Hey y'all! This week we have a really helpful guest post from Cinthia of digmorphosis.com. Cinthia is showing you a great way to use Google Analytics to better connect and provide for your audience and I am sure this post will help you out! Be sure to connect with her on social media using the links at the bottom of the post.
Our clients are one of the most important parts of having a business. The main reasons seem too obvious to state (we want our business to be more than a hobby!) but I think it also comes down to really getting satisfaction with the work we do. I’m pretty sure that feeling isn’t going to come by standing alone in our business, but instead spending time with people who we feel a connection with and who appreciate the hard work we do. That is why constantly improving our client relationships is key to any business.
Understanding who are clients are and how they behave can give us clear nuggets of information about what we can do to continuously deepen and nurture that relationship.
Before I go any further, it is important to acknowledge that the first step to this process is to be clear on WHO you want to work with. There is no tool out there that will make that decision for you; you need to buckle down and take the time to define this clearly for you and your business.
Whether you use a moodboard, avatar, or the latest idea generation trend that peaks your fancy, you need to have a clean picture of who your ideal client is and how you want the relationship to be.
Once this is clear, you will be able to make better decisions and take action in the right area. We will be using Google Analytics to understand who our clients are and what their interests are when they visit our site (if you don’t have Google Analytics, check out this post). This data tool has huge potential since it holds demographic, geographical, and interest data that is pretty much free.
I will be reviewing an easy to access report (with a couple variations) that will get us closer to understanding more about our clients.
In order to view the report, you need to make sure you have your Demographics and Interest Data turned on. To check this, go to the Reporting section in your Google Analytics and then on the left side menu, click on Audience > Demographics > Overview. If you don’t already have this turned on, you can enable it once you get to that report, but you will need to wait a couple months in order to collect sufficient data.
This report tells us who is visiting our site and helps us get more context regarding users visiting our site. It can also give us a sense if there are other visitors to the site who are outside of our client profile. If there is a large percentage of users who fall outside our ideal client age and/or gender, it is time to reconsider your content and branding.
Now seeing the site user’s age is okay (meh) but wouldn’t it be even better to see specific interests each of these age groups has?
To do this, click on “Secondary Dimension” inside the Age report; it is located right under the graph in the report.
Once you see the “Secondary Dimension” drop down, select the “Users” grouping and the first option in the list is “Affinity Category (reach)”. The new report will loads and now you see the Age Group with Affinity Category (I will explain this in a moment) for the potential clients coming to your site.
This report gives us a picture of who these users are and can help make your user profile more colourful. Affinity Category (reach) is defined by Google Analytics as potential users (that’s why the word “reach” is in brackets) who might purchase a product in the future.
Another combination that might be interesting is In-Market Segment. To apply this to your report, first remove the existing column by clicking the X next to the name.
Once removed, click on the “Secondary Dimension” option again and this time, type in the search box “In-Market Segment”.
It should come up pretty fast. Click on the green box to apply it to your report.
You’ll notice that these categories are a little bit different. In-Market Segment describes users that are more likely to purchase these products or services in the future.
Based on the information you have, answer the following questions:
- Consider your current ideal client profile age group. Are there any deviations from the age group in the reports?
- What are their general interests? Are there any ideas you would add based on the Affinity Category (reach) report?
- In your ideal client profile, what immediate needs and worries do you identify?
- How do your current or upcoming services resolve those needs?
- What products from the In-Market Segment report align with what you have to offer?
Make sure to document the answers and update your ideal client profile accordingly.
The objective of these reports is to bring real data context to your ideal client profile. It might shine some light on previously unknown information about users visiting your site. You can then use this information to approach existing clients and potential clients differently, since you now have a bit more information on their interests and needs.
So, in what situations can you specifically apply the information you now have:
- In your next, 1-on-1 client calls or potential consult calls.
- While writing or making tweaks to your website copy.
- When brainstorming a new product or service or upgrading a previous service.
- On social media, answering questions or just general interactions.
These are just some areas that can be impacting by aligning your client profile with the data from Google Analytics.
I hope you can now take this information to not only make more connections but also build meaningful and lasting relationships that resonate with your higher goals.
Cinthia Pacheco is a Systems + Tools Expert and Web Analytics Nerd, helping creative entrepreneurs craft a cohesive digital strategy for their business. She is a creative (paper lover) herself and understands the digital struggles and overwhelm that goes on when running an online business. Her goal is to bring balance, helping merge digital and analog aspects of a business.
