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Online Stat Reporting: What to use?

Lrogers

Lot Lizard
Sep 27, 2010
9
0
First Name
Lisa
My dealership uses several different methods of tracking website statistics. However, they all tell me different statistics. I was hoping that Google Analytics would be the most reliable and sum everything up in one document but the other day I checked Google Analytics' totals for Google Places as a referring site to our website. Analytics says that Places sent 7 people. When I check (in the same time frame) Places tells me that there have been 114 click thrus to the website. Why is there such a difference between the two especially when owned by the same company? Should I believe Analytics or the backpage to the website more?
 
My dealership uses several different methods of tracking website statistics. However, they all tell me different statistics. I was hoping that Google Analytics would be the most reliable and sum everything up in one document

Unfortunately there is different logic behind every measurement it seems. When it comes to analytics there are too many variances and not enough standards to find two analytics tools that match. I simply use differing analytics tools as a check and balance, but I always pick one that is my source of reporting.

but the other day I checked Google Analytics' totals for Google Places as a referring site to our website. Analytics says that Places sent 7 people. When I check (in the same time frame) Places tells me that there have been 114 click thrus to the website. Why is there such a difference between the two especially when owned by the same company?

This could be due to bounces. I don't know for sure without better looking at your data, but if we assume Google Places and Google Analytics are passing the same data to one another (probably a bad assumption to make) then we could assume that only 7 of your 114 people actually clicked to another page on your website.

Should I believe Analytics or the backpage to the website more?

The analytics your website provider gives you should be more in-tune with reality than Google Analytics. On top of that, your website provider's statistics should incorporate your lead counts where getting that to work in GA is a lot of work.

Google Analytics leaves a lot of room for error. For instance, when looking at traffic referrers in GA there is a direct/none category that obviously contains directs, but it also contains everything Google didn't catch. Sometimes this can be a much higher number than reality and can lead you to make some poor decisions. You just have to be careful there.
 
Great point to bring up and address. Obviously, everyone tracks differently, according to their capabilities or to support their agenda.
Exactly why Google is so far off of your lead submission number? First, we have to define what is a lead? Every form through the website? Just forms related to vehicle inquiry? Some web companies count every form submitted from your site, obviously the larger the lead number the better. But is an employment app, or service inquiry really a lead? And should it be counted in your LTV or closing percentages? Probably not.
You determine what a lead is, and then normalize all data from all sources to this same definition so you can compare reports/stats apples to apples.

What can’t be measured can’t be managed, only problem is we all need to be using the same yard stick to get the real answers.