Google Analytics Research - Critically review analytics data pulled 9-24-22

[GigiUxR]

Dive further into the latest report pulled by Erin to better understand the data (#1127 Review and set up analytics) . Other questions are also suggested below.

• [x] Filter out volunteers (i.e. if they hit database editing pages, exclude them). We have the US-based segments and audiences "Phone visitors" and "Desktop visitors" that exclude the visitors who click on any obvious staff and volunteer links. However, it seems that a lot of "Desktop visitors" may still be FOLA volunteers/admins.
  • [ ] Why desktop if most users are now mobile-first? Sam: Some food seekers may use desktop computers in public libraries. Jelena: Many desktop users may be FOLA volunteers or team members clicking on FOLA website to test stuff. If they never click on "login," "admin" or a few other pages that have been marked for FOLA project contributors, then they would fit into the category of "desktop food seekers."
  • [ ] #1653
• [x] Why so many people from outside USA? They may be robots. This has been mostly resolved by limiting our analysis to food seekers from the United States.
• [x] Set up events to track certain actions (like user clicking a ‘share’ button)
• [x] Visualize food seeker journeys on FOLA website.
• [x] Add a custom tag for the BuyNothing campaign. (I followed this guide.)
• [x] Define "LA county" as our geographic area (rather than Google's City or Region options). Follow the instructions in this article to create a custom segment.
• [ ] What can’t we tell?
  • [ ] Our demographic info about food seekers in LA seems sparse.
  • [ ] #1661
• [ ] What kind of questions are we interested in tackling via GA? Please add your questions to the Google Analytics Figma file.

Resources

Directory containing all the reports Google Analytics Figma file This is the original "report" that @GigiUxR mentioned above (screenshots of the analytics page captured 9/24/22 analytics.pdf Nov 2022, Quick info about FO users Dec 14, 2022, Google Analytics Report Dec 2022, Google Analytics report Subsequent reports are all in "Explorations" section of Google Analytics

[staceyrebekahscott]

Issue Approved and moved to In Progress.

@itserindean I think issue #1127 can be closed, please confirm.

[itserindean]

#1127 has been closed.

[itserindean]

This is the "report" @GigiUxR mentioned above (screenshots of the analytics page captured 9/24/22 analytics.pdf

[fancyham]

@GigiUxR When you have a chance, would you mind adding a bit more description to the issue title so that it's easier to disambiguate from future Google Analytics Research issues? (I bet we're gonna have more in the future)

[jelenaUX]

I would be grateful for some help with configuring the Google Tag Manager and connecting Google Tag Manager to Google Analytics 4 account. When I try to run the "debug" mode, I keep getting the message that the Google Tag: GTM-PS74HS2 is not found on the website. I tried to look it up using the element inspector in Chrome and it seems to me that this tag is somewhere in the header on the website, but perhaps not on the /organizations page where most user clicks are happening.

[jelenaUX]

I have figured out the problem with Google Tag Manager -- apparently I had a pop-up blocker on my browser that was causing the problem. So we do not need help with GTM configuration. Now we are tracking "Meals Button Click" and "Pantries Button Click" and can set up tracking for all kinds of other events.

[jelenaUX]

Notes on tracking of user behaviors on FOLA website

Main hypothesis: User-triggered events may allow us to better understand most user journeys on FOLA website.

Approach: I have set up all user event tracking in Google Tag Manager (GTM). Useful details:

• [x] Button clicks all share a generic trigger called "Button Click" but the associated event returns the text of the button in the name. So for example, when a user clicks on "MEALS" button, the Google Analytics Event is "MEALS Button Click."
• [x] Menu links (in the top right corner of the screen) also all share a generic trigger and the name of the event shows which menu link was clicked
• [x] I have paused the tracking of scrolling events because it is taking too much space in reports -- I cannot see what the users are actually doing because most of the available space is taken by scrolling events. So we are not tracking scrolling nor associated events (25/50/75/90% scrolls) right now. This can be changed in the future if desired: in Google Analytics Admin interface, click on “Data Streams,” select stream name “FOOD OASIS – LA,” then under Enhanced Measurement click on the gear icon (Settings) and turn on “Scrolls.”

After setting up each tag and its trigger in Google Tag Manager:

• “Preview” option in GTM or “Debug” mode in Google Analytics can be used to verify in real time that the event is “triggering” a correct tag.
• These tags will begin showing up in Google Analytics Reports and Explorations about 48 hours later.

The list of currently tracked user events is in this file.

[jelenaUX]

Added:

1. a link to the food seeker journey report
2. an article that explains how to create a custom geographic segment
3. two custom URLs so we can track how many users find us via a Buy Nothing group campaign

[jelenaUX]

Added visitors' journeys from Google Analytics to the Figma file. The section is called "Do FOLA visitors read informational pages from the FOLA's hamburger menu?" These user journeys are screenshots from a Google Analytics Exploration of the same name, accessible via the "Explore" tab in Google Analytics.