When a customer walks into your place of business, it’s easy to observe what they’re doing. If you pay attention and watch their facial expression as they go from display to display, you can assess their opinion of your merchandise. It’s easy to listen in to conversations they have with your sales team. If they consider an item, put it into their shopping cart, and approach checkout – only to abruptly change their mind and head for the door, you could even ask them directly what was going on.

Did you know you can do the same thing when customers visit your website? Google Analytics tracks all kinds of information about website visitors, including how they arrive on your site and what they do while they’re there. This data doesn’t identify individual shoppers, but it does reveal overall behavioral trends.

The Data Divide: Are You Using Your Data to Build Your Business?

Website data can be used in many ways. The most important one to most business owners has to do with the conversion rate: data contains insights that can be leveraged to encourage more website visitors to schedule an appointment, request more information, or make a purchase.

Product management is another area where data makes a difference. Every retailer has had the experience of a product selling well in the store and poorly online, and vice-versa; analyzing the data will help you determine which products need to be on your website and where they should appear for maximum sales. There’s an obvious cost-containment benefit to this; data can also help you save money by helping you target social media advertising directly to the audiences most likely to respond to it.

Almost Every Website Has Google Analytics Installed, But Few Business Owners Use Data Effectively

Let’s be real here: Google hasn’t made it easy for business owners to get actionable insights out of their website data. There have been real improvements to the system over the years, but even today, if you don’t have your analytics configured properly, it’s very hard to get answers to your business questions.

Being able to use your business data effectively is a meaningful competitive advantage. Your data can help you make better decisions faster and with greater confidence. If you know you’re not making use of your data the way you would like to, I invite you to join me for a special webinar on Wednesday, October 18th, at 1 pm EST. In an hour, you’ll learn what type of customer data is recorded, what that data means in terms of your business, and how to best access your data so you can make use of these insights regularly and efficiently. This session is for any business owner who has a website – it doesn’t have to be ecommerce! Register now to reserve your spot.