You Probably Need This: GA Insights on the Go

Tell me this has never happened to you before.

You’re new to the company and in a meeting to review marketing plans for the next quarter.

Someone says something like, well, website traffic is unusually high today and the conversion rate is through the roof. What, they ask, is going on?

You pause. You think.

Maybe you have the answer.

Maybe you don’t and you’ll have to get back to them on that.

Answer correctly with little to no pause and it’s clear to everyone that you’re on top of things.

Hesitate, say you’ll have to look into it, and the doubts, the questions are there. Even though, as any reasonable person might acknowledge, you can’t be on top of everything that’s going on and this meeting is about something altogether different.

Now you need never be blindsided again.

All you need is your smartphone and the Google Analytics app. Oh, and Google has just added the aptly-named Assistant tab to the app, giving you quick insights on performance for the date range you select.

GA Insights

 

That’s when you remember: your agency (ah hem) just launched a new AdWords Customer Match campaign with a short-term promo offer (for loyal customers only). Buy one, get one free. Or was that 50% off while stocks last?

Why should you care?

OK, if you weren’t using the free Google Analytics app (available on Android and iOS) you really should be. With Assistant, that becomes really really should be, and not only because you want to look like the smartest person in the room.

Insights highlight the good and bad, usually allowing you to view more details. They can also be shared via text message, email, Facebook, Twitter, Slack, and so on (or assigned to someone else to follow up on). Or you can pin them so that you can follow up on the insight at a more convenient time (after your meeting, for instance).

The free app is available, of course, in Apple’s App Store and in Google Play.

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About the Author Jeremy Templer

Jeremy is a Partner and Senior Consultant at SureFire. Jeremy has been working in search since 1996, when he joined the Australian search engine, LookSmart. After relocating to San Francisco, he was instrumental in the development of the company’s paid search ad platform. At analytics company Coremetrics (now owned by IBM) he established an in-house search agency managing campaigns for Coremetrics clients such as Macy’s, Bass Pro and Lands End. At Acxiom he managed members of the pioneering SEO firm Marketleap and worked with clients such as Capital One, American General Finance and Kaiser Health. Joining SureFire in 2009, he is the head of Paid Search Advertising and oversees the delivery of AdWords and other PPC campaigns. He also helps clients make sense of their website data.