Project 3: Digital Marketing Analytics

Project 3: Digital Marketing Analytics

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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 by the end of Week 7:

Step 2: Discuss Data Analytics and Complete Google Analytics Tutorial Step 3: Answer CompanyOne’s Data Analysis Questions Step 4: Submit Your Work

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. 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.

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 the discussion topics 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:

· working with data

· 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

Discussion Topics 3 and 4

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.

Support your arguments under each topic with at least one source from the course readings, and three reliable non-scholarly sources derived from your own research. Then respond to at least two postings from the class.

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.

How to Access Google Analytics for Beginners Tutorial

Overview

These instructions will give you access to the Google Analytics for Beginners tutorial, which will help you complete the last step in the Digital Marketing Analytics project. The tutorial will teach you how to navigate through Google Analytics, which you will use to analyze data and answer questions in the project. Access to the tutorial is free, but you will need to respond to a few questions in the Google Analytics Academy before you are granted access. You must answer the first three questions; you can skip the remaining questions (recommended). You should review all content in the four units to be able to understand Google Analytics. There is an assessment at the end of each unit, which will not count toward your grade in this project. However, you should try to excel at these assessments before moving on. The knowledge gained from this tutorial is essential to your success in the final step in this project. Below is a table of contents for the tutorial, showing the length of each video so you can manage your time this week. Plan on completing all four units in Week 6.

Table of Contents

1. Introducing Google Analytics

1.1. Why Digital Analytics (3:19)

1.2. How Google Analytics Works (2:39)

1.3. Google Analytics Setup (4:56)

1.4. How to Set Up Views with Filters (your own pace)

2. The Google Analytics Layout (your own pace)

2.1. Navigating Google Analytics (your own pace)

2.2. Understanding Overview Reports (your own pace)

2.3. Understanding Full Reports (5:30)

2.4. How to Share Reports (your own pace)

2.5. How to Set Up Dashboards and Shortcuts (4:12)

3. Basic Reporting

3.1. Audience Reports (5:21)

3.2. Acquisition Reports (5:32)

3.3. Behavior Reports (3:06)

4. Basic Campaign and Conversion

4.1. How to Measure Custom Campaigns (3:35)

4.2. Tracking Campaigns with the URL Builder (4:37)

4.3. Use Goals to Measure Business Objectives (7:32)

4.4. How to Measure Google Ads Campaigns (6:30)

4.5. Course Review and Next Steps (3:42)

Instructions for Google Analytics Tutorial

Accessing Google Analytics Tutorial

1. Open a Google Chrome browser.

2. Type Google Analytics for Beginners in the search box.

3. At the search results screen, select the item that matches the screen capture by clicking on the title. (It may or may not be the first item in your search results, if not scroll down until you find the one highlighted below.)

4. You will arrive at the Google Analytics Academy. You can skip the initial video, an introduction to the tutorial, which is not necessary for this course.

5. Scroll down and click the Register button.

6. You will arrive at the Welcome to Analytics Academy page, which asks three questions. Before moving on you may want to bookmark this page. Anytime you want to exit the tutorial, you can re-enter using this bookmark and then clicking the Continue button. )

7. Answer the three questions by checking the following responses:

1. Other

2. Other

3. No

Then click the Next button.

8. The next page is a Pre-Course Survey. It gives you the option to bypass the questions, which we recommend that you do by clicking the Skip button.

9. This will bring up the first page of the Google Analytics for Beginners tutorial. A table of contents will appear to the left. Plan on completing all four units in this list.

Note: Optionally, you can use the Google Analytics Demo Account to practice what you learn in the tutorial.

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 by the end of Week 7. 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. Submit your answers to each of the ten questions and the accompanying screenshots in a Word document to the dropbox located in the final step of this project.

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. The next step provides a summary of all deliverables due during this project.

The next step provides a summary of all deliverables due during this project.

Glossary

Consult the Digital Marketing Glossary for assistance.

Memo from Ying  

Question 1

Company One wants an overview of the website activity of its users. Provide insights on CompanyOne’s audience for the first quarter in 2021 (1Q2021). Describe insights regarding the number of users, new users, sessions, number of sessions per user, page views, pages/session, average session duration, bounce rate, user demographic data (language, country & city), desktop browsers & operating systems data, and mobile operating systems & screen resolution data during this timeframe. Provide screenshots to support your analysis.

Question 2a

Find the number of active users (1 Day, 7 Day, 14 Day, and 28 Day) during March 2021. 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 March 31, 2021.

The metrics in the report are relative to the last day in the date range. Given that your date range is March 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021:

1 Day Active Users: the number of unique users who initiated sessions on your site or app on March 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 March 25 through March 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 March 18 through March 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 March 4 through March 31 (the entire 28 days of your date range).

Question 2b

Plot graphs of 1 Day Active Users for the first quarter in 2021 and the first quarter in 2020. 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 the first quarter in 2020 and the first quarter of 2021? Please provide a screenshot to support your analysis.

Question 3

Compare the Bounce Rate for the first quarter in 2021 and the first quarter in 2020. What do you conclude? Similarly, compare Pageviews for the first quarter in 2021 and the first quarter in 2020. 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 2020 holiday shopping season. Has the share of younger users changed from the holiday shopping season in 2019? 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 2020 holiday shopping season compared to the same period in 2019. 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 2021. Did CompanyOne attract more or fewer new users from January - March 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, 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 2020? In 2019?

(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 2020 compared to 2019? 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 2020?

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 2020 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 focus on CompanyOne’s marketing efforts during 2021? 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 2020?

Similarly, which gender and age group combinations had the highest and second-highest average order value in 2020? 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 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 & Fitness Buffs

· Technology/Technophiles

· Banking & Finance/Avid Investors

· Travel/Travel Buffs

· Travel/Business Travelers

· Media & Entertainment/Movie Lovers

· Lifestyles & Hobbies/Art & Theater Aficionados

· Media & Entertainment/Music Lovers

· and many more …

Identify the top three affinity categories for CompanyOne by gender: male and female, for 2020 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 approaching them. For this analysis, CompanyOne wishes to focus on the Back to School shopping season (July 15, 2020, to September 15, 2020).

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.

Step 4: Submit Your Work

Submit all of your work to your drop box. Take note of the recommended delivery dates and file-naming protocols in the table below:

Recommended Project Delivery
Step	Submission Week	Deliverable	File-naming protocol/Submission instructions
Step 2	Week	Topic 3 & 4 discussion	Lastname_3 & 4 Discussion.date.docx
Step 3	Week	Data analysis answers	lastname_data_analysis_date.docx