At first glance, you probably wouldn’t see a connection between Google Analytics and copywriting. They seem like two very different entities at opposite ends of a spectrum – much like math and literature. I am going to close the gap and show you how intertwined they really are and how Google Analytics can make you a better copywriter.
A good copywriter must not only possess a vast vocabulary with excellent grammar skills but it’s imperative to focus on the needs of the reader, know the intended audience, generate ideas, and have a knowledge of search engine optimization (since everything is published online now).
First, let’s take the elephant out of the room: You do NOT need a math or tech degree to use Google Analytics. Most people glaze over when they hear Google Analytics, and rightfully so it is very overwhelming IF you don’t know where to look. But, I am going to teach you EXACTLY where to look and how Google Analytics can make you a better copywriter with a few key metrics.
I will teach you what metrics to view, exactly where to find them and how to interpret them so you can know where to tweak your sales copy to increase conversions.
There are 5 main sections in Google Analytics located on your left side menu. I will highlight which sections to use to help you optimize your sales copy and make you a better copywriter. For a more in-depth look at these 5 reports check out my blog Google Analytics….the basics.
AUDIENCE REPORTS
You spend a lot of time creating copy around pain points of a very specific person. All too often people make assumptions about who their current audience is based on what they believe to be true of them. But are you actually attracting the people who you are trying to attract?
Your Audience reports are where you can learn more about the people who are coming to your website or sales page. In the Audience > overview report and in the Audience > demographic overview report is where you can find the gender, age, location, and device type of your visitors. These two reports can make you a better copywriter by answering 2 things:
1. Who are you currently attracting to your website and/or sales page?
2. Are you actually attracting the people who you are trying to attract?
My motto…borrowed by a friend and mentor of mine.. Don’t Guess, TEST! The Audience section is the perfect opportunity to check your theories.
Does your data show you that the right person (the person you intended) is seeing the copy? From there you can decide if you want to change the copy to address the person you are trying to attract or go back and change the marketing to try to get the user you originally intended. There is a lot that goes into captivating your audience and knowing who they are is a critical part of a successful marketing strategy and being a good copywriter.
ACQUISITION REPORTS
Acquisition reports tell you how you are acquiring the users who see your beautifully written copy. My all-time favorite report is source/medium. It tells you where your traffic is coming from.
From a copywriting perspective, this is super useful information as you want to write differently depending on where the user is coming from. For example, if your audience is coming primarily from Instagram where it’s informal with heavy mobile use then you are going to want to structure sales pages differently than if visitors were coming from LinkedIn.
From a marketing perspective, this can help you with marketing copy to see which of your efforts is actually working. In the source/medium table the average session duration tells you how long on average a person is spending on a particular page. If the duration time is low there is likely a disconnect between the copy you are using to market a sales page or overall offer.
Google Analytics with the help of Google search console helps you see exactly which keywords you are ranking for, the number of impressions you are receiving, and the number of clicks you are getting- what’s not to love!
Gain insights into your audience’s interest by seeing trends in keywords that users are searching for to find you, view number of impressions which is how many times you appear in search results, and see how many people actually click on your results. These three metrics are the perfect cocktail to build trust and authority with your audience. This needs to be set up in order to see this data in your All Traffic Search Console Queries but well worth the insights.
Pro Tip: Look for pages where impressions are higher than clicks and optimize your meta description, to attract more clicks. Also, incorporate more of the keywords you rank for into your sales pages to help build authority on that topic.
BEHAVIOR REPORTS
Be the fly on the wall with Behavior reports. Know what your user does on your site. There is an incredible amount of gems in these reports that can be set up with advanced settings but I will cover what is available with the default settings in your All Pages report data.
In the Behavior > Site Content> All pages report you can dig into sales page data (or any other popular page). When you open your report you will see a list of pages ordered by most views to least views and how long visitors are staying on a page. If it’s only a few seconds then that’s a clear indication that something needs to be improved whether it’s copy or design. Using this data to optimize your website or funnel will make you a better copywriter.
CONVERSION REPORTS
A conversion is when someone took the action you wanted them to take on your website. We often associate this with an exchange of money but that is not always the case. For example, when a visitor signs up for your freebie with their email a viewer becomes a lead, this is also a conversion.
Conversion rates tell you how well a page is converting by giving you the percentage of people who saw a “thank you” page. Tracking this percentage is another way to understand if your marketing efforts are working or if improvements are needed. Conversion rates differ from industry to industry but generally, a good conversion is 2-5%. There are numerous factors that may contribute to a low conversion rate. From a copywriting point of view, the best place to start is by tweaking a headline, button text, and/or product benefits.
Setting up advanced conversions in Google Analytics gives you powerful insights and is more technical but you can figure out your ‘thank you page’ conversion rate with data that is available with default settings in your Behavior reports.
You can assume if someone sees your thank you page that they either purchased a product or gave you their email address for a freebie. In your Behavior report go to All Pages and look for the page path (ie. ‘thank-you-page). Capture the number of users, not page views. In the same report, find the overall number of visitors to the sales page (path before your thank-you-page). And again capture the number of users. To find your conversion rate take the number of purchases divided by the number of visitors (thank-you-page users/sales-page-users).
PRO TIP: Users often look at a page a couple of times. This is what the number of page views reflects and this will skew your numbers. When figuring out your conversions use the number of users NOT the number of page views.
It may be comforting to know Google Analytics is overwhelming to even those who consider themselves “numbers people.” There are enormous amounts of data and graphs resulting in information overload. I like to remind everyone not to get caught up in all the data. You do not need to know it all to get value from it. And it’s actually very well organized once you get past the sheer volume of it and using these metrics will make you a better copywriter.
Using the metrics we covered from the Audience, Acquisition, and Behavior reports are enough to get information to support writing, improve sales copy and make you a better copywriter. Remember you don’t need to be an expert or understand it all. Put on your brave hat, open your GA reports, and comb back through this article as you look in these reports.
If it’s still overwhelming I have an easy to read dashboard without the distractions that hooks right into your Google Analytics. Have your metrics laid out in a visually pleasing, easy to read format in less than 10 minutes created by and for the ambitious entrepreneur.
