Google Analytics: Goals and Conversions

Google Analytics allows us to track specific website goals.  The literature advises that these goals should be tied to the overall mission of the library in some way and should be narrowed to specific desired KPIs.

Example:

Library Goal: The Walden University Library meets our community at their point of need through a robust, forward-thinking, and technologically innovative reference service.

Website Goal: Include multiple links to the library's Ask a Librarian service so that patrons can access the service quickly and efficiently.

KPI: 90% of library website users should click the Ask a Librarian page within three clicks or less.

The KPI value is what we will track in Google Analytics.  We will use the above KPI as an example throughout this tab.

We will use the example described above: 90% of library website users should click the Ask a Librarian page within three clicks or less.

1. Log in to Google Analytics and click on New Library Website.
   
   
2. In the left column, click on Conversions, then Goals, then Overview.
   
   
   
3. You will then receive a message stating that Goals are not enabled for the profile.  Click the Set up Goals button.
   
   
   
4. Click on a Goal link.
   
   
   
5. Fill out the form.  Since we want to track how patrons get to a particular page for this example, we'll pick URL Destination as our Goal Type.  Also, since the KPI does not address how patrons get to the Ask a Librarian page, we will not apply a Goal Funnel.  Once you are done, click Save.
   

Google Analytics will need a few days before it can gather meaningful data about your goals.  After your goals have been active for awhile, you can view the report.

1. Log in to Google Analytics and click the appropriate site.
   
   
2. In the left column, click on Conversions, then Goals, then Overview.
   
   
   
3. You should now see a report of your goal results.  Click on the Goal Conversions button to change the report view. 
   

The most useful metrics for our purposes are Goal Completions and Goal Conversion Rate, which show the total number of times the goal was completed and the percentage of overall traffic devoted to the goal's completion.

If your goal includes a funnel, you will also want to examine the Total Abandonment Rate metric, which shows how many users left your pre-defined path.