How to Use Google Analytics To Optimize Your Membership Site
As you probably know websites for membership are getting more and more popular. They are a great method of giving your visitors and followers extra quality and focus. In the same way managing a well-run program for members rewards you for all the hard efforts you've made to improve your web presence and knowledge over the course of months and years. The great content you've put out, along with those relationships you've built will finally pay dividends financially.
After you've converted your followers and readers to paid members, you may feel tempted to let them roam free, enjoy themselves and forget about observing their behaviour. After all, your members are already converted isn't it?
It is a mistake that a lot of new site owners with memberships commit and can cause you to pay a steep price. Although you might want to focus fully on your website's marketing efforts to attract and convert new customers, it's crucial to not drop the ball when it comes to tracking your membership site analysis, as well. After all, you must ensure your members stay happy and that they don't opt out of your newsletter.
Thankfully, the ever powerful Google Analytics has some tricks and tricks to help you.
However, tracking traffic is useful only if have a clear idea of what you're trying to find. Mark Twain once famously said: "Most people use statistics like a drunk uses lamps, but more for support than illumination". For instance, with Google Analytics, many users keep track of their stats since they've read about how important it is to keep track of their data, however they most don't really be aware of how they can use the data they are collecting properly and to their advantage.
We will show five ways to utilize Google Analytics to better understand the membership website and member's behavior.
Segmentation is Essential
The most frequent error made by people who track members' traffic is that you don't segment your customers. The data you collect is nearly useless if you don't distinguish between visitors and members. The demographics and behavior of these two groups could differ dramatically. For example, you might discover that the average person visiting your site is in the 30-45 range, while the members of your group are typically, between 45 and 55. This will give you an the insight to adapt your content and strategy according to the preferences as well as preferences of visitors so that you can increase your conversion rates.
Segment Even More
Google Analytics doesn't only segment members and non-members. It can also track distinct behavior of various membership levels. For instance, suppose you provide gold, silver, or bronze gold membership levels. Wouldn't it be awesome to understand how sub-groups interact and communicate on your site? Perhaps you discover that some Bronze content on your site is most loved. It might make more sense to make it available to members who are silver to help encourage further upgrades.
Goal Conversion Tracking
One of the strongest features of Google Analytics is the Goals feature, which allows you to monitor your conversions. In the past, they could include conversions from landing pages , or even for email newsletter sign ups, but the Goals feature can also be used to track any other specific conversions related for membership websites, such as upgrades between membership levels. There is also the A/B testing feature to compare two different upgrade pages, and determine what one performs better at converting silver members to gold members and so on.
Analyzing the results of site searches
Did you know you're capable of using Google Analytics to track the keywords your readers are typing into the search box of your site? The search bar is an important feature for almost every site. It assists your visitors find the relevant content more easily.
Being aware of what your visitors are looking for when they've visited your website can provide an excellent insight into what they is missing. If your members are frequently looking for certain keywords on your website, it is best to use this as an incentive to provide great content on that topic. If you already provide information, you should place it in a more prominent place within your site to ensure that people can find it conveniently.
Review user engagement
By now we all know the significance of keeping monitor the amount of engagement on social media as well as on blogs and marketing websites. It's simple to forget that the good engagement levels are important even after we have registered a new user.
The decrease in engagement may be the first indication of a user who's nearing the point of not registering. It's easier to keep your subscribers satisfied and engaged rather than entice members back to your site after they have been unsubscribed. So don't forget to keep in close watch on the engagement of your members and continue making the excellent information that they were signed up for at the beginning.
Wrap It Up
Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool that, if utilized correctly, will give an excellent insight into your membership site. The right information will aid in the conversion people who visit your site to become members, ensure that your members are engaged and happy, and even help increase upgrades to a greater membership level.
Google introduces new functions to the system on a daily basis and you should keep up to date by exploring the various tools and checking in regularly. Hopefully, this will encourage your company to act now and utilize some or all, of these awesome options.
What kind of data do you monitor for your membership website? Has Google Analytics helped you better understand your members? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.