EXPORTING WITH DIGITAL TOOLS: WEB ANALYTICS

WHAT WEB ANALYTICS IS

Web analytics – the analysis of website datas – is the area of ​​digital marketing that tracks visitors to our website and the social networks we oversee, to obtain information that can allow us to carry out a more targeted commercial and marketing activity.

This monitoring can be carried out thanks to the use of many tools – free of charge or for a fee – that exist on the net. The best-known tool is Google Analytics (which at the moment is free); but there are many others that are less well known.

I would like to point out – as an example – this article which highlights thirty-three: 33 Best Analytics Tools to use in 2023.

THE INFORMATION THAT WEB ANALYTICS ACTIVITY CAN GIVE US

The data collected and processed by these tools allows us to obtain information like:

1. Which companies have visited our site (without them having filled out any forms).

2. Which countries the majority of the visitors to our site come from and which pages are the most viewed.

3. The age groups of our visitors.

4. Understanding if the keywords used in the various languages (and in the various markets) are giving us the desired visibility.

5. Tracing our visitors’ “journey” through the site.

6. Which social network is giving us the most visibility and therefore deserves most of our time and budget.

7. Which of the published contents are performing the best.

8. Helping us measure the results of traditional advertising campaigns.

9. Doing some market analysis to see the performance of our competitors’ websites and social networks (and of course comparing these results with ours).

It is clear that this is very useful information for defining targeted strategies and actions in the various markets; both in the commercial and marketing fields (digital and not only).

In addition to the information listed, the web analytics activity also allows us to: understand how quickly (or slowly) our pages are loaded; understand if the investments in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of our site are giving results; and much more information of a practical nature but which are very important for the investments made in the digital field to bear fruit.

Finally, the tools we have mentioned not only allow us to collect data but also to process it in the form of real reports with numerical statistics. The next step is to set quantifiable improvement objectives; the so-called KPIs (key performance indicators).

The web analytics activity, carried out periodically and compared with these objectives, finally allows us to improve ourselves more and more.

LET US RELY ON EXPERTS

It goes without saying that in this area it is better to rely on experts, both in the choice of the tools to be used and in the reading of the obtained data (in order not to run the risk of being overwhelmed by too much information, getting confused and losing sight of the really important things).

In addition to this, there is also the topic of privacy management. A few weeks ago, there was a press release in which the Privacy Guarantor deemed the use of Google Analytics as non-compliant by an Italian website. This site was found guilty of failing to comply with data protection regulations as it transferred user information to the United States. A potential solution could be to change the Analytics configuration and move to GA4, which is the newest version that uses European servers. For more information on the subject: The 6 best GDPR-compliant analytics tools.

The advice, therefore, is to rely on experts, even if I think it is useful to have a bit of knowledge on the subject. The purpose of this article of mine is precisely to sketch the contours of this digital activity, which is increasingly important for refining corporate export strategies.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the eighth article on the topic of Exporting with digital tools. The topics dealt with up to now are:

Pier Paolo Galbusera