Mobile UX Marathon: Google Analytics for UX

May 4, 2024
 -  
Nupur Mishra
Nupur Mishra

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to the Mobile UX Marathon! This is a weekly webinar series focused on improving mobile user experience and conversion rates. Today, we'll dive into how GA4 (Google Analytics 4) can help you understand and enhance mobile user experience.

Before we start, let me introduce myself. I'm Laverne, a Measurement Specialist at Google, and I've been working closely with Google Analytics for the past five years. To make the most of this webinar, I encourage you to participate by opening your Google Analytics account and following along as we create these reports together. If you have any questions or notes, please leave them on the Marathon website. We'll address these during the livestream.

You'll find details about the livestream, resources, and upcoming Marathon webinars in the video description below.

Today's Agenda:

  • How to view your website through your visitors' eyes
  • Understanding user behaviour
  • Repairing the funnel
  • Answering your questions from the Marathon website
  • Learning how to build a measurement plan
  • Understanding KPIs during the livestream

I hope to see you all there!

Now, let's start with a fundamental question: Should I care about mobile?
The intuitive answer is yes, but what data do we need to support this?

The first report we'll look at today is the Device Report, found under Audience > Mobile > Overview. The insights you can gain from this report include traffic share, revenue share, and conversion share. It also highlights revenue opportunities. For example, if 45% of your users are on mobile but only 28% of the revenue is attributed to those users, that's a clear opportunity gap to address. This report helps you determine whether to adopt a mobile-first strategy or use mobile as a complementary strategy, depending on the split between mobile and desktop usage.

The second report to consider is found under Audience > Benchmarking > Devices. Some key insights here include average session duration and pages per session. However, be cautious when using benchmarking reports. Even businesses in the same industry can have vastly different websites. Some may spread content across multiple pages, while others may have long scroll depths. The key takeaway is to encourage you to set data benchmarks, whether through Google Analytics, internal insights, or third-party insights. These benchmarks are crucial for comparing mobile and desktop performance.

Now that we've established the importance of mobile, the next question is: What should be prioritised? Given that resources and efforts are limited, it's crucial to determine which parts, segments, or dimensions should be our focus.

We'll look at three reports to help answer this question:

  1. Prioritising Pages for UX Improvements: The first report to consider is the All Pages Report found under Behaviour > Site Content. We'll focus on two major insights here: Page Views and Page Value. By multiplying page views with page value, you can identify which pages on your website are the most valuable in terms of revenue generation. However, if you don't have eCommerce or goal values set up, you won't see a value for page value. In that case, you can use bounce rate and page views as proxies.
  2. Landing Pages Report Segmented for Mobile: The second report to examine is the Landing Pages Report segmented specifically for mobile users, found under Behaviour > Site Content. Here, we'll look at the bounce rate. While it's common for mobile traffic to have a higher bounce rate than desktop, the key is to identify where the difference is the greatest. These are the areas where improvements can be most impactful. If certain landing pages have a significantly higher bounce rate on mobile compared to desktop, it's essential to investigate and address any inconsistencies in the user experience.
  3. Prioritising Screen Resolutions for UX Improvements: The third report to consider is whether we are providing a consistent experience to users across different screen resolutions. The relevant report is found under Audience > Technology > Browser and OS > Screen Resolution. Focus on the eCommerce conversion rate for sessions coming from different screen resolutions. Prioritise the top five screen resolutions with the highest session share and examine the eCommerce conversion rate. Significant differences in conversion rates across screen resolutions indicate potential revenue opportunities. Ensure that call-to-action buttons and key action areas are easily accessible on these prioritised high-value screen resolutions.

With these dimensions prioritised, the next question to address is: What happens when a user arrives on my website? In other words, what is the post-click experience, and is it consistent with the messaging the user received before coming to the site?

To check for consistency in user experience, the Behaviour > Site Content > Landing Pages report is essential.

The first step in this report is to provide all the segments for different traffic sources, such as organic traffic, paid traffic, referral traffic, and direct traffic. You could also adjust the segments based on the most important traffic sources for your business.

In the first screenshot (or the screenshot at the top), we look at the bounce rate. The idea here is to identify which traffic source has the highest bounce rate or is significantly different from the norm or average. In the second screenshot, we’ve selected the narrowed-down traffic source, which is desktop paid traffic, and compared it with mobile paid traffic. The differential again indicates an issue with the mobile experience.

Once you have identified an issue in a specific traffic source, you can segment your data and tailor a unique value proposition for your users depending on the traffic source you are acquiring them from. For example, if you are showing a display ad to a user, consider using the same banner once they land on your website or desktop.

See Site Search Usage and Decide If You Need to Show a Search Box: The second report, which I find fundamental in answering post-click questions, is Site Search Usage. This report is found under Behaviour > Site Search > Usage. In the screenshot, we are looking at visits with and without site search. The sessions and eCommerce conversion rate are also highlighted. If you look at the second highlighted section, which is "Visits with Site Search," you will notice that the eCommerce conversion rate is higher than in the first column, "Site Visits without Site Search."

This finding proves that site search is highly valuable for users, and your content becomes more accessible with a prominent site search feature. It’s essential that when users arrive on your website, the site search is clearly visible and easy to use, as it helps reduce friction and facilitates their purchase journey.

Show the Most Relevant Categories on the Homepage: The next report we’ll look at involves showing relevant categories on the homepage. This insight is particularly valuable because it provides visibility into what is most important for your customers—the categories they are interested in. This report is found under Behaviour > Site Content > All Pages > Content Grouping.

Note that content groups can be set up, and we have included all the resources for this in the set that will be shared as resources on the website. So, don’t worry if you haven’t set up content grouping yet. Once you have content groups, you can see which categories attract the most user interest and traffic. By multiplying page views with page value, you can identify the most valuable categories in terms of revenue generation. Based on this data, you can start exposing different categories to users depending on whether they are on mobile or desktop.

As with all reports, you can further segment this data based on mobile traffic.

Personalise the Experience for New & Returning Users (Events):

We’ve been talking about personalising the user experience, and the last three reports we looked at help us do just that by identifying different segments of customers. The fourth segment, which is also very important, is new versus returning users. The report we’re examining is Behaviour > Events > Top Events. If you don't have event tracking set up yet, don’t worry—there are steps to do so included in the resources.

This report shows us unique events, total events, and different events based on new and returning users. If there are actions on your website that users interact with frequently and that have a higher value, it makes sense to highlight these actions in the main slider, especially for new users. According to the screenshot we have here, new users engage more with the homepage slider than returning users. By tailoring the experience in this way, you can provide a differentiated experience that removes noise for returning users or loyal customers, helping them complete their journeys more effectively.

If you don't have event tracking set up, where should you begin, and what’s important for you to track? On the slide, you’ll see two to three different sections: call-to-action, content-based, and user behaviour. These are different actions you can track. For example, if a returning user is likely to add something to the wishlist, you’ll want to give them that experience to help complete a purchase journey.

Similarly, for user behaviour: are users switching between different payment methods? Does a returning user prefer a certain kind of payment method that you would like to show them by default? Are they removing certain products from the cart, and can you optimise your product details based on what products are being removed?

Focus on the Funnel: Once we’ve answered those questions and figured out what happens post-click, it’s important to understand where to focus on the funnel. After a user has completed a journey, added products to the cart, or viewed products, what happens next? The report we’re looking at here is called Conversions Report under Ecommerce > Shopping Analysis > Shopping Behavior. This report is only available as part of enhanced eCommerce. Again, the data can be segmented if needed, and we can apply a mobile segment.

The insight we’re examining here is the leakage percentage in the funnel. You can see how many users open sessions on your website without any shopping activity. The next question to ask is, what are these users doing? Then, there are users who look at products but don’t add them to the basket. Are we not providing them with the right products, categories, or options?

Next, there are users who add products to the cart but then abandon it. Can we influence these users to return to the website through a promotion, reminder, or brand loyalty campaign? The idea here is to analyse this report, apply a mobile segment, and see if you're offering a different user experience on mobile versus desktop. Another key insight is whether users fit into a certain funnel on desktop versus mobile.

Understand if You Can Better Convince Users to Add Products to Cart: Another focus area within the same report is to identify opportunity areas—specifically, how can you optimise product detail pages to motivate more users to add products to their carts?

For example, are users more interested in certain colours than others? If you have a product available in various colours, would you like to test which colours sell out more or encourage users to add them to their cart? These are some ways to answer questions about user behaviour on your website.

I also find it helpful to support all of this data with intuitive insights. A good practice is to regularly challenge yourself to complete typical customer journeys, like booking a ticket to the cheapest destination or buying the perfect winter coat. Aim to find an answer to this question within 30 seconds on a mobile website. The idea is to understand the friction your customers face while completing a journey and to identify what can make that process smoother or how you can enrich the user experience to keep them coming back.

Three Tips for Maximising GA for UX Potential

  1. Identify Key Reports and Metrics: Identify the top reports and metrics you will be using, and ensure you have a customised mobile-first dashboard.
  2. Identify Data Gaps: Determine your micro and macro conversions. What actions do you want users to take once they're on your website, and where do you see opportunities for converting more leads? Use the reports to identify these gaps.
  3. Combine Data and Insights: You know your business and its rhythm best. What data will support your website insights or prove otherwise? How can you use existing data to set up successful A/B tests?

As mentioned earlier, we've attached some useful resources for you. You can visit "Masterful Mobile Web" on Think with Google to discover insights and questions that can help you set a mobile strategy. There's also a guide for setting up event tracking, and we've included a short video for those who prefer not to read through a lengthy article. Additionally, the Google Analytics Solutions Gallery offers user-contributed dashboards that can enrich your Google Analytics experience.

As a final note, I want to remind you that we will have a live stream on building a measurement plan and understanding key performance indicators. I hope to see you all there! If you have any questions, please leave them on our website, and we'll cover them during the live stream. Thank you so much for joining us today!

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