Google Analytics 360 is a robust tool. It can be viewed as the enterprise version of standard Google Analytics with the added benefit of unified reporting, which provides a roll-up of data from multiple Google Analytics properties into a single view. This is inherently useful for larger organizations that may have multiple brands living under the same umbrella. Another astonishing benefit provided by Analytics 360 is data processing and data export. Apart from providing unsampled reporting without a daily cap, data is in real-time, with data being refreshed every 4 hours instead of 24-48 hours like in the standard version of Google Analytics. Analytics 360 also provides an integration with BigQuery, a data warehouse that allows analysts and developers to store large amounts of data leveraged via Analytics 360. BigQuery in itself is a powerful tool that allows us to utilize custom statistical models, machine learning models, and predictive analytics that help us to more accurately predict a user’s likelihood to convert on our website.
The largest piece of the puzzle is undoubtedly the Multi-Channel Funnels (MCF) Data-Driven Attribution (DDA) tool in Analytics 360. Using a sophisticated algorithm that analyzes data from all paid media channels, the DDA creates a custom model that assigns conversion credit to each marketing touchpoint in the customer journey, in order to determine how different media interactions impact a user’s likelihood to convert. For example, the combination of Organic Search, Display, and Email tactics leads to a 5% probability of conversion. When the Display channel is removed from the user journey, the probability drops to 4%. The marked 25% improvement in conversion when the Display channel is present in the conversion path serves as the foundation of the DDA model.
Another powerful feature is an integration with Campaign Manager 360, which forms the Google Marketing Platform (GMP) that provides a holistic view of how paid ads impact the bottom line. For example, more than 60% of our website traffic generated from paid display or video media efforts appears on the site as view-thru traffic. Without the integration with Campaign Manager 360, all of those sessions are currently attributed to direct or search traffic. View-through data from this integration improves our ability to recognize which visitors have been exposed to media, and improves our ability to appropriately value impression-based media tactics. GA 360’s integration with Display & Video 360 also allows us to define detailed audience groups based on GA 360 data for targeting purposes in DV360. This can enrich our ability to segment and personalize both prospecting and retargeting campaigns within DV360.
Custom funnels are another elaborate feature designed to help understand the user journey in greater detail. Explore reports in Analytics 360 allows us to build ad hoc funnels that segment each step towards a conversion. How can we easily isolate roadblocks for a user on our website and create a smoother customer journey? Custom funnels are not only retroactive but allow us to create up to 5 stages in the funnel to be as granular as possible and identify dropoff rates between stages. These custom funnels not only provide opportunities for enhancing website content but also for creating remarketing lists to retarget cart abandoners.
While Analytics 360 is an extremely powerful tool and represents a vital step in the analytics evolutionary ladder, it is a tool that may run a business about $150,000 a year – or higher, depending on the number of support hours needed. In addition, Analytics 360 works best when injected with large amounts of data in order to fully utilize the range of features that it provides. However, the ends may justify the means as it has predictive capabilities that will ultimately enrich the level of understanding associated with user behavior on your website.
