Look Beyond the Click With Our Google Analytics Integration

In a previous post from several months ago, I briefly discussed some of the more advanced reporting options provided by VerticalResponse.  One of the advanced options I mentioned was our free Google Analytics Integration.  

If you're using Google Analytics to track website traffic, this integration will allow you to take your email tracking past the click to see what your email clickers are doing once they reach your website.  This provides an extra layer of analysis to further measure the success of your emails.

And did I mention that it's free?

Here's how to turn the integration on and access the extra reports:

Activate the Integration

1. Go to the VR Email Tab.
2. Click the Account Information link in the upper right hand corner.  
3. Select Analytics Settings.
4. Check the Add Domains box found in the Google Analytics section.
5. Enter the domains you’re tracking with Google.  Like onlyinsanfrancisco.com or visitlondon.com. 
6. Click the Submit Changes button.  The integration is now active and will be ready to go when you launch your next email.

With the integration turned on you’ll now see a Google Analytics box directly above the launch button for every email you send out.  This box includes a drop down menu from where you can choose which identifying piece of data (like email address) from your records you’d like to see integrated with your Google Analytics account should someone click a link in your email and go to your site.  The individual “clickers” will be identified using this data. 

If you don’t have an Google Analytics account, then you can easily get one from here.  Google will walk you through the setup process and provide you with a snippet of HTML code that must be added to every page on your site that you’d like to track.

Access Your Reports

The integration adds “VerticalResponse / Email” as a source of traffic in Google Analytics and identifies all those people who clicked a link and made their way to your website. 

To find the VerticalResponse / Email as a Traffic Source report within Google Analytics go to:

1. Traffic Sources.
2. Click on All Traffic Sources.
3. From here you can compare your VerticalResponse emails to any of your website’s other sources of traffic.

To Identify Website Visitors

1. Go to Traffic Sources.
2. Click on Ad Versions
3. The Site Usage tab will list everyone who has visited your site via a VerticalResponse email link, how many pages they visited, and how much time they spent on the site.  Individual people are identified according to the selection you made in the Google Analytics box found on your email launch tab (which is described earlier in this post).

Both these reports can help you calculate the actual value you’re getting from your VerticalResponse email campaigns and see if those people who click a link in your email actually spend time on your website following that click.  You could even use this info to see if people who click certain links in the email are more likely to take action / spend time on the site than people who are clicking other links.

Let me know if you have questions via comments!

Comments

[Richard Huffaker]

Hi David,

It's hard to say what the problem could be here without taking a quick glance at your account. Could you shoot an email over to me at richard@verticalresponse.com? I'll work with you to figure out the problem.

Richard

[Richard Huffaker]

Hi Amber,

If you simply add your top-level domain within VerticalResponse, then the tracking will work with all the other pages on your site that you are tracking through Google Analytics.

Richard

[Elizabeth]

Thanks for sharing this! We activated Google Analytics tracking a while ago, but I wasn't sure where to find the information on the Analytics page.

[David]

I set up the Google Analytics according to the instructions. However, Vertical Response is not showing as a traffice source in GA and individual viewers are not displayed either. I ran a campaign yesterday and got traffic, but the VR tracking does not seem to be working.

I followed the below instructions, "Access Your Reports

The integration adds “VerticalResponse / Email” as a source of traffic in Google Analytics and identifies all those people who clicked a link and made their way to your website.

To find the VerticalResponse / Email as a Traffic Source report within Google Analytics go to:

Traffic Sources.
Click on All Traffic Sources.
From here you can compare your VerticalResponse emails to any of your website’s other sources of traffic.
To Identify Website Visitors

Go to Traffic Sources.
Click on Ad Versions
The Site Usage tab will list everyone who has visited your site via a VerticalResponse email link, how many pages they visited, and how much time they spent on the site. Individual people are identified according to the selection you made in the Google Analytics box found on your email launch tab (which is described earlier in this post). "

Any ideas?

[Amber Connell]

Hello and thank you for the information!

When I tried to add a domain it says "Validation failed: Domain must contain only letters, numbers, "." or "-" "
But we are tracking pages in Google Analytics that contain "/" such as http://www.centellax.com/products/telecom/serdes_modules.shtml. Is there a way to add these links to VR Analytics along with our top-level domain, www.centellax.com?

Thanks!