How to Make Sense of the Rounded Digital Insights Panel
The main job of our Insights Panel is to tell you if your marketing efforts are working. It condenses information from several places into one easy to analyze dashboard. Our Insights Panel is supposed to be a communicator, not a spreadsheet.
In this article, you’ll learn how to read the data of our Insights Panel without having to do any extra research on your own.
Select Date Range
You can select to see data since the first day the tracking code was installed, and Google Analytics started gathering data. You’re able to track data for specific periods of time.
Start Date:
The first date that you want to see data.
End Date:
The last day that you want to see data.
Include Last 28 Days:
Easy option to include a calendar month and not have to select the dates manually.
Date Filters
Source:
Where a user came from. That can be from a search engine like Google or Bing, or a specific website like example.com.
Medium:
The category of the source where the user came from. For example, if the user came from Google or Bing, it falls under the category of organic. If the user came from another website like example.com, it falls under the category of referral. Medium categories are explained in more detail in the section Top Channels by Sessions.
Device Category:
The device the user used when visiting your site. It can be a desktop, tablet, or mobile device.
Region:
Different states or cities around the world where a user came from. If a user in Beijing, China visited your site, you’ll be able to see it in the drop-down.
User Type:
Segregates your data by new vs. returning users.
Page:
Segregates your data by individual or a group of pages.
Top Channels by Sessions
Organic Search:
refers to people that visited the website by doing a search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any other search engine.
Direct:
When a user visited the website through a URL, meaning they either typed it out or click the URL from a site or another source.
Referral:
When a user clicks on a URL belonging to your site from a different site, and it opens in a new tab. The source website refers users to your site by adding a link. This is the same as if you verbally told someone to go visit a restaurant.
Social:
When someone on a domain known to belong to a social media clicks on a link that goes to your site. Known social media network are facebook.com, twitter.com, instagram.com, yelp.com, etc.
Other:
Tracked data that after with time or changes in the metrics get moved to the category of (other). Analytics still tracks data as usual but isn’t able to display all the several different metrics of data uniquely in the report. Hence, it moves that precise data to the (other) category.
For example, on May 1st, your most visited page was the “About Us” page, but on May 2nd the homepage is the most visited page. Google Analytics moves this data into the (other) category.
Users & Sessions By Date
From the screenshot, you aren’t able to see, but this section tracks sessions, users, and pageviews. Stay focused because it can get a little confusing.
Sessions:
When a user is active on your site. A session cycle lasts 30 minutes by default in Google Analytics. When a user visits your site, leaves or is inactive, and comes back in an hour, Google Analytics tracks that as two sessions. Whereas if the user comes back in 20 minutes or starts actively browsing through your site, Google Analytics tracks that as the same session. If the user stays active for longer than only 30 minutes, it counts as one session.
User:
A person who is browsing the internet.
Pageviews:
The number of times a page on your site was viewed. The amount of pageviews is generally, if not, always higher because pageviews track each time a user visits a page.
If a single user visits your page 5 times, Google Analytics tracks that as 5 pageviews and 1 user. To make it more complicated, if this same user were active in intervals of 35 minutes on the page, there would be 5 sessions. But if it was in intervals of 20 minutes, Google Analytics track only 1 session.
Sessions are harder to understand because they have the time constraint condition that needs to be met. They’re a conditional metric tracked in this part of the dashboard.
This section is to tell you how many users visit your site, how many pages get viewed and the number of actions taken on that page.
Profitable Events by Date
This section tracks specific actions taken by the user that can potentially lead to a sale. Every person that calls, emails, fills out a form, or clicks on an address to get directions to your establishment is a good lead for your business.
Phone Call:
The amount of times a phone number gets clicked on.
Address:
The amount of times an address gets clicked on.
Email:
The amount of times an email gets clicked on.
Form Submissions:
The amount of times a contact form gets filled out.
Other:
The number of times a button or link that isn’t in the category of a phone call, address, email or form submission got clicked on.
Acquisition
Sessions:
Again, tracks active users on your site with sessions lasting 30 minutes.
Users:
How many users visited your site, regardless if they’re new users or users that had already visited your site in the past.
New Users:
Strictly tracks users that had never visited your site before.
You want the number of users to be higher than new users because that means that users visiting your site have a good experience and like to come back. Increasing the chances of them becoming a customer if they aren’t one already. You should always want your clients to revisit you.
Behavior
Bounce:
When a user leaves your site after a single-page session. Think of it as a user staying on your site for only a few seconds.
Bounce Rate:
The amount of a single-page session divided by the total amount of sessions on the site. In simple terms, it’s the percentage of users that stay for only a few seconds versus users who stay a long time on your site.
Pages/Session:
The number of pages viewed during one session. This means the user stayed for longer than a few seconds on your site.
Avg. Session Duration:
The average amount of time for each session.
Conversions
Event:
A phone call, email, and address link click or form submission. An event is a specific action manually added to Google Analytics. The same as profitable events.
Unique Events:
The number of events during one session.
Total Events:
The total amount of events. If a person makes clicks a phone call twice during the same session, it counts a one “Unique Event” but will be counted twice in “Total Events.”
Goals Value:
It’s the average profit that can be gained from an event. This is where basic marketing concepts come in. You have to know what your conversion rate is to know how much each phone call or form submission is worth.
Monthly, Quarterly & Annually
This section counts the number of events for the month, quarter and year. This section is self-explanatory, it tells you how many phone calls there were on a month, quarter, or year. The part with the orange background on top tracks only organic data. That’s data gathered strictly from search engines like Google or Bing.
Monthly:
The start of the month.
Quarterly:
Calendar quarter, on certain occasions there can be more phone calls during that month than that quarter.
Yearly:
Start of the current year.
Page Activity
Again, the orange background on top tracks only organic data. That’s data gathered strictly from search engines like Google or Bing.
Entrances:
The page where a user first lands when visiting your site.
Exits:
When the user exits the website altogether. This can be from a different page than where the user entered from. For example, for the “About Us” page, you can have 50 entrances on but only 4 exits. That means most people navigate to a different page before exiting the site.
Total Events:
The total amount of events during the time the user entered to when it exited.