A review of 9 updates to Google Analytics

Google Analytics have rolled out a series of fairly big changes to their User Interface. They do this every so often, either to incorporate extra functionality, or simply to clean up the user interface & improve user experience. (See the tweaks they made last time, for example). This time around most of the changes are purely around the interface, though there are some large, useful functionality tweaks too. Editor's note: At the time of writing there isn't a new post on the Google Analytics blog to point you to for more detail, but we'll add that once available. This post covers the 9 main changes made to Google Analytics:

1. Top Navigation Changes

The top navigation (and the overall information architecture) has changed quite considerably. There are still 4 options, but they’ve altered: Here was the old top nav: …

A briefing on the implications of recent acquisitions for companies selecting marketing solutions

2011 and 2012 saw major software vendors rushing to offer digital marketeers a one-stop solution for creating, publishing, analysing, managing content and measuring the performance of their social media properties. Many acquisitions have been involved. To name but a few, Salesforce.com bought Buddy Media after acquiring Radian6. Adobe has also been busy inflating their marketing cloud, as has Oracle with their recent December $871 million acquisition of Eloqua . You can see the aim of these acquisitions as the major vendors seek to provide a single marketing service covering customer acquisition, conversion and retention marketing activities. Here are two examples from the largest vendors.

Salesforce marketing cloud services

 

Oracle marketing…

Webcasts from the Smart Insights Digital Marketing Priorities 2013 summit

At our recent free summit many viewers asked to share the slide and recordings, so to collect them together we have a short series of posts to point you in the right direction. These is one for each of the topics covering each of Reach, Act and Convert and Engage in the Smart Insights PRACE digital strategy framework:

The full series of posts covering all eight webcasts are:

REACH audiences using SEO, Social media and content marketing

InterACT with audiences on mobile platforms and for B2B audiences.

CONVERT visitors using persuasive design and CRO.

ENGAGE customers through content and email marketing.

You can view all recordings here.

The two webinars focusing on engaging customers and encouraging advocacy were:

1. Content Marketing priorities for 2013 with Dan Bosomworth of Smart Insights and First 10

Dan Bosomworth MD of First 10 discussed…

Two webcasts on increasing conversion rates from the Smart Insights Digital Marketing Priorities 2013 summit

At our recent free summit many viewers asked to share the slide and recordings, so to collect them together we have a short series of posts to point you in the right direction. If you take a look at the end of this post you will see there is one for each topics covering each of the processes of Reach, Act and Convert and Engage in the Smart Insights PRACE digital strategy framework.

The two webcasts focusing on converting site visitors were:

1. Persuasive design priorities for 2013 with Paul Rouke of PRWD

This webcast was presented by user experience consultant Paul Rouke who reviewied of major and subtle persuasion tips & techniques which positively affect user behaviour. It also included live examples of where brands are combining different techniques to enhance the influence on user behaviour.

Related…

Trends in Ecommerce and E-retail based on year-on-year comparisons

The world of ecommerce seemed to go through a more major mainstream media awakening in 2012 with most focus being on the bearing of fruit of mobile commerce which finally proved, then exceeded longstanding hopes. In 2013 we can expect to see a rush of retailers attempting to get ‘mobile’ to try and capitalize on the mobile revenue stream. SME and enterprise level retailers will most likely opt for mobile optimisation of existing sites through third party solutions such as Mobify, with only the larger retailers or retailers with a very specific tactical reason opting to go native with apps. See the recording or slide deck of the Smart Insights webcast by mobile specialist Rob Thurner on mobile priorities for 2013. This recent data from network Affiliate Window across their range of UK retail clients shows the growing importance of handset…

ACT Webcasts from the Smart Insights Digital Marketing Priorities 2013 summit

The two webinars from our summit focusing on interacting with new audiences using different digital channels were:

1. Mobile marketing priorities for 2013 with Rob Thurner of Burner Mobile

The agenda for this talk covered how to build mobile into your business strategy, plus more practical advice on weaving mobile into your customer journey and discovery/promotion of the mobile channels. Related Ebook: Mobile Marketing Briefing by Rob Thurner

2. B2B Digital marketing priorities for 2013 with Rene Power of B2B Marketing

This webcast covered covered the key…

REACH webcasts from the Smart Insights Digital Marketing Priorities 2013 summit

At our recent free summit many viewers asked us to share the slide decks and recordings, so to collect them together we have a short series of posts to point you in the right direction. There will be one for online marketing topics covering each of Reach, Act and Convert and Engage in the Smart Insights PRACE digital strategy framework.

The two webinars focusing on reaching new audiences were:

1. SEO priorities for 2013 with James Gurd of Digital Juggler

The focus of this talk by James Gurd of Digital Juggler was analysis techniques to help improve results from SEO. It also shares examples of tools to assist with SEO.

Related Ebook: 7 Step Guide to SEO …

A reminder to factor in variation in conversion from mobile when modelling sales from mobile site visitors

Reviewing the latest statistics on increased use of mobile is useful for making the case for mobile marketing. Earlier in the week I shared 4 key sources on mobile platform usage. What's of most interest to site owners though, is what happening in their sector, and on their site in particular. In this post, I'll share two examples. The first is most relevant if you work in travel. It's an infographic from Skyscanner. The headlines are: 30% of Skyscanner visits now from mobile (50% in some markets), but... Mobile users are 39% less likely to book It shows that, of course, you have to look at both volume and quality of traffic when creating the business case for investment in mobile.

The second company example,…

with new users being added at an average rate of two per second (or 172,800 per day)

Importance: [rating=2] Recommended source: LinkedIn Blog That's an impressive growth rate reminding us of the importance of LinkedIn professionally, or if we work in business-to-business marketing. It would be useful to know the number of active members and fake accounts to get a truer picture though. We find LinkedIn Group Spam needs daily moderation. As is customary with user milestones, the company has produced an infographic celebrating the milestone. It shows the member numbers in different industries and shows that if LinkedIn were a country it would be the 5th largest in the world. I recommend using the LinkedIn Skills feature to see the growth and key influencers in your sector. Check out our B2B Digital Marketing Guide for guidance and examples from René Power on how to best use LinkedIn for Marketing. We will be…

Plus 5 things The Hobbit can teach us about email marketing

This is the time of year when we bloggers sit down to write about all the exciting developments and innovations expected over the next 12 months. You know, those game-changing technologies and trends that will represent the "2013 Email Challenge". It's either that or write about "5 things The Hobbit can teach us about email marketing". Actually, there are a few things the hobbit can teach us, here you go: Build anticipation Maintain interest with a multipart content series Don't try to appeal to everyone (you can't and you don't want to anyway) Sometimes longer is better...and sometimes it isn't Use new technology as a tool, not as an end in itself Anyway, hot trends and innovations are important, but there are basic, less glamorous tasks that need taking care of, too. Perhaps what is most important is things that aren't…