When your website is up and running, would you like to be able to see how visitors are moving around your website at any given moment?
You can! With the Real-Time stats in Google Analytics!
Real-Time allows you to monitor visitor activity as it happens on your website. The report is updated continuously and each visit is reported seconds after it occurs. For example, you can see how many people are on your site right now, which pages or events they’re interacting with, and which goal conversions have occurred.
To Use Real-Time Reports:
-
- Sign in to your Google Analytics account
- Navigate to the website you want to view in real time
- Under the Reports heading, click on Real-Time
- Choose the report you would like to see
Start with the Overview report, then check out Locations, Traffic Sources, Content, Events, and Conversions. - For more details and information on how to use Real Time view, visit Using the Real Time Reports
Ideas for Using Real-Time
I often use Real-Time to determine how effective my marketing efforts are.
For example, when I want to promote something on Twitter by tweeting about a product, I immediately go to Google Analytics after I tweet and I watch to see how many people click on the link for that product. I do this several times a day (with different products) and that helps me determine the best time to tweet for optimal clicks. It also helps me determine the best days to tweet, and the best performing products.
From Real Time stats, I can watch these visitors on their journey through my website. Many of them click other products after they click the initial product through the tweet, so that helps me to know what other products they might be interested in (and I will tweet about those products later – hopefully to catch the same person to see if they will click again and purchase).
I also use Real Time stats after posting to Facebook in the same way I mentioned about Twitter.
Pinterest tends to be a bit slower, since not all your followers are going to see your recent pins in their Pinterest feed right at the moment you pinned something, but it’s certainly worth checking out the Real Time stats after pinning, too.
TIP: Shopify also includes a Live View within your Dashboard. Click Live View to read more about this feature and how it works.