Google Analytics is an invaluable tool for businesses of all sizes. It can provide insights into your website's traffic, user behaviour, and the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns (don’t forget that if you haven’t yet migrated to GA4, you have until 1st July 2023 to do so).
For mid-market businesses in the UK, understanding and utilising Google Analytics is even more important. With competition on the rise, budgets tightening and consumers expecting a seamless online experience, it's essential to optimise your website's performance.
In this blog post, we'll explore five Google Analytics metrics that help top-performing mid-market UK businesses thrive. We’ll also be using data from our Benchmark Group (which you can join for free any time!) to show how businesses in the UK mid-size B2B space typically perform in these metric groups (so you can compare your own performance with theirs).
The number of users on your website is a basic yet important metric to track. It tells you how many unique visitors your website has had over a specific time frame. Knowing the number of users is essential for determining how well your website is performing and for assessing the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
For example, if you run a social media campaign and see a significant increase in users during that time, you can presume that the campaign was successful. On the other hand, if your user numbers are consistently low, you may need to adjust your website UX design or marketing strategy.
In our Benchmark Group, the average monthly users for UK B2B businesses of mid-size is 2.9K. How does your website compare with this statistic? Is around 3,000 visitors per month enough to sustain and grow your business?
If you’re not sure how to work this out, follow the simple instructions in our recent blog post: How to calculate the number of website visits you need to grow your mid-sized B2B business in unpredictable times.
A session refers to a group of interactions that a user has with your website during a specific time frame. This metric includes all the pages a user visits, as well as any events, transactions or goals they complete.
Knowing the number of sessions on your website can help you understand how engaged users are with your content. If you see a high number of sessions, it means that users are spending more time on your website, moving around through the pages, and are more likely to complete a conversion or goal.
Our Benchmark Group data shows that average monthly sessions for mid-sized B2B UK companies is 3.9K sessions.
Find out more about the importance of measuring sessions – and how to work out if your number is “good” in our recent blog post: The difference between website visits and visitors (and why it’s important for UK B2B businesses to measure both metrics).
Pages per session is a metric that tells you the average number of pages a user visits during a session on your website. This metric is important because it can help you determine the quality of your website's content and user experience. Google Analytics 4 also allows you to view the pages users start at, and the ones they finish at, to get a better idea of their full journey.
If users are only visiting one or two pages before leaving your website, it may indicate that your content is not engaging enough, or that your site navigation is difficult to use. On the other hand, if users are visiting several pages during a session, it means they are finding your content useful and are more likely to complete a conversion or goal.
On average, UK B2B businesses of mid-size see their users visiting 1.91 pages during a website visit. This sounds quite low, but if your conversion points are optimised and there are plenty of opportunities for visitors to become a lead on each page, then this number might be enough for your business.
Read our recent blog post to find out about how to avoid users bouncing off your website too early: 7 ways to improve your website’s bounce rate (with tips from ESM Inbound experts).
Average time on page is a metric that tells you how long users are spending on a specific page of your website. This metric is important because it can help you determine if users are engaging with your content. In Google Analytics 4, you can now measure the engagement rate of users: This metric is calculated by taking the number of events (such as button clicks and form submissions) divided by the number of sessions.
If users are spending a significant amount of time on a page, it means they are finding the content useful or interesting. On the other hand, if users are leaving a page quickly, it may indicate that the content is not engaging or relevant.
By analysing average time on page, you can identify pages that may need improvement or optimisation. For example, if you have a page with a high bounce rate and a low average time on page, it may indicate that users are not finding what they expect, or that the page is difficult to navigate. Identify these issues so you can make adjustments to improve the user experience and encourage users to spend more time on your website.
Our Benchmark group data shows, on average visitors to UK B2B websites spend 1 minute 40 seconds on site - how does your website compare? Our recent blog post explains more about why your website visitors might not be sticking around on your site: The average UK B2B business’ website bounce rate is 63.86% - how does yours compare?
Conversions or goals refer to specific actions that you want users to take on your website. This can include making a purchase, filling out a contact form, or subscribing to a newsletter.
Tracking the number of conversions or goals in Google Analytics is crucial for measuring the effectiveness of your website and marketing campaigns. If you see a high conversion rate, it means that your website is performing well and users are engaging with your content.
If your conversion rate is low, it may be an indication that you need to adjust your website design or marketing strategy to encourage more conversions – perhaps the opportunities to convert just aren’t there, or aren’t obvious enough? Our Benchmark Group data shows average website conversion rate for UK B2B businesses is 1.41%.
To find out more about creating compelling conversion points across your website, read our recent blog post: How to create conversion points on your website (turning visitors into customers).
In conclusion, understanding and monitoring these Google Analytics metrics can provide valuable insights into the performance of your website and the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
By regularly analysing and optimising these metrics, top-performing mid-market UK businesses can thrive and achieve their goals, even during challenging economic times or during periods of uncertainty: your website needs to be your leading sales asset.
Whether you're looking to increase conversions, improve user experience, or drive more traffic to your website, these metrics can help you get there. So, make sure to regularly review and analyse these metrics to ensure your website is performing at its best – and ensure you’re maximising your use of Google Analytics 4.
ESM Inbound's content includes affiliate links. This means that we may receive a commission if you make a purchase through one of the links on our website. This will be at no cost to you and helps to fund the content creation work on our website.
