To make the most of your marketing efforts, it’s important to understand your customers’ behavior when and how they disengage with your product or service.

In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn a reliable way to identify when customers step away from your company and the best times to reach out for maximum re-engagement.

Kayle Larkin walks you through setting up a group or cohort analysis using Google Analytics as a quick and efficient way to dig deeper into your customers’ actions.

Gain a big-picture view of behavior overall or drill down by business quarter or geographic location to see how segments of customers differ in their behavior. 

Make small adjustments to the settings on your reports to compare among groups.

Google Analytics’ charts and graphs make it easy to visualize trends while also giving you the numerical data needed for in-depth views and tracking.

Using these insights, you can reach out to customers with marketing efforts targeted toward their needs, such as a discount offer or an announcement of newly arrived products or services since their last visit.

Because these outreach efforts are tailored according to customer behavior, they provide a more strategic approach to recapturing customers and their potential purchases.

In addition, using cohort analysis shows roughly how many new customers are needed over a given time period to sustain a business, given the rate of disengagement for that same time period.

How-To Put Together Your Cohort Analysis

Preparing a cohort analysis is simple because Google Analytics offers this as a prepared report function on the user dashboard.

Get the most out of the report by tailoring it to your specific needs. 

1. Log in to Google Analytics
2. Select the Audience icon  from the menu on the left side of your screen. 
3. Select Cohort Analysis. 
4. Along the top of the Cohort Analysis tab, you’ll see places to set limits and choose metrics like cohort type and date range.
5. Make your choices based on what kind of questions you want answers to. 
6. If you want to use segmented markets and haven’t already set them up, create a new segment using the “Create Menu” above the Cohort Analysis tab.
7. Otherwise, choose, “cohort size,” so you can look at the weekly cohorts.
8. Use the chart located below the timeline to review the weekly cohort report.
9. Look for important trends, like where customers drop off. Is it after week one? Week three?
10. Does customer behavior vary by location, such as the United States or Canada? Use these details to build a strategy for recapturing these customers.

Use your cohort analysis to drive marketing decisions based on data instead of guesswork.

Keep track of previous reports and monitor changes in the data over time to assess the success of your marketing efforts and determine where you can make improvements.

Schedule a call with Kayle Larkin today and explore the best ways to use your Google Analytics insights and data to drive more effective marketing strategies for maximum conversion. 

Video: Recapturing Lost Customers using Cohort Analysis Report

Transcript of “Recapturing Lost Customers using Cohort Analysis Report” video: 

What if you knew the exact moment how and which users tend to disengage with your product? You could set up an email or remarketing campaign to recapture those lost users with a discount or showcasing new products that have been added since the last time they made a purchase. This information is available right now in Google Analytics. All you have to do is set up a cohort analysis report. Here’s how to do it. 

Navigate to the Audience icon in Google Analytics. Select “Cohort Analysis.” And here’s where you will set your dimensions and metrics. This will vary depending on what you’re trying to achieve or what you’re wanting to look at. 

For example, third quarter data is showing an increase in transactions, which is great news, but what happens when we examine the weekly cohorts per market during this period? Up here at the top, you can see that I’ve already segmented my markets. If you don’t have these pre-programmed, you can create a new segment here. Cohort size — we want to look at the weekly cohorts. We’re looking at the total revenue generated and the last 12 weeks or the third third quarter, in this case. My top metrics here going to be for the United States and then followed by Canada. 

So to read the cohort analysis report, you may see that while transactions increased overall, revenues declined in week one and then completely drop off for the most part here in week three. So now we know we need to re-engage users in week one, probably with a discount, and in week three, showing them new products that have been added or new products that they may be interested in before they drop off completely. If we’re unable to recapture these lost customers, we know that in order to maintain the level of growth you want as a company, you need to acquire new users every three weeks. 

Here in Canada, we see after that very first week, we lose them completely so we need to recapture in that very first week or otherwise in Canada, in comparison to the US, we have to be gaining new customers every single week.

Learn real-world practices through step-by-step tutorials you can put to use right away and discover fresh ways to engage with your customers and expand your reach.

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In this SEO Data Studio Report Tutorial, Part Two, learn the best way to create organic search KPIs scorecards with SEO strategist Kayle Larkin.

Get a quick review of adding site impressions Search Console data sources to Data Studio then add scorecards, edit scorecards styles, and add comparison date ranges and a date range control to Data Studio.

Or, skip ahead to the organic search KPIs video and learn in under 2 minutes.#video

With this suite of techniques, you’ll gain the ability to swiftly craft SEO reports in minutes with actionable insights. 

Organic Search KPIs Scorecard How To:

In Part One, we covered the indexed pages on Google, indexed keywords on Google, and then moving those metrics into a time chart.

In Part Two, we’re going to cover our organic search KPIs, the scorecards, how to display that information in the overall scorecards, in the annual graph, and then on the week-by-week table.

Use the step-by-step tutorial as a companion to the accompanying video or print it out for quick reference. 

1. Open a new Data Studio report. 
2. Select “Add a Chart”.
3. Select “Scorecards”.
4. Using the menu on the right, change our data source to site impression.
5. Change the metric to “Impressions.”
6. To add additional scorecards, you can repeat the process of “Add a Chart” and then selecting “Scorecards” or you can copy and paste an existing scorecard, updating the metric field on the right menu.
7. Use your mouse to slide the scorecards around; pre-installed gridlines will help you line them up precisely. 
8. Repeat the process of adding scorecards until you have one each for impressions, clicks, site click-through rate, and then our average position.
9. You can edit the text inside each scorecard to make it fit nicely. 
10. Click to select all of these scorecards, and come over to our Style tab options on the right-side menu and reposition the text in those scorecards to center them.
11. On the Data tab, under “Default Date Range,” choose “Auto.”
12. Set your comparison date range to whatever your benchmark is.
    • If there’s a specific month that you started, that is your recommended benchmark, such as a previous period or previous year.
    • In our example, we use previous year, to account for seasonality. 
13. Add a date control by selecting “Add Control” and then “Date Range Control.”
    • Set the date range controlin the header of the report.
    • Click on the date range control box to quickly select other appropriate date ranges for your data.
    • It’ll automatically update the metrics you’ve selected for your scorecards.

Book a call with Kayle Larkin, to put the data collected by Search Console, Google Analytics, and more, to good use and develop the most accurate assessment of your site and keyword performance over time. 

Video: Organic Search KPIs Scorecards Analytics in Minutes

Transcript of “Organic Search KPIs Scorecards Analytics in Minutes” video: 

Okay, in part one we covered the index pages on Google, index keywords on Google, and then

moving those metrics into a time chart. Part two, we’re going to cover our organic search KPIs, the scorecards, how to display that information in the overall scorecards, in the annual

graph, and then on the week-by-week table here. 

So last video, we added a data source for URL impressions. if you haven’t added one for site impressions yet you’ll want to do that. I’ll show you how to do that really quick: “Add a Data Source,” come to “Search Console,” and choose your site, and then select site or URL impression. We’ll do “Site Impression.” Go ahead and go click through “Add” and make sure that you name it something helpful. So we already have that.

Now we’re going to add a chart. We’re going to use scorecards. We’re going to change our data source to that site impression. And then you can add– these are your available fields, you can put it in whichever order that you like. I like to kind of start from impressions. You can come up here to keep adding a chart this way or you can just copy and paste clicks that way you can make sure they line up. 

What do we have here? Impressions, clicks, site click-through rate, and then our average position, which I usually kind of edit this to be the abbreviation AVG so that it fits nicer in our box. 

Now we can see how it’s kind of not exactly centered. You can select all of these scorecards and come over to our style and reposition those to center… “Auto”… show you how to add a date filter here in just a moment. And then you can set your comparison date range to whatever your benchmark is. If there’s a specific month that you started, I recommend you use that as your benchmark, a previous period or previous year. We’ll do a previous year on that one. So then we want to move our comparison label to the center there as well 

You’ll need to add a date control which is why I like to keep this default date range as auto which is going to be “Add Control,” “Date Range Control.” Just put this up in our header for now until we design our template. Now you can see how that works. It’ll automatically update those metrics.

Subscribe for more Analytics in Minutes. Get practical advice and tutorials based on powerful SEO tools and learn how to utilize the power of analytics for more strategic SEO and marketing efforts.

Once you’ve set up your Google Ads Campaign, it’s important to follow up and see how well it performs. 

In this tutorial, analytics expert Kayle Larkin guides you step by step how to view your ad campaign behavior flow on the Google Analytics dashboard and explore the ways your ad campaigns measure up against each other. 

Or, skip ahead to the GA Ads Behavior Flow video and learn in under 2 minutes.

Having this information at your fingertips allows you to make informed, strategic decisions to ensure the landing page your visitor arrives on is the one that provides the information they’re seeking. 

Learn how to set up your segments to view a specific Google Ads Campaign or to compare several with just a few clicks. 

Graphs and charts make it easy to visualize the data so you can see at a glance which of your ads is delivering the best results.

When you have a good understanding of how your prospective customers behave once they arrive at your website, you can make the necessary changes for improved ad campaign performance. 

Perhaps you need to revise your ad copy and make it more descriptive. Or maybe the destination URL needs to be changed to bring the customer who clicks through your ad one step closer to what they’re searching for. 

How to Segment Google Analytics Behavior Flow by Ads Campaign:

• Create a new segment in your Google Analytics dashboard through “Acquisition,” “Google Ads,” and “Campaigns.” 

• Select the campaign you want to work with and click “Add Segment,” then “New Segment.” You’ll see all of your active campaigns listed here for the time frame you’ve selected.

• Change your segment from “Filter Users” to “Filter Sessions” because the behavior flowchart goes by session. In the blank space for “Campaign Name,” use the exact name of your campaign. Then click “Save.”

• On the left side of the dashboard, scroll down and click “Behavior,” then “Behavior Flow.” Now you can see the landing page that your website visitors first get to from your ad and how they move through your website. 

• If you want to highlight a specific landing page, you can highlight the traffic through it by clicking on that individual page’s name. 

• To compare activity across campaigns, choose the segments you want to look at by selecting or deselecting them using the controls at the top of the chart. Choosing all paid traffic allows you to see how all of your ad campaigns compare. Clicking on an individual landing page allows you to drill down and take a closer look at the traffic through a specific page.

Enjoy a stronger insight into how your prospective customers respond to your ads when viewing your ad campaign behavior as a regular part of your marketing practices. Use this behind-the-scenes reporting so that you can better meet their needs and convert prospects into sales. 

Schedule a call with Kayle Larkin today and learn how to harness Google Analytics insights to reveal your ad campaign behavior flow for maximum return.

Video: How to View Ad Campaign Behavior Flow in Google Analytics

Transcript of “How to View Ad Campaign Behavior Flow in Google Analytics” video:

Here’s how to set up a behavior flow segented by ad campaign. This way you can ensure

that the landing page is the information the user is looking for. You want to create a new segment in your analytics account. Come to “Acquisition,” “Google Ads,” “Campaigns”. You’ll see all of your active campaigns listed here for the time frame you’ve selected up here.

Let’s go with a YouTube campaign, “YouTube” here.  So we’re going to come up here and click “Add Segment,” “New Segment”. We’re going to be filtering here. Let’s just add up here so I remember what we’re doing–is that the right one? Yes. Traffic sources–you’re going to change your segment from “Filter Users” to “Filter Sessions” because behavior flowchart goes by sessions. “Campaign Name” is going to be the exact name of your campaign. That’s the only one you want to–you need to fill in for this specific purpose. Go ahead and click “Save.” Now we have that segment, we can come down here to “Behavior,” “Behavior Flow,” and if it’s not automatically set from your previous setting, you can add it here and search if you can’t find it. Click “Apply” and now you can see the landing page that they first get to from the ad and how they move through your website.

If you want to highlight a specific landing page like where users go from the ad to Google red

hoodie, you can highlight the traffic through there. Another way that you can view how your campaigns are doing is by switching this segment to– I think I clicked the wrong button… cancel. I’m going to add a different segment instead of looking specifically at just the YouTube pane. I want to see how all paid traffic goes. “Apply.” Now this little green guy is a drop down and you can actually change what you’re looking at. 

So let’s come down to and switch that to campaign. So now rather than viewing this chart by landing page, we’re going to start off viewing it by campaign and now we can see how our different ad campaigns are comparing against each other. And if we want to look at a specific source, we just left click, and then left click to highlight traffic, and look at just traffic through there. 

I hope this was helpful. Don’t forget to subscribe. Every Friday I release a new analytics, Google Analytics or data studio tutorial.

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Digital marketers are saying that GA4 is broken or otherwise not working because no user data is being recorded.

This article will cover how to test your GA4 implementation, how to fix an invalid or missing account id error and how to connect GA4.

Skip ahead to the GA4 error video and learn in under 2 minutes.

Or, send me a note, and I’ll get you set up in no time.

Diagnosing the GA4 Problem

First make sure that your IP address is not filtered in the analytics property your testing.

Next, be sure to open the website’s url in a domain that collects cookies, ie: Safari or Chrome.

If your browser of choice is Brave – by default it will not send a hit to GA.

Third step, enable Google Tag Assistant and reload the page.

Watch the YouTube Video, right around the 17 second mark, it will show you what the third step looks like.

If installed correctly, you will have a happy faced, green tag. 

If installed semi-correctly, it will be a “meh” faced, blue tag.

If installed incorrectly, it will be red and you should send for help.  

Invalid or Missing Account ID Error

I’m going to take a guess that if you’re reading this article, you have a “meh” faced, blue tag.

When you click on the blue tag, Google Tag Assistant may say that you have an “Invalid or Missing account ID.”

So, you double check – check the next day – and yep, that is definitely the only GA4 tag given to you within Google Analytics.

Here is how to fix the “invalid or missing account id” problem when GA4 is not tracking any data.

Go to Google Analytics > Create a Property > Property Setup.

At first, it will look like you are only given one option, which is to create a Google Analytics 4 property. 

Scroll down the page (or view the 0:40 second mark in this video)

Bingo – click, “Show advanced options.”

When you do select advanced options, you will be prompted to create a Universal Analytics property. 

Creating a UA property will solve your problem of the missing/invalid id.

During the prompts you will enter the website’s url and “create a Universal Analytics” property. 

Select this option only if you have already created a GA4 property – we will connect these in another minute. 

If you stumbled upon this article looking for how to set up a GA4 property then you will select the option to “create both a Google Analytics 4 and a Universal Analytics property.”

Place the UA Global Site Tag (gtag.js) tracking code for your property directly as the first item into the <HEAD> of every webpage you want to track. 

• Note: The gtag.js tracking code can be found here: Admin > Tracking Info > Tracking Code.

Connecting GA4

Last step will be connecting the GA4 tag using it’s unique Measurement ID.

Navigate back to the GA4 property, scroll to “data streams.”

Select your data stream (the one you’ve previously made but did not have connected to any gtag.js)

Top right corner will be your “Measurement ID.”

It will be a series of 10 letters-numbers and look like this: G-1234567891

To turn on tagging for your GA4 data stream follow the steps below that match your setup. 

Global Site Tag (gtag.js)

1. Open the Google Analytics property that controls your on-page tag.
2. Go to Admin > Tracking Info > Tracking Code.
3. Click Connected Site Tags under Global Site Tag (gtag.js).
4. Connect your Measurement ID: G-1234567891 (sample tag.)

Google Tag Manager

1. Open the Google Tag Manager container that’s implemented on your page.
2. Click Tags > New.
3. Click Tag Configuration and select GA4 Configuration.
4. Enter this Measurement ID: G-1234567891 (sample tag.)
5. Select to trigger the tag on All Pages (or on the subset of pages you want to measure).
6. Save and publish your tag configuration.

Double check that GA4 is set up properly with the Google Tag Assistant and with real time reporting. 

Fix the GA4 Missing ID tag error in less than 2 minutes by watching this YouTube Video by Kayle Larkin, Analytics in Minutes.

Video GA4 Missing ID Fix

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Google Analytics Consulting

$99 USD/hour for analytics consulting and GA4 set-up. Approx. 1-2 hours required. Send me a note to get started.