M3
Introduction
You will have a total of three weeks to finish this project: two weeks for discussion and the Google Analytics tutorial, and one week to answer the client’s data analytics questions. You should complete the four steps of this project:
Step 1: Discuss Customer Relationship Management and Search Engine Optimization (1 page per topic) Step 2: Discuss Data Analytics and Complete Google Analytics Tutorial (1 page Per topic) Step 3: Answer CompanyOne’s Data Analysis Questions (10 questions w/ Screenshots) Step 4: Submit Your Work
You must participate in the discussions within the designated time period in order to satisfy the requirements of this project.
If you have any questions, ask your instructor. To get started, click Step 1: Discuss Digital Marketing Challenges.
Step 1: Discuss Customer Relationship Management and Search Engine Optimization
Professionals in the Field
Transcript
As Jillian Best had promised, Ying’s email lands in your inbox by midafternoon on Friday.
INBOX: 1 New Message
Subject: Digital Marketing with CompanyOne From: Ying Bao, Associate Consultant, MCS To: You and Team
Good afternoon,
I’m looking forward to working with you all on this project. As you may already know, we will spend the next two weeks in working meetings with the goal of producing digital marketing recommendations for our client, CompanyOne.
First, to kick things off, let’s reach a common understanding of what crafting a digital marketing strategy entails, as well as related concepts like customer relationship management (CRM), and search engine optimization (SEO).
A firm grasp of CRM is vital to understanding customers, successfully using social CRM, and implementing a CRM strategy. Reading about SEO will help this team become knowledgeable about link popularity and user insights.
To be most effective in our upcoming meetings, please supplement your knowledge of the above topics with your own research related to Google Analytics and similar analytical tools.
In addition to the readings for this project, please see the attached discussion topics below that we will cover in our meetings. You must respond to both of these discussions. Please take a look and come to the meeting ready to discuss.
We will have two senior executives from CompanyOne participating as observers and taking notes during our deliberations next week. We want to have done our homework, so that we can make a good impression. After all, MCS has a reputation to maintain.
Thanks so much, really looking forward to seeing your posts in these two areas.
Ying
Attachments:
Discussion Topics 1 and 2 BELOW
Review the discussion topics via the link above, go to the discussion area, and begin by posting one main response to each of the two topics. Then respond to at least two postings from the class. Complete all discussion posts.
Review the MBA Discussion Guidelines for instructions on participation in discussions.
When you have finished, proceed to the next step, where you will continue your meetings and will be trained to use Google Analytics.
Glossary
Consult the Digital Marketing Glossary for assistance.
Course Resource Instructions for Discussions:
Discussion Topics 1 and 2
Discussion
As a requirement for this series of meetings, post one main response to each of the two topics.
Topic 1
How has customer relationship management (CRM) evolved or changed with the rise in the popularity of social media? Explain. For an online merchandise store like CompanyOne, what are some of the common social CRM tools? Analytical CRM tools? Recommend one commercially available social CRM tool and one commercially available analytical CRM tool to CompanyOne, discuss the pros and cons of each tool, and explain the reasons for your selections.
Topic 2
How would you incorporate social media into CompanyOne’s SEO strategy? Social media optimization (SMO) has the same goals for CompanyOne as SEO, (i.e., to increase traffic to CompanyOne’s website). Should CompanyOne invest more in SMO relative to SEO? Why or why not?
Step 2: Discuss Data Analytics and Complete Google Analytics Tutorial
While you are about to continue attending meetings and participating in discussions, Ying sends out the following email to you and the team.
INBOX: 1 New Message
Subject: Digital Marketing Follow-Up for CompanyOne From: Ying Bao, Associate Consultant, MCS To: You and Team Hi team, Great work on the first two topic discussions at last week’s meetings. I can tell we’re heading in the right direction. To keep the momentum going, I’d like you to complete two more group discussions at our meetings scheduled for this week. You can review these discussion topics in the attachment below. It is required that you respond to both of these topics as well. As you discuss these topics, be sure you understand the following concepts related to data analytics:
· tracking and collecting data
· key elements of web analytics
· segmentation in web analytics
Also, for this week, please complete the excellent Google Analytics for beginners tutorial that is available free online. I’m providing step-by-step access instructions for the tutorial in the attachments below (see How to Access Google Analytics for Beginners Tutorial). To get some hands-on practice from what you learned in the tutorial, activate the Google Analytics demo account when you are done. Thanks for your focus, everyone. Review the readings, participate in the discussion activity, and finally complete all four units of the Google Analytics tutorial. Regards, Ying
Attachments:
· Discussion Topics 3 and 4 (BELOW)
· How to Access Google Analytics for Beginners Tutorial (Located on Separate Document)
Course Resource
Discussion Topics 3 and 4
Discussion
As a requirement for this series of meetings, post one main response to each of the two topics.
Topic 3
There are three key elements to be considered in any web analytics study like the kind MCS is doing for CompanyOne. These elements are (1) behavior, (2) outcomes, and (3) user experience. A powerful technique to gauge user behavior is segmentation. Explain the concept of segmentation in relation to web analytics. Some common ways of segmenting your site visitors are by new users, returning users, paid search traffic, nonpaid search traffic, direct traffic, referral source, landing page, browser, and mobile traffic, among hundreds of possible options. Recommend any five ways of segmentation to CompanyOne, including some that are not listed here, and discuss the relative merits of each.
Topic 4
In Google Analytics (GA), a funnel is a navigation path (series of web pages) that you expect CompanyOne’s online customers to follow in order to achieve the business’s goals for their website. A funnel is made up of a goal page (or pages) and one or more funnel pages (also known as the funnel steps). CompanyOne needs to choose either the Goal Flow Report or the Funnel Visualization Report in Google Analytics. They come to you for advice. What questions will you ask in order to arrive at your recommendation for CompanyOne? Explain your reasoning.
Instructions for activating the Google Analytics demo account are available in the next step.
Review the discussion topics via the link above, go to the discussion area, and begin by posting one main response to each of the two topics. Then respond to at least two postings from the class. Complete all discussion posts by the end of Week 6 at the latest.
Review the MBA Discussion Guidelines for instructions on participation in discussions.
When you have completed your discussions and all four units of the Google Analytics tutorial, proceed to the next step, where you will answer the questions CompanyOne has posed to MCS about the extent of their online merchandise store’s success.
Glossary
Consult the Digital Marketing Glossary for assistance.
Step 3: Answer CompanyOne’s Data Analysis Questions
The past few weeks have flown by. You have just completed the GA tutorial when you receive a memo from Ying (below) marked CONFIDENTIAL. You scan the memo to find a list of client questions that have been assigned to you. You are expected to use Google Analytics to answer the 10 questions in the memo. The Google Analytics demo account will give you access to data from the Google Merchandise Store, which in this project represents CompanyOne’s data. Review these instructions for How to Activate the Google Analytics Demo Account (On separate Document). Submit your answers to each of the ten questions and the accompanying screenshots in a Word document.
Remember to include one or more screenshots of the relevant Google Analytics page to support your answers. If you need help with creating screenshots, review these instructions on capturing screenshots for your Microsoft, Apple, or Android system.
Check Your Evaluation Criteria
Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated all of them. To view the complete grading rubric, click My Tools, select Assignments from the drop-down menu, and then click the project title.
· 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer's ideas.
· 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
· 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
· 3.1: Identify numerical or mathematical information that is relevant in a problem or situation.
· 3.2: Employ mathematical or statistical operations and data analysis techniques to arrive at a correct or optimal solution.
· 3.3: Analyze mathematical or statistical information, or the results of quantitative inquiry and manipulation of data.
· 3.4: Employ software applications and analytic tools to analyze, visualize, and present data to inform decision-making.
· 6.4: Develop and recommend strategies for an organization's sustainable competitive advantage.
· 12.2: Analyze marketing information.
Course Resource
Memo from Ying
Sensitive information. Do not share.
MEMO
Subject: Confidential Memo—CompanyOne
From: Ying Bao
Directions: Review and answer the following questions, which have been assigned to you in the CompanyOne case. You will need to capture screenshots to complete these questions; if necessary, review these instructions on capturing screenshots.
Question 1
Find the number of active users (1 Day, 7 Day, 14 Day, and 28 Day) during January 2020. Calculate the ratio of 1 Day Active Users to 28 Day Active Users, expressed as a percentage. Typically, this ratio is considered a measure of the “stickiness” or retention of users for your website. It should be 10% or higher for sites where content is refreshed daily, like news sites, or where the site derives its revenue primarily from advertising. For social sites like Facebook and WhatsApp, the ratio could be a lot higher (> 50%). For Ecommerce sites like CompanyOne, where usage is less frequent but of higher monetary value, the ratio is typically lower than 10%.
Also, compare the graphs for 1 Day Active Users to 28 Day Active Users. What conclusions can you derive? Please provide a screenshot to support your analysis.
Note: Active Users refers to the number of users who visited the CompanyOne website within the last 1, 7, 14 or 28 days looking back from the last day of the period which in this case is January 31, 2020.
The metrics in the report are relative to the last day in the date range. Given that your date range is January 1 to January 31:
1 Day Active Users: the number of unique users who initiated sessions on your site or app on January 31 (the last day of your date range).
7 Day Active Users: the number of unique users who initiated sessions on your site or app from January 25 through January 31 (the last 7 days of your date range).
14 Day Active Users: the number of unique users who initiated sessions on your site or app from January 18 through January 31 (the last 14 days of your date range).
28 Day Active Users: the number of unique users who initiated sessions on your site or app from January 4 through January 31 (the entire 28 days of your date range).
Question 2
Plot graphs of 1 Day Active Users for the second quarter in 2018 and the second quarter in 2019. Compare the number of active users for both periods from the two plots. What do you conclude about the change in marketing effectiveness, if any, from 2018-Q2 to 2019-Q2? Please provide a screenshot to support your analysis.
Question 3
Compare Bounce Rate for 2019-Q2 to 2018-Q2. What do you conclude? Similarly, compare Pageviews for 2019-Q2 to 2018-Q2. Please provide screenshots to support your analysis.
Question 4
CompanyOne wants to focus on younger users (18-24 and 25-34) who shopped during the 2019 holiday shopping season. Has the share of younger users changed from the holiday shopping season in 2018? Note: November 1 and December 31 are the start and end dates for the holiday shopping season for CompanyOne. How about changes in the proportions of older users during the same period? Please provide screenshots to support your answer.
Question 5
What about gender? CompanyOne’s objective was to attract a larger proportion of female visitors to their online store during the 2019 holiday shopping season as compared to the same period in 2018. Was that objective met? Please provide a screenshot to support your answer.
Question 6
CompanyOne has invested in a targeted marketing campaign to attract new users to their online store since the beginning of 2020. Did CompanyOne attract more or fewer new users in January 2020 compared to January 2019, irrespective of gender? What about new male users? What about new female users? Please provide screenshots to support your answer.
Question 7
(a) What were the top three countries which sent users to the CompanyOne online store in 2019? In 2018?
(b) When parsing the percentage change in the number of new users, by country of residence, which one of the three countries identified in (a), had the best percentage change in new users during 2019 as compared to 2018? Which one of the same three countries showed the least improvement? Use the whole year for your comparison. Please provide a screenshot to support your answer.
(c) What were the top five U.S. states which sent users to the CompanyOne online store in 2019?
Question 8
CompanyOne wishes to target high-value users in future marketing campaigns. These are user groups with the highest Ecommerce Conversion Rate or Average Order Value. Which age group generated the highest revenue for CompanyOne in 2019 in dollars? How much was the revenue from this age group? Which age group generated the least revenue? Which age group had the highest average order value? Which age group had the highest Ecommerce Conversion Rate? Based on these observations, which age group or groups should be the focus of CompanyOne’s marketing efforts during 2020? In other words, which age group is likely to provide the most bang for the buck?
CompanyOne desires to examine the performance across the six age groups in further detail. You will examine the Ecommerce data by selecting two dimensions: gender and age. Which gender and age group combinations had the highest and second highest revenue in 2019? Similarly, which gender and age group combinations had the highest and second highest average order value in 2019? What would be your recommendation to CompanyOne based on this analysis? Provide screenshots to support your answers.
Question 9
CompanyOne wishes to understand its site visitors better in order to fine tune its future marketing efforts. Understanding audience composition in terms of gender, age, and interests will allow CompanyOne to develop the right creative content and decide the media buys to make.
Google Analytics has over 100 affinity categories such as:
Shoppers/Value Shoppers
Lifestyles & Hobbies/Business Professionals
Sports & Fitness/Health and Fitness Buffs
Technology/Technophiles
Banking and Finance/Avid Investors
Travel/Travel Buffs
Travel/Business Travelers
Media and Entertainment/Movie Lovers
Lifestyles and Hobbies/Art and Theater Aficionados
Media & Entertainment/Music lovers
and many more ...
Identify the top three affinity categories for CompanyOne by gender: male and female, for 2019 in terms of the revenue from each affinity category. Please provide screenshots to support your answer.
Question 10
The two things every online business like CompanyOne cares about: users who convert (purchase a product) and users who don’t. Understanding users who convert (Converters) will help CompanyOne refine successful aspects of their marketing, and show them where they can improve their efforts to reach users who demonstrate untapped potential (Non- Converters).
Developing insights into why certain users aren’t converting lets them address the weak spots in how they approach them. For the purpose of this analysis, CompanyOne wishes to focus on the Back to School shopping season (July 15, 2019 to September 15, 2019).
CompanyOne wishes to obtain statistics of users, sessions, sessions per user, page views, average session duration and bounce rate for these two segments (Converters and Non-Converters). Comment on these statistics.
Finally, evaluate the differences in user conversion by gender.
Provide screenshots to support your analysis.