Leveraging Two Versions of Google Analytics to Boost Engagement with Smithsonian Associates Pages & Products
Purpose: Smithsonian Associates is a cultural organization that functions as the educational programming arm of the Smithsonian Institution, producing numerous events and providing learning opportunities to people of all ages through events and courses in the arts, cultures, and global history. Our web analytics evaluation study aimed to inform future product features on their site based on product popularity, as well as provide data-driven recommendations to improve site performance and assist in the transition to Google Analytics 4.
Goals: From Smithsonian Associates, we learned that the organization boasts a healthy e-commerce site, with tickets frequently selling out for online education products. For this study, they were especially interested in identifying top performing products as well as generally learning more about user behavior and user journeys across the site. Like many other organizations, they were in transition from Universal Analytics to the newer instance of Google Analytics 4.
From this, we identified four priority research areas:
#1 – Identifying the most popular products and course subjects
#2 – Assessing possibilities to expand target audience demographics
#3 – Mapping user journeys (entrances, exits, sales/checkout) and landing page experience
#4 – Transitioning platforms from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Tools: Data pulled from Google Analytics (Universal and GA4); Charts and Dashboard produced in Looker Studio; Project management and team organization hosted in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
My Role: Built the GA4 and UA Dashboard pages in Looker Studio, highlighting key metrics in both instances of Google Analytics while flagging changes incoming with GA4 and incorporating input from team members and our professor. Drafted the “Product Performance” section of the report and helped edit full report. Led initial team organization (created group message, initial client emails, shared drive and report template, and meeting notes) and helped project manage generally throughout the project lifespan.
Skills: Digital Analytics, Google Analytics, End-to-end Project, Team Management
Learning Outcomes: User-centered Design, Communication