analytics
Google Analytics Tip: Track Click-Throughs from Your Messaging Campaigns
NTEN uses Avectra's netFORUM as our CRM, and while we're generally happy with its capabilities, it's annoyed me for awhile that I couldn't track click-throughs from our messaging very easily. Then it hit me: use query strings to track clicks in Google Analytics. For a brief moment, I knew how Jon Bon Jovi felt when he rhymed "halfway there" with "livin' on a prayer."
I know some of you are already doing this: it seems so obvious to me now (and maybe I should spend more time reading Analytics forums). But I'll bet some of you aren't too sure what a query string is -- and when I searched for this particular trick, the very few people who discussed it only made veiled references -- so I though I'd write up a detailed look at how to track your click-throughs with a high degree of accuracy:
What Impact Does Your Site REALLY Have?
Flickr Photo: ralphhogaboomIf you're an NTEN member, you got to sit in on a great Ask the Expert session with Avinash Kaushik last month. (If you missed, it you should definitely check out the recording.)
Anyone who's had the pleasure of listening to Avinash talk about metrics knows he's the real deal. He's not just measuring for the sake of measuring: this guy is out to measure REAL IMPACT. He knows that measuring bounce rates or click throughs is meaningless unless you can explain what those statistics mean to the mission of your organization.
The latest post on his blog blows the lid off traditional analytics and explores a side of your website you may not have known about before: its offline impact.
We all know that, to some degree, our websites drive offline action as well as online action. Our sites encourage people to pick up their phone and call us. They drive people to come into our offices and volunteer. They compel people to change the lightbulbs in their houses to CFLs.
But how can you use web analytics to track what people aren't doing on your site?
