When I work on e-commerce projects to identify ways to increase conversion rates, I always start with a structured analysis of how effective the customer journey is in various current segments, using Google Analytics to help identify areas with potential. They have to improve the site page templates and test all these things.
Segments are very powerful because they allow you to isolate and compare different traffic sources. Fortunately, Google Analytics has provided us with this opportunity to segment our data. Segments allow you to separate and analyze subsets of your analytics data. A segment is basically a series of separate filters that create a specific and clear part of your data. You can apply segments to your reports and dashboards to find data that matches all of your filters.
Different traffic sources are just one of the segmentation methods an analyst can use, so I thought it might be useful to show the ones I commonly use in my projects. Most of what you see are standard segments that are available in Google Analytics, but you can always create your own segments.
Table of Contents
What are Google Analytics Segments?
Just like traditional customer segments in marketing, in Google Analytics, segments group customers with similar personality traits. There are many different personality traits of customers that are collected by Google Analytics by default, from details about their browser to their screen size, the sites they come from, and the model of the pages they visit. they visit
Our recommended 10 segments for Google Analytics
Here are the 10 segments I recommend using in Google Analytics, ranked by their value to marketers:
- Segment by referrer/traffic source
- Segment based on visitor model
- Segment based on location and geography
- Segment based on viewed content
- Segment based on landing page model
- Segment based on the performed action
- Segment by value
- Segment by demographics
- Segment by engagement
- Segment based on technology platform
In the rest of the article, we will explain more about the above.
Using segmentation in Google Analytics
Google Analytics provides us with great information about audience segments, but it requires a different view of segments and you also need to know where to look for what. Where to look is the Advanced Segments menu in the top right of the Reports section. The examples above show how to display standard or default segments to represent paid and non-paid search traffic.
Why are Google Analytics segments not usually used?
The best marketers strive to better understand their customers’ behaviors, needs, and personality traits. So at first glance, using Google Analytics can be agonizing because there are no obvious reports about customers. The closest part that can be attributed to customer information is visitor reports, but these reports are also anonymous and undisaggregated. So where is the information about the various segments you requested?
We want to tell you this topic, which is explained in many training courses, because it seems that there are many marketers who do not know about it or do not use segments for web analysis in a practical way. In my opinion, if you use Google Analytics and at the same time do not use segments, it is better not to use Google Analytics in general, except for trend reports; But users can’t be blamed for this, because in general, all analytics systems don’t help users properly in situations where they need to apply segments. In fact, our goal is to reverse this.
I have grouped the segments into 10 categories and marked them as standard and custom segments.
A checklist of 10 key segment models for using Google Analytics reports
The best way to consider these segments is to have a behavioral view of them rather than a demographic view, although as we will see, we can also access demographic segments. It is difficult to know the most relevant segments. If you are new to the category of segments, we suggest you to use this method to find out more about segments.
1- Segment based on referrer/traffic source (customer behavior outside the site)
For example, if you have a campaign tracking system, you can see the difference between different customer journeys on the site and the value they create.
- Email and newsletter campaigns
- Social networking sites
- Affiliate marketing
- Display advertising
- Direct traffic
- Search engine marketing
Since search engines are one of the biggest contributors to the potential value, this segment needs to be further broken down:
- Paid search
- Natural search
- Paid, branded and non-branded keywords
- Sentences and topics with significant value that have a significant keyword
2- Segment based on visitor model
For example, common visitor models include:
- New visitors and returning visitors
- Registered and unregistered visitors
- Customer and non-customer visitors
- visitor based on the technology platform being used; Like iPhone, Safari browser
3- Segment based on location and geography
A company should know how its performance is going in different global markets, such as:
- Britain
- America
- Europe
- Asia
Creating a custom report is usually recommended to get a better understanding of this.
4- Segment based on viewed content
Visitors who have viewed a particular page may be more likely to make a purchase, or you may be able to understand other related pages they have viewed.
- Key landing page
- Product page
- Complete the shopping cart
- Folders for large organizations
5- Segment based on landing page model
In Google Analytics, landing pages are also known as landing pages. If you have a lot of visitors coming through landing pages, you can see how they behave.
6- Segment based on the performed action
This represents people who completed the conversion goal and purchased the products as displayed in eCommerce. This section is very similar to the segment based on the observed content because it represents certain behaviors.
- Segment based on conversion model
7- Segment based on value
This is a more classic segmentation technique used by direct and email marketers, but everyone can see the benefits of identifying the source and purchase journey of a business’s most valuable customers.
You can only do this if you’ve set up Google Analytics to track conversions and e-commerce goals. Then you need to create a custom segment that represents visits from where the desired value is greater than a certain value.
8- Segment based on demographics
Another segment strategy that marketers are familiar with is this one, but I’ve put it last because it’s a bit difficult to set up. This method requires the use of arbitrary variables to track customers who have provided information about their personality traits, such as the following:
- Age, gender for B2C
- Business size, department or individual role model for business to user
You can do this only when you have set the Google Analytics settings as desired variables in the Google cookie so that the user performs a specific action such as filling a form with profile information or an action similar to segment 6, such as browsing. and moving in a particular category, searching or buying a product.
Note that you cannot include email addresses or any unique customer identifiers that are personally identifiable in this cookie, otherwise you will be breaking the Google Analytics Terms of Use. If you don’t want to do this, which you shouldn’t, your only choice is to use another analytics system.
9- Segment based on interaction
For example, different levels of customer interaction with the site include:
- Less than 5 pages
- More than 3 pages
- More than 10 pages
- Less than 10 pages
This allows you to filter for fewer or more segments. You can do this as a custom segment or use goals in the interaction segment and then create a custom segment.
10- Segment based on technology platform
- Browser model and version
- Screen resolution
- Mobile platforms
There is definitely no shortage of different choices for segmentation. The most important segments depend on your business, but we’ve tried to put them in order of importance and ease of setup.