Web Analytics India

Advanced Segmentation in Google Analytics

- contributed by Anish Jacob

A few days after the Official Google Analytics Blog announced a set of new functionalities added to Google Analytics, we spoke about our liking for Advanced Segmentation and Custom Reports in Google Analytics. Based on my experience of using Advanced Segmentation in the past few weeks, I’d say it’s one of the most useful features incorporated into Google Analytics.

Before I share with you why I think Advanced Segmentation is an awesome feature, let me discuss why segmenting data is important from an analyst’s perspective. The numbers churned out by my web analytics tool is not just data, they are key insights about my customers’ interaction with my website. The reasons why customers visit my website are very different. Reports based on non-segmented data treat all visitors to a website as members of collective unit, rather than as unique individuals. Data about visitors who came to browse for product information is summarized together with data of existing customers who came to place repeat orders. In this scenario, as data gets aggregated by the reporting tool, critical insights that are unique to different customer segments tend to get buried deep inside the averages.

In order to gain insights that are actionable within the context of the unique groups of people who visit my website, I need to segment my visitor data. Segmenting the data will allow me to understand if my website adequately caters to the specific needs of different customer groups. Till the Advanced Segmentation feature was added to Google Analytics, we did not have a simple way to separate the datasets of different customer segments.

A detailed introduction to segmenting web analytics data can be found in this presentation by Seby Kallarakkal.

So why do I think the Advanced Segmentation feature is really cool? Here is my list of reasons:

1. With the click and drag interface creating new segments is really simple



2. I can use Regular Expressions in addition to a set of standard conditions to create well defined segments for my analysis



3. The test-as-you-build functionality ensures that you are moving along the right path at each stage of creating a new segment. In other words you don’t have to create a new segment and apply it to a report to find out if the segmentation has been done correctly. Or start from square-one if you want to make some changes.



4. I can apply multiple segments to the same report and compare the performance of each segment



5. I can copy and tweak a segment that has already been created so I can work smart and save time (Hat Tip: Google Analytics Team)

If you are still to explore the Advanced Segmentation feature of Google Analytics you can start by watching this step-by-step video, listed as part of the Google Analytics New Enterprise Features playlist.

See the video below. To improve the quality of the video, click on the small triangle a the lower right corner of the video after the video starts playing, and select the option HQ. Hope this helps!

For some cool ideas on how you could benefit from this feature please see the post by Avinash Kaushik titled “Google Analytics Releases Advanced Segmentation: Now Be A Ninja!”

If you need more information on advanced segmentation and how it is done, please leave your email id in a comment. And we will get in touch with you.