In marketing, customer engagement is measured using something called a purchase funnel. It shows the different stages that customers experience with your business, such as:
Acquisition: The initial stage of building business awareness and acquiring user interest
Behavior: The interactions of users engaging with your business
Conversion: When a user becomes a customer and transacts with your business
We can measure many different aspects of the funnel using digital analytics. We can track what online behavior led to purchases and use that data to make informed decisions about how to reach new and existing customers.
Digital analytics in practice
Think about an online store, such as the Google Merchandise Store. It might have a goal to sell more t-shirts. Using digital analytics, the store could collect data from their online advertising campaigns, and analyze it to see which ones are most effective, and then expand those marketing efforts.
For example, the store could analyze geographical sales data to understand if people in certain places buy a lot of shirts and if they do, then the store could run additional advertising campaigns in those areas. They could also use analytics to understand how users progress through their online shopping cart. If they notice that users have trouble with a particular step on their website, they can make changes to the site to resolve the problem.
Different kinds of businesses can benefit from digital analytics:
- Publishers can use it to create a loyal, highly engaged audience and to better align on-site advertising with user interests.
- Ecommerce businesses can use digital analytics to understand customers’ online purchasing behavior and better market their products and services.
- Lead-generation sites can collect user information for sales teams to connect with potential leads.
While we’ve primarily talked about collecting data from a website, Google Analytics can also collect behavioral data from a variety of systems such as mobile applications, online point-of-sales systems, video-game consoles, customer-relationship-management systems, or other internet-connected platforms.
This data is compiled into Analytics reports, which you can use to perform in-depth analysis to better understand your customers and their purchase journey. Then you can test out new solutions to improve your business.