There is nothing more exciting to me as a marketer than understanding the intimate details about my audience. That’s right, I like knowing as much about my customers as I can and when it comes to your website, you can really get up close and personal with your customers by spending some time reviewing your Google Analytics. Let’s dive in and look at the new features launched in the upgraded version of Google Analytics.

Audience

This section has always been able to shed some light on user information, such as type of operating system, mobile platform or area of the country. But now Google is getting personal, and I like it.

Google has introduced under their audience tab a new feature – Demographics. You may not know if “Fred Smith” is visiting your website, but now you can review the differences between male and female visitors to your site. This feature, when integrated into your site with the upgraded code, will tell you details like age and gender of your users. This will help you better understand how different audiences use your website and with this report you can create better call outs on certain pages that appeal to the correct demographic.

The next amazing new feature is titled Interests. These interest categories break down into three areas; Affinity Categories, In-Market Categories and Other Categories. The goal of this section is to provide marketers with more detailed information. For example, an affinity category will group the visitors to your website interest into certain categories like news junkies, movie lovers or travel buffs. These categories will allow you to adjust your messaging to have an appeal that connects with your visitor. It’s like knowing your date’s interests so you know what to talk about. It allows companies to better connect. And that is sexy!

Acquisition & Behavior

This new tab in your Google Analytics will tell you how your audience member found you. Knowing how someone found your website has always been a great benefit. It lets you know what strategies are working and where you should continue your efforts. The new Google Analytics lets you review this side-by-side with your website visitors’ behavior. This allows you to truly see what channels drive more serious traffic vs. traffic that may just be looking around. Pay attention to the content your audience members are looking at when they arrive through different acquisition channels. Look at the behavior: how much time they spend and where they jump to. This will help you better plan out what types of content and messaging to share on different channels.

The updated Google Analytics does not stop here; it has too much for me to share in just one post. Take some time reviewing your audience, how you acquired them and their behavior; next time we’ll talk about converting them. We need to get to know our customers, date them – then we’ll see if we should take the next step.

If you have questions about Google Analytics or need help analyzing and planning your 2014 marketing strategy, take advantage of our complementary consultation.