7 analytics tools every marketer needs to know about

Get the most out of your data with the best tools on the market

Gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs, wants and frustrations using analytics tools. The data you gather can inform your decision-making, so you can optimise your website for better UX and more conversions. 

In this blog post, we’re going to cover:

Why you should be tracking user data with analytics tools

Tracking users has many advantages, both to your business and to your customers. Here are just a few of the reasons why you should be incorporating data analytics into your digital strategy:

Conversion optimisation

Are large numbers of users dropping off your website before they get to the checkout page? You can use data analytics to identify the points at which this happens. By reducing friction at those points in the user journey, you improve the experience throughout your website.

Analytics tools also enable you to identify points for upselling, quick buys, and other conversion opportunities to introduce.

Raising AOV

There are many strategies you can use to increase your average order value (AOV). What works best will vary from business to business.

Cross-selling, free delivery at certain spending thresholds, or flexible returns policies are great tactics to try. What lands best depends largely on the nature of your products, plus the wants and needs of your customers.

Monitor this by analysing trends in user behaviour and testing out offerings to see what has traction with your customers.

Identifying high-performing web pages

Tracking page views and engagement across your website shows you what works, supporting your future web strategies and direction. It allows you to produce more content that resonates with your audience, and optimise your highest-performing pages for conversions.

You could place newsletter sign-up forms or links to product pages on your most popular pages. Or you could feature links prominently on your homepage to encourage more clicks.

Tracking campaign performance

The key to successful campaigns is studying what works and learning from what doesn’t. Having accurate, detailed data is an essential part of this.

You need to be track every piece of campaign content you put out. Differentiate it from non-campaign content and compare performance to previous campaigns.

You can also make better use of your PPC budget with data to inform decisions around targeting ads. Plus, with using data to achieve higher conversions on your site means that PPC traffic will be even more valuable.

Understanding customer needs and behaviours

The right analytics tools will give you a clear picture of your customers’ needs through their behaviour on your website.

Consider the pages they spend the most time on, content they engage with, and phrases they use for search. And try to identify what makes them leave before making a purchase.

Identifying and fixing user frustrations

Having greater visibility over your data makes it easier to draw conclusions about cause and effect. It’s one thing to know that slow loading times lead to higher bounce rates. But it’s another to see that 80% of users exit the checkout page if it takes longer than 30 seconds to load.

Having this information means you can act on any points of frustration that you identify. Consequently, you know what to fix to deliver a more seamless experience.

A/B testing of new ideas

If your website attracts enough traffic, you may want to consider A/B testing. You can experiment with new ideas in your efforts to further optimise your conversions.

Testing out different variants of one concept to see what performs best with your audience allows you to invest in strategies that you’re confident will work.

Search ranking monitoring

Even if your website has a high search engine ranking now, it won’t to retain that ranking on its own. It’s important to consistently monitor your website’s SEO rankings, and perform regular maintenance.

Focus on factors that heavily influence this ranking, such as site speed and content.

When it comes to analytics, there are many great options out there on the market. The right ones for you will depend on your specific needs. 

You may not find one that has every single functionality that you need. Using a combination of tools (ideally ones that can integrate seamlessly) will allow you to leverage your data into more conversions and a better customer experience.

Here are a few that we recommend to our clients:

Google Analytics

One of the most popular analytics tools is Google Analytics (GA), used by over 55% of all websites.

Google is constantly evolving the product in line with new technological capabilities and consumer expectations. For example, GA4 uses machine learning to predict user behaviour. Tish allows companies to gather insights on customers with minimal personal data handed over.

Metorik

If your eCommerce store is hosted on WooCommerce or Shopify, we highly recommend that you use Metorik. It’s an analytics solution designed to give you deeper insights into how shoppers engage with your online store.

Metorik comes with a real-time, highly customisable dashboard so you can watch your customers interacting with your content as it happens.

Klaviyo + Kleu 

Klaviyo and Kleu are two tools that can work together seamlessly to maximise your conversions.

By using data gathered through AI search tool Klevu, and sending it to Klaviyo, you can use shoppers’ searches to generate product recommendations and curate product lists. These can then be sent out via email and SMS, increasing the likelihood of customers clicking on these products and completing purchases.

Hotjar

Hotjar is a mapping and visualisation tool. It allows you to create interactive heatmaps of user interactions with your website. It also allows you to record their sessions and gather feedback.

VWO 

VWO (Visual Website Optimizer) is an A/B testing and conversion optimisation tool. It helps companies increase conversions through analysing user behaviour and website data. It allows users to create and execute A/B tests, multivariate tests and split tests. 

SEMrush 

SEMrush is an SEO tool you can use to stay on top of your search engine rankings. It allows you to conduct keyword research and competitor analysis. You can also use it for optimisation of your Google Ads. All helping get your website seen by more of the people who need it.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free service Google offers that helps you track your website’s presence in Google search results. 

Whilst Google Analytics provides analytics related to consumer behaviour on your website, Google Search Console fills in more of the picture. It does this by giving you visibility over what customers are doing before they reach your website.

Bonus tools and techniques

Qualitative data

Having real users testing out your website can be a great way to gather qualitative data to complement your analytics.

Usertesting and Userfeel are websites where users can sign up to test out websites for payment. Users will perform usability tests on key website features, helping you identify friction points.

CRM

A good CRM like Hubspot or Salesforce can also help you get more out of your user data. Many CRMs have integrations for analytics tools, enabling you to capture leads and gain insights in one platform.

Analytics tools for Oxygen

The team from UK-based indoor activity park operator Oxygen Freejumping wanted to boost revenue through their website in line with their company growth targets.

However, a lack of visibility into key data points throughout the sales funnel made implementing a conversion optimisation strategy challenging.

We worked with Oxygen on a series of initiatives designed to improve their data visibility and optimise the user experience and conversion funnel.

One of these initiatives was creating a more intuitive and easy-to-use online booking system. This enabled users to make bookings with the fewest possible clicks.

Oxygen now has greater visibility over every step of the sales funnel. Not only that, but they can use that data to inform business decisions. For instance, pricing products accurately and identifying and fixing drop-off points.

We’re supporting Oxygen to use ongoing data analysis to support their business growth. Working closely with Oxygen, we’re helping to interpret their sales funnel data in order to come up with strategies to improve their AOV.

So far, these efforts have resulted in an 11.6% improvement in Oxygen’s conversion rate.

1. By harnessing the power of data analytics, you can create a website that anticipates your customers’ needs and delivers a frictionless user experience.
2. Popular analytics tools include Google Analytics, Metorik, Klaviyo, Kleu, Hotjar, VWO,SEMrush and Google Search Console.
3. The right tools for you will depend on your business needs – integrating multiple tools into your website will give you greater visibility over your data and enable you to make informed decisions.
4. You can complement your website data with user testing and an advanced CRM to further leverage your data.