repostedfrom Zimana Analysiscanbefun,discoveringnewmarketingideasfromthedatacollected,butinmany instancesitiscounterproductivetocheckmetricchangesdaily.Whileadvertising campaignsneedittomakesurebudgetsarenotexceeded,dailycheckscanleadto overlookingtrendsthatdevelopoveralongarch.Trendsarethemainindicatorsof behaviorbehindthedata,andtheycanbebestviewedthroughperiodicchecksandsmart comparisons. Thekeytomakingsmartcomparisonsandavoidwastingtimeonanalyticsistoexamine whencertaintrendchangesoccur.Measuringmetricliftsordeclinesisthebestwayto decidewhenanalyticreportsneedreviews.Withsomuchdataenteringasiteorapp today,itsbettertoletanalyticalertyouwhensomethingunusualhappensratherthan spendtimetryingtofindpotentialdifferences. Alertsaresentasemailnotifications.GoogleAnalyticscallsthesealertsintelligence events.InGoogleAnalyticsyoucansetalertsviatheadminpanel,clickonthecustom alerts,andthensetthedimensions,metric,andsegmentcategoriesthatwilltriggerthe alert. athresholdpercentage(%) athresholdamount(lessthanormorethan). So,onceatthealertpanel,whatsettingsareworthyourattention?Well,hereareafew basicsettingsideasthatyoucanplanfromthestart. Trafficspikes Thisfallsundertheduhcategory,butbasictrafficspikesarewhatwewanttosee.The issueishowmuchofaliftshouldbemonitored.Thebeststartingpointistoseta10% increaseasanarbitrarystartingpoint. Now,lowvolume(about600sessionsorbelow)willprobablytriggernoticeseveryother dayforsmallspikes.ThathashappenedforZimanaatthebeginning.Butusinga10% settingwilltriggerlessoftenasforasitethatisdevelopingtrafficovertime.Consider revisingastheoverallvolumegrowstoasteadyamountpermonth. LetyourknowledgeoftheXvisitorsperdaydecideifalargerpercentageismore reasonable.Butbeforeyousetanumber,justaskaboutthevalueexpectedwhena numberdoublesoreventriple. Trafficdrop Whensomethinggoesup,somethingcancomedown.Everydeclinemaynotbe worthwhile,butconsiderapercentagedeclinethesamewayyouwouldforthetraffic spikes.Againadjustasvolumeincreases.Asignificantdropwillreflectacodingissuewith the analytics, site, or app. Changes within known traffic segments Alertscanalsoworkforspecifictrafficsegments.Examplesincludetrafficassociatedwith anAdWordscampaignoracustomsegmentsetinGoogleAnalytics.Segmentationby trafficsource,media,andreferralpathareotherwaystohighlightagivensetoftraffic. Spikeingoalcompletions Theideabehindthisissimilartothetrafficspike,replacedwithafocusongoals completedbysitevisitorsorappusersduringasession.Createanalertforrawnumberof completions,butalsosetalertsforintendeddemographics,suchasusersthatarrivefrom aspecificcity,region,orwithlanguage.Goalsshouldbetriggeredbutmainlyfor granularitythatwouldbeofinterestinabusinessoperation,likethepercentagethat resultedinaconversionsorthenumberofpeoplewhostartedconversionactivitybut didntcompleteit. Dropingoalcompletions Justasagoalspikeisanalogoustoatrafficspike,atrafficdropisanalogoustogoaldrops. Butgoalalertsdonotjusthavetobeforwebsiteorappmetrics.Thereareothermetrics availableinananalyticsolutionsthatcanbemonitored.Ecommerceisexactlythat otherthattypicallycomestomindtomostanalysts. ECOMMERCE TRENDS UsingEcommercealertscanhelpyourteamunderstandwhatproductsarebeingviewed frequently,leadingtowhatmightbesellingquicklyonline. Foranecommercesiteyoucansetalertsforanumberoffinancialmetricsrelatedtoa purchaseuniquepurchases,product,revenue,shippingcharges,andtaxcharges. Monitoringthesecanhelpunderstandhowasiteorappcontributetocost.Thesecanalso leadtounderstandinghowfrequentlythesecostsareoccurring. AlertsinAdWordsandBingAdcampaigns TherearealsoAdWordsAlertsintheAdWordsManageras well,butthesealertsaremeantmoreforcampaignchanges ratherthanwebsiterelatedbehavior. Alertscanbehelpfulindeterringupswingsindigitaladperformance,fromincreaseclicks toincreaseconversion.CampaignmanagerssuchasthoseforBingandAdwordsdohave stopcampaignalerts,toletusersknowwhenacampaignhasbeensuspendedbecausea presetlimithasoccurred. Usingalertscanmakemonitoringyourdatalesstimeconsumingandallowsyoutofocus onotheraspectsofyourmarketingorwithinyourbusiness