the informative MarTech sessionand learn how you can connect individual-level data across website visitors, conversions, paid media, direct mail and other channels. You’ll also learn the three main components for measuring marketing performance and how you can cut through the noise in a very technology-dense industry. Watch the session here and be inspired to deliver more value to your consumers.
Google is now rolling out a conversion migration tool for you to important your existing goals from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. You can access this under your GA4 settings screen, in the Setup Assistant tab, under the Conversions section.
How it works. The goals migration tool allows you to quickly recreate eligible goals from your connected Universal Analytics property as conversion events in your Google Analytics 4 property. I personally do not see it yet, but I suspect I will see the import tool soon. Charles Farina posted screenshots of how it works on Twitter:
Here is what it looks like. It is grabbing goals from the entire linked property (so all your views, even staging/sandbox ones), so you’ll need to pay close attention if you use this. pic.twitter.com/RqsAPLegKU
For each eligible Universal Analytics goal you select, the goals migration tool automatically does the following in your connected Google Analytics 4 property:
Universal Analytics properties can have several different goal types. These two goal types can be migrated using the tool:
Destination goal: When a user lands on a specific page, such as a “thank you” or “confirmation” page
Event goal: When a user triggers a specific event, such as social recommendation, video play, or ad click
The following types of goals can’t be automatically migrated and won’t appear in the tool: Pages/Screens per session goals, Duration goals, Smart goals, and any goal that uses regular expressions.
You can create up to 30 custom conversion events per standard Google Analytics 4 property.
How to use it: To use the goals migration tool, you need the Editor role on your account.
In the Account column, make sure that your desired account is selected. (If you only have one Google Analytics account, it will already be selected.)
In the Property column, select the Google Analytics 4 property that currently collects data for your website.
In the Property column, click Setup Assistant.
Under Conversions, go to Import existing goals from your connected Universal Analytics property, and click Get started.
In the Import existing goals from your connected property panel, select which goals you’d like to recreate as conversion events in your new Google Analytics 4 property.
Click Import selected conversions in the top right.
A confirmation message will show in the bottom left of your screen when your selected goals have been successfully recreated as conversion events in your Google Analytics 4 property.
Why we care. You can use this tool to potentially save you time not having to set up your goals from scratch in GA4. But make sure to read the help document carefully to see what this tool will and will not import.
28% of small business owners have no visibility into how their marketing agency uses their budgeted spending. The last thing your clients want to do is chase down reporting across multiple tools and channels and try and make sense of it themselves.
The biggest value you can provide to your clients as an agency is transparent and actionable reporting. And in this article, we’ll walk through the top pain points small business owners experience and how you can provide the right reporting to enhance trust and retain more clients.
Problem #1: Your clients lack insight into their most effective marketing campaigns and find it difficult to budget for the next year.
Usually, a marketing strategy involves multiple channels, such as digital ads, organic and paid search, marketplace listings, offline outreach and so on. But when you multiply that by the number of campaigns an average business runs in a year, reporting can easily get out of hand.
If you or your client lack the right tools to effectively manage and gather this data in one place, you have to pull from different reports from different platforms to piece together a cohesive data story. Therefore, the lack of insight makes it very difficult to properly plan next year’s campaigns based on the successful campaigns of this year.
The solution: Build a report with a tool like CallRail’s Multi-touch Cost Per Lead Report. It ties all of your lead sources’ data together across every channel where your client markets. The report will tie in your inbound calls, texts, live chats, and form submission data to attribute leads to online and offline marketing efforts. From there, you’ll be able to see which campaigns earned the most revenue for your clients, and those campaigns will help inform future campaigns.
Problem #2: Your clients aren’t clear on where their inbound phone calls are coming from and can’t tie them back to the right marketing campaigns.
Remember those days when sales reps would make between 50 to 100 calls a day, without proper reporting in place? And think about how easy information can get lost in the process, especially if your client is relying on their reps to ask “How did you hear about us?”
To understand marketing campaign effectiveness, you need to know where those inbound leads are coming from, whether it was your client’s Instagram ad, email outreach, bus wrap or any other channel. A full timeline of the lead’s journey can be incredibly helpful for understanding campaign success and improving the lead experience, too — turning more leads into customers.
The solution: Build a report that provides insight into the sources and interactions that drive traffic and generate inbound calls, texts and chats. With something like CallRail’s Call Attribution Report, you’ll be able to share the entire customer journey, which campaigns are most successful when it comes to generating new customers and revenue, and which campaigns could use some work in the new year.
Problem #3: Your clients aren’t able to identify which keywords are successful for their marketing program.
A clear understanding of ROI is crucial for marketers in any size organization. With call tracking and analytics tools, you can help your clients figure out which marketing campaigns and keywords are converting leads and driving new business.
But, it’s challenging — not only for your clients but for you and other agencies as well. You might not have visibility into your client’s interactions with their customers and might not be able to fully understand the common language of that business or industry. So, you can see how this makes reporting on certain keywords and phrases difficult.
The solution: Build a report that provides a full breakdown of targeted key terms and phrases that are used the most during your client’s business calls, such as a tool like CallRail’s Key Terms Spotted Report. From there, you can provide your client with a list of calls containing those key terms that were marked as qualified leads.
Quick tips when building reports
Use the right tools and grow with your client and their needs over time. Keep in mind that your reporting will change as your client grows revenue and expands marketing efforts.
Set the right goals from the beginning and establish a baseline. KPIs will help you and your clients track success and identify areas for improvement. And with a baseline, you can easily show growth and prove your agency’s value.
Make sure that your client’s data tells a story. Numbers are great, but what’s the meaning behind them? How do they tie into the bigger picture? Be clear on your reporting to your clients and actionable steps they can take from those reports.
Support your clients and grow your revenue with the CallRail Partner Program
Your clients rely on you to provide reporting that’s clear and transparent, actionable and translates to improved ROI. As a CallRail partner, you’ll help your clients succeed with all of the reports and insights we’ve discussed with the bonus of support from the CallRail team and a dedicated account manager. Earn a 20% monthly revenue share, become eligible for quarterly cash bonuses, and grow your business — and your clients’ businesses — by becoming a CallRail Partner today.
Google Analytics 4 made a small but powerful upgrade that helps you locate the report you are looking for faster. Google added autosuggest to the search box within GA4 to help you find that report in less time.
The announcement. Here is how Google announced this feature, “the search box at the top of Analytics now provides suggestions to help you find information. Analytics shows useful queries as you type, bolding the suggested portion of the text. You can use the up and down keys to highlight a suggestion and press enter to accept one. For example, when you start typing “user”, you will see the following suggestions in the Search panel.”
What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of autosuggest for search in GA4:
Why we care. Any feature that helps marketers save time, we are a fan of. And this feature should help marketers find the reports they are looking faster and possibly even uncover reports that you may not have known were available. So give it a try and explore some of the reports available to you within GA4.
Interacting with consumers during major cultural events, like the Super Bowl or the VMAs, is not just for big advertisers. Digital channels act as virtual meeting places to discuss these events and for brands, this means it’s necessary to keep a pulse on conversations and trends at all times.
Register here to join Twitter, Talkwalker and Khoros in our upcoming panel on Tuesday, April 12 at 12 pm ET to find out how brands benefit from consumer intelligence to transform cultural moments into winning strategies.
Kicking and screaming it is. Despite grumbling about Google Analytics 4, the vast majority of marketers tell us they plan to make the switch anyway, even if they aren’t very excited to.
What we found. About 70% of the 250 marketers we polled said they planned to switch and will handle the migration internally. Another 14% of respondents said they planned to switch but would hire outside consultants to help them get set up with GA4. Only 12% said they planned to explore other analytics platforms to use instead of GA4. The remaining 4% cited “other” scenarios, such as having already installed GA4 or that they use a different tool to handle their analytics now.
Why this is happening. Google this month said it plans to sunset Universal Analytics, the current version of GA, in July 2023. The company also said users would not be able to port over data from the older version to the new GA4. That news both stung users and gave them a reason to migrate sooner than later so they will have at least some historical data in the new platform.
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Why we care (and why we’re not surprised). On one hand, Google has never been shy about retiring platforms, or making platform changes, despite user outcry. But the pushback on Google’s decision here highlights the ubiquity of Google Analytics and its power as a free tool. If there were equivalent free alternatives then more people would be using them. While making to switch to something like Adobe Analytics could give users more control over their data, that comes with a price that may be too steep for some organizations.
It’s notable, though, that 14% said they plan to hire outside help. That shows how intricate some GA instances are today. That must seem more daunting to an organization when the platform you are migrating to is confusing and complicated, as marketers have complained about GA4.
The bright side. Analytics expert Charles Farina this week took the glass-half-full approach, highlighting 10 features in GA 4 that he’s looking forward to in a long Twitter thread. These include audience-based conversion tracking, time between interactions data, custom and trended funnels, improved event segments and massive improvements in debugging.
“At first look, Google Analytics 4 seems drastically different and that change can scare people off,” wrote Colleen Harris, a Google Analytics expert who runs our SMX Master Class on GA4, wrote for Search Engine Land around the time GA4 was first announced. “The good news is, as digital marketers, we’re all in the same boat of learning a whole new system. We also have time to learn this new tool.”
First-party data has become a bit of a buzzword in digital marketing. We need to accumulate it and account for it with the depreciation of the cookie, but that can take different forms and require different levels of technical execution.
The core difference between first-party data and third-party data is you own it. You built the relationship with the prospect that earned their consent to be tracked/have their contact info stored. You’re not using a bought list, nagging with remarketing just because a person visited your site or sharing data across domains outside the first party set.
The core questions every business needs to ask itself are:
Is the data first-party compliant?
Does the opt-in process build trust and engagement?
Are you getting the full value out of your first-party data?
Is this a short-term or long-term implantation?
1. Is the data first-party compliant?
There are two major considerations in first-party data compliance:
First and foremost, it’s important that your brand collect and legally store your first-party data. Both GDPR and CCPA have stringent requirements on storing data and its accessibility.
One of the universal requirements is hashing data. Hashing data converts your first-party data into a random series of numbers and letters while maintaining the core functionality. You can use advertising tools like customer lists without compromising your prospects/clients’ privacy.
Most ad platforms and CRMs will automatically do this for you. The only operational concern is when you need to download a list and share it with a team member/vendor. You can avoid this by sticking to existing data sync integrations (Zapier can be helpful if you need to create a custom one). That said, if there is no other option, the following protocols should be put in place to protect the data:
User log-ins getting access should be protected with two-factor or multi-factor authentication.
User data should not be stored on personal computers.
The other big consideration is tracking. Sites using Google Analytics must use global site tags (which allow for GDPR compliant modeling) and language affirming the user consents to being tracked. The user must see the levels of tracking and opt into what they want (instead of opting out).
Another significant consideration for brands is their domain structure. Google confirmed that brands are allowed five domains as part of their first-party data set. First-party data sets dictate which domains can share analytics and tracking data.
If you’re using a lot of vanity domains or country-specific domains, you will need to consider the pros and cons of consolidating into a sub-domain or subcategory structure. The biggest consideration is whether the data loss will be big enough of a con to outweigh the SEO fluctuations that come from migration. Regardless of which path you choose, you will need to make sure any paid traffic is on no_index/no_follow.
2. Does the opt-in process build trust and engagement?
On-site tracking consent forms are essential for website design and CRO (conversion rate optimization). A lot goes into successfully securing user consent from the wording to the placement.
The core needs are:
Simple and easy to understand permissions on tracking.
A link to the privacy/cookie policy.
The ability to accept or decline tracking.
Getting creative with the language can help inspire brand affinity. However, the clarity of the message must be maintained.
HubSpot does this well with their verbiage:
“We use cookies to make Hubspot’s website a better place. Cookies help provide a more personalized experience and relevant advertising for you and web analytics for us. To learn more about the different cookies we’re using, check out our cookie policy (baked goods not included).”
It does a great job of disarming the user, and the design makes consenting to cookies a hard-to-miss CTA (call to action). That said, it leads with the brand benefits instead of user benefits, which could prevent users from accepting tracking.
Going simple has its advantages, though – as NinjaCat displays:
“By clicking ‘Accept All Cookies,’ you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.”
The additional step of letting folks see exactly what cookies they will be opting into is helpful as well:
While this approach doesn’t scream branded tone, the transparency and ease of use are powerful tools in securing tracking consent.
If there’s one complaint about the NinjaCat approach, the cookie tracking consent element is small and on the bottom of the page. There is no hard answer on which approach is better. However, it is important to account for human behavior. Most people read from left to right, from the top down. A small consent element at the bottom might get missed. It’s important to test what works best for you.
3. Are you getting the full value out of your first-party data?
First-party data has a lot of utility. From targeting audiences to tracking user behavior and interests, there’s a lot of value to harvest. It can be easy to fall into the trap of using data for only one channel or not sharing the resource across departments.
When setting up your customer lists, make sure you’re configuring them in a way that can be easily synced into all ad platforms. The easiest way to do this is to use email addresses for targeting. However, this will impede the match rate (will remain closer to 70%).
It’s important to note that LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter have different field orders. Be sure that you’re setting up the sync in a way that won’t break the system.
Using these audiences across channels can help continue the conversation and find new prospects. Similar audiences (Google and Microsoft) will be created automatically. Lookalike (Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn) requires you to manually create them.
Based on how you’ve set up your domains, you’ll be able to share analytics and tracking data across your teams. This will enable you to craft better customer journey messaging and maintain attribution.
4. Is this a short-term or long-term implantation?
As you decide on the right actions for your business to be first-party data ready, it’s important to balance short- and long-term impact.
If your current domain structure doesn’t lend itself to the five domain maximum for first-party data sets, you will need to decide whether you migrate. Migrations might make perfect sense long term, but they will be expensive and disruptive in the short term. Testing a cookie consent element will be a much easier change to implement, but the impact is dependent on getting enough traffic for statistical significance.
Ensure that you’re communicating timelines of changes and coordinating with your teams. A good example of this is the need for 2FA/multi-factor authentication in ad networks. Before making the switch, it’s crucial all practitioners have turned on that setting and have access to their means of authenticating.
Key takeaway
First-party data is the path to profit in the privacy-first web. Ensuring compliance is crucial, but that doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice user engagement.
Google will deprecate Universal Analytics next year, the company announced Wednesday. Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2023, and Universal Analytics 360 properties will stop processing hits on October 1, 2023.
Previously processed data in Universal Analytics will be stored for at least six months after the deprecation dates listed above.
New reports within Google Analytics 4. Image: Google.
Why Google is making the switch. “Universal Analytics was built for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, independent sessions and more easily observable data from cookies,” Russell Ketchum, director, product management at Google, said in the announcement. “This measurement methodology is quickly becoming obsolete.”
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) differs from its predecessor in that it operates across platforms, doesn’t rely on cookies and uses an event-based data model for measurement. It also does not store IP addresses, which can help brands stay on the right side of privacy regulations.
A brief history of Google Analytics 4. GA4 was released in October 2020 with the promise of predictive insights, deeper integration with Google Ads and cross-device measurement capabilities. Since then, the company has made the following updates to its new flagship analytics platform:
Why we care. If you haven’t set up your GA4 properties yet, now is the time. Even though we have well over a year, configuring GA4 now will enable it to start tracking the metrics you care about so that historical data is there when you need to reference it.
This is also something of a wake-up call: Many search marketers have been dragging their heels when it comes to adopting GA4. In just over 15 months from now, that will no longer be an option, so the more familiar you get with GA4’s interface and capabilities, the better equipped you’ll be to handle the transition for your brands.
