In today's digital marketing world, tracking performance across multiple platforms and devices is essential for any business. Knowing what data to measure and how to interpret it is key to understanding customer behavior, reaching new audiences, and ultimately achieving success. However, there are certain types of data that Google Analytics Goals are unable to track. This article will explore the types of data that cannot be measured with Google Analytics Goals, potential solutions for measuring this data, and tips for leveraging other tools to close the gap in measurement. With this knowledge, businesses can take advantage of every opportunity available to gain a competitive edge.

The one thing Google Analytics can't track is the customer's lifetime value. The lifetime value of a customer is how much they will spend with your company throughout the time they are a customer, from the first sales to every purchase they make until they are no longer a customer.

The second thing Google Analytics is not able to track is customer interactions outside of Google or your website. I.e. social media, emails, and anything else that may happen on an outside platform.

Definition of Google Analytics Goals

Google Analytics Goals are a powerful tool for tracking user behavior and performance. They allow businesses to set parameters for what constitutes success on their website or app, and then measure how close they have come to achieving those goals. Goals can range from simple metrics like pageviews, form submissions, and bounce rate to more complex ones such as screens per session, game level, correct answer given in a quiz, or value of a customer.

By measuring goal conversions, businesses can gain valuable insight into their digital marketing campaigns' effectiveness and overall performance. Additionally, Google Analytics Goals can help businesses identify opportunities for improvement, optimize conversion paths and funnels, uncover customer segmentation trends that support business goals, and inform smarter marketing efforts. With all these benefits combined, Google Analytics Goals are essential to any company's analytics toolkit.

Overview of Goals Unable to be Tracked by Google Analytics

Though Google Analytics Goals are incredibly powerful, there are certain tasks the platform cannot track. For example, it does not provide a comprehensive view of customer lifetime value or measure complete metrics for conversion rates across social networks.

Google Analytics Goals cannot track how customers interact with content over time, nor can they measure the success of a conversion funnel from start to finish.

With limited data available for customer relationships, businesses are unable to use Google Analytics Goals to gain insight into their relationship with customers and analyze their lifetime performance.

Its also worth noting that while Google Analytics can track a lot of data and will provide data on Google Analytics reports after a customer fills out s form or purchases the tracking ends there. You can assign a goal value and set different types of goals in side of Google Analytics but wont track anything after your internal system. 

It also wont track anyone who visits a page where Google Analytics isn't enabled on. These website visitors wont be able to be tracked and you wont have historical data on any of those pages.

Unfortunately, these types of metrics require multiple platforms to be used, such as HubSpot, to track the lifetime value of a customer and understand how customers interact with your website at a deeper level than what Google can provide.

Types of Data not Measured.

Google Analytics Goals are a great tool for tracking key metrics such as bounce rate, form submissions, and screens per session, but there are some types of data that it is unable to measure.

For instance, Google Analytics Goals cannot track game levels or the correct answer to questions. Additionally, it does not provide insight into customer lifetime values or measure conversions across different digital marketing campaigns.

Google Analytics Goals do not capture information about customer segmentation or conversion paths that can be used to assess the effectiveness of marketing efforts over time. As such, businesses should look for other tools and services to supplement their analytics and gain a more comprehensive understanding of user activity.

Customer Lifetime Values

Customer's Lifetime Value: What They Are and How to Measure Them

Customer Lifetime Values (CLV) are a metric used to measure customer loyalty and the long-term financial value of a customer. It’s essential for businesses to track CLV in order to understand their customers, improve conversion rates, and maximize return on investment (ROI).

CLV is calculated by taking into account the total revenue generated by each customer over the course of their lifetime with your business. This includes sales from any product or service offered, as well as any referrals they make or social networks they join. (this is commonly associated with a net promoter score)

When combined with other data points, such as conversion funnel analyses and goal conversions, businesses can gain valuable insights into what strategies work best to keep customers coming back.

By understanding how much value each customer brings, businesses can better determine which marketing efforts are worth investing in, enabling them to create more effective campaigns that drive higher ROI. Additionally, tracking CLV allows businesses to build better relationships with customers through personalized outreach efforts and rewards programs that recognize their loyalty.

To break that down into simpler terms, someone becomes a customer when buying from your business. Typically the hardest part about customer acquisition is the first purchase. Once someone becomes a customer and enjoys your product, the likelihood of them buying more from you is higher. The amount of money that person or customer spends with you from their first purchase to their last purchase is the Customer's Lifetime Value.

Most CRM software like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive can help you attribute the value of a customer over time and help you make educated business decisions on what products are working and how to increase the customer's overall value.

Customer Lifetime Values are a key metric for understanding your audience and measuring success over time. By properly utilizing this data point, businesses can increase ROI while creating meaningful relationships with their customers.

Form Submissions on Third-Party Sites

Form submissions on third-party sites are an invaluable way to track user behavior and generate leads for your business. In many cases, if you're using a third-party website for landing pages, and tracking or you have access to put Google Analytics on it you can gain some valuable data. By tracking this data, you can gain insight into the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns and understand how customers interact with your brand. Form submissions give you the ability to monitor customer relationships over time, allowing you to adjust your strategy based on customer feedback.

Moreover, you can identify conversion funnels and analyze conversion paths by tracking form submissions on third-party sites. This helps you understand users' steps before finally converting into paying customers. Additionally, tracking this data can also provide valuable insights about overall goal conversions and help measure the success of your digital marketing efforts.

Screens Per Session Across Different Platforms

Screens per session is an important metric to track when measuring user engagement and the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts. It's particularly useful for businesses with customers using multiple platforms, such as mobile, desktop, and tablet. By tracking screens per session across different platforms, you can gain insight into how users interact with your website or app on any device.

This is something that Google Analytics can track and will help provide great data on where and when visitors are coming in.

Additionally, tracking screens per session also helps you determine if customer behavior differs between devices. For example, if customers tend to complete more game levels on their mobile devices than on desktop or tablet, this could be a sign that the level design is better suited for smaller screens.

On the other hand, if customers are spending more time browsing products on their tablets than other platforms, this may indicate that there’s a better way to display products for larger screens.

Reasons for Data Not Being Measured

There are a number of reasons why data may not be measured by Google Analytics Goals. For instance, customer lifetime value and complete metrics on user behavior over time are not tracked. 

The main reason Google Analytics can't track data across all of these platforms is simply because

The lack of comprehensive data tracking can make it difficult for businesses to measure their success against their business goals or gain insights into customer relationships and segmentation. However, with the right tools in place, businesses can still measure important aspects of their performance, such as the lifetime values of customers and social network engagement.

Currently, not many platforms can track data across all platforms and rarely show you the full customer path.

Ultimately, having access to comprehensive data is essential for businesses to make informed decisions about their product design and marketing strategies. By utilizing the correct analytics tools, businesses can gain deeper insights into user behavior and maximize their digital marketing efforts.

Overall, Google Analytics Goals can provide valuable insights into user behavior and help businesses measure their performance. However, there are certain limitations to the tool that should be considered when using it for data analysis. Stay tuned to find out more about the limitations of Google Analytics Goals!

Limitations of the Tool

Google Analytics Goals can provide valuable insights into user behavior, but it does have its limitations. It is unable to track metrics such as lifetime performance, screens per session, game level, correct answers or conversion funnels. Additionally, it is difficult to measure digital marketing campaigns' success and identify customer segmentation.

Fortunately, with the right tools in place, businesses can still measure important aspects of their performance, such as customer lifetime values and social network engagement. However, without granular data tracking, it can be difficult for businesses to assess their success against their business goals accurately.

Ultimately, having access to comprehensive data is essential for businesses to make informed decisions about their product design and marketing strategies. By utilizing the correct analytics tools, businesses can gain deeper insights into user behavior and maximize their digital marketing efforts.

Potential Solutions for Data Gaps in Measurement

For businesses looking to measure user behavior and track complete metrics, there are solutions available to help fill the data gaps in measurement.

Utilizing additional analytics tools can provide businesses with deeper insights into user behavior and maximize their digital marketing efforts.

For example, combining HubSpot or another tracking tool with customer lifetime value (CLV) metrics such as retention rate and average order value will help businesses better understand the impact of their marketing campaigns on customer relationships. Additionally, utilizing social networks’ own analytics tools can provide valuable insights into how customers engage with the brand through social media channels. By utilizing these tools in tandem with Google Analytics Goals, businesses can gain a more holistic view of their performance against their goals and objectives.

By leveraging the power of analytics tools and customer lifetime value (CLV) metrics, businesses can gain valuable insights into how their marketing campaigns impact user behavior and drive results. But that's just scratching the surface! To further optimize digital performance and maximize ROI, businesses should consider utilizing third-party tools & integrations for even deeper insights.

Utilizing Third-Party Tools & Integrations

Third-party tools and integrations can help businesses maximize the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts. These tools are designed to provide additional insights into user behavior, enabling businesses to gain a more complete view of how their campaigns are driving results. Through third-party tools, companies can track data points such as lifetime performance metrics, conversion rates, form submissions, screens per session, game-level completion rate, and even the correct answer to quiz questions. Additionally, these tools can help businesses better understand customer segmentation and target customers with tailored messages that will resonate more effectively.

Utilizing third-party tools and integrations in tandem with Google Analytics Goals allows businesses to measure the impact of their digital marketing campaigns on customer relationships, enabling them to optimize performance against business goals and objectives.

With these advanced analytics capabilities at their fingertips, organizations can gain deeper insights into how their campaigns drive conversions across different conversion paths and funnels while better-understanding customer lifetime values.

Ultimately, third-party tools & integrations offer businesses an invaluable resource for optimizing digital performance and maximizing ROI.

Leveraging Digital Marketing and/or Media Buys to Track Performance

While it's clear that Google Analytics can't provide customer lifetime value numbers, it can be used to help make business decisions.

One of those decisions is leveraging digital marketing and media buys to track performance is an invaluable tool for businesses looking to maximize the return on their investments.

With these metrics, businesses can gain insights into how their campaigns are driving conversions across different channels, enabling them to optimize performance and maximize ROI. In addition, businesses can also measure the impact of their campaigns on customer relationships in order to better target customers with tailored messages that will resonate more effectively.

Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer robust analytical capabilities that allow businesses to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns through metrics such as impressions, reach, and engagement rates.

While these can't be used to show the lifetime value of a customer, you can see visitors as they go to your website and see the data from the moment they get to your website to when they leave.

Utilizing these tools in tandem with Google Analytics Goals provides a complete view of a business’s digital performance against its goals and objectives.

Conclusion

Google Analytics Goals is an essential tool for businesses looking to measure their digital performance against set objectives. However, while it provides insightful metrics such as conversion rates, form submissions, and screens per session, there are several other data points that it is unable to track. These include customer lifetime values, user behavior over gaming levels or correct answers in quizzes, and details of the full conversion path taken by customers across a digital marketing campaign. To gain a comprehensive understanding of a business’s performance and identify areas for improvement, businesses should leverage other analytics tools like social media networks in tandem with Google Analytics Goals to track their marketing efforts more effectively.

F.A.Q.

What is important that Google Analytics can track?

Google Analytics can track website traffic, user behavior, conversions, e-commerce data, mobile app analytics, and referral sources. By analyzing this data, website owners can make data-driven decisions to optimize their website's performance and improve their online presence.

These include website traffic and page views, which can tell you how many visitors your site receives and how they found it. User behavior can also be tracked, allowing you to see which pages users are visiting, how long they're staying on each page, and which links they're clicking. Conversions can be tracked to see when users complete specific actions on your site, such as filling out a form or making a purchase. For e-commerce sites, Google Analytics can track important metrics like revenue, average order value, and conversion rate. Mobile app analytics, including user retention, in-app purchases, and app crashes, can also be tracked. Finally, Google Analytics can track referral sources, helping you understand which websites or marketing campaigns are driving the most traffic and conversions to your site.

Does Google Analytics 4 Track the same data as Google Universal Analytics?

While Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Universal Analytics (UA) are both analytics platforms from Google, they differ in several ways, including the data that they track.

GA4 focuses more on user behavior, while UA is more geared toward website traffic analysis. GA4 uses an event-based model to track user interactions, while UA uses pageviews as the primary unit of measurement.

That being said, GA4 and UA do track many of the same metrics, such as traffic sources, user location, and user demographics. However, the way that data is collected, processed, and analyzed can differ between the two platforms.

Both of these are two different types of ways to measure website performance. They can also both be added to your website through the Google Tag Manager, and the tracking code gets placed in the heading of every web page.

In general, if you're currently using UA and looking to switch to GA4, it's important to understand the differences between the two platforms and how they may impact your data tracking and analysis. It may be useful to consult with a Google Analytics expert to ensure a smooth transition and maximize the new platform's benefits. Google UA goes end of life and will no longer be supported af July 1, 2023

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