Rahul RungtaBusinesses thrive in a competitive environment and it is only fair to judge your website’s performance against similar companies in your vertical or niche. Web analytics is one such tool designed to measure performance, derive new information and suggest changes that can improve your business strategies. And Google Analytics Benchmarking reports are one of the most trusted website performance measurement tools that helps you to compare your position against industry peers.
Setting Up Google Benchmarking Reports
After accumulating data from your website, Google Analytics will set a benchmark for comparison against other organizations within your industry vertical, in your country or region and of course, the size of business. Benchmarking Reports are typically three dimensional. It is based upon channels, location and devices. The reports provide session counts based on these three dimensions and also offer the basic behavior or engagement metrics-pages per session. The average session duration and bounce rates are also mentioned in these detailed reports.
If you are wondering why and how you need to have benchmarking for your business, here’s a quick guide.
Benchmarking reports offer data in a new context: In order to uncover the valuable information provided by the benchmarking report, you need to understand the context in which the advanced analytics data is delivered.
For example, organic search traffic to your site can be higher than your industry peers in a month. However, mobile traffic was seen to be comparatively lower than the others in the segment. The question now is to find out ‘why’ this happened. Google Analytics will help you to find out the answers and accordingly push you to formulate different web strategies that will be beneficial for your business.
It helps to uncover new information
The detailed benchmarking reports not only determine your position in comparison with industry peers, it also unfurls new information. Eventually, it will lead to several questions that will need immediate attention. Solutions to these new found problems will help you to set new goals and strategize business plans that will benefit the organization as a whole.
Improve marketing performance with benchmarking
Once you are acquainted with your Google Analytics Benchmarking report, it can help to improve marketing performance. Based on the reports, set realistic and attainable goals for traffic volume and engagement. Try to uncover opportunities that will take you ahead of the competition. Build on your strengths and strategize well to retain your competitive advantage.
Basics Of a Benchmarking Report
Once you enable Google Analytics Benchmarking, you enter into an agreement to anonymously share your website’s data. Now, it is your duty to filter the report based on criteria that best describes your industry vertical. Accordingly, benchmark reports will be generated for your website. The benchmarking percentages are great means to find out whether your website is outperforming or underperforming.
If you haven’t already opted for Google Analytics Benchmarking, go ahead and share your data to find out where you stand in the market.
