Companies use many systems to run their business. These may include multiple web advertising networks, CRM and content publishing systems, point of sale systems, inventory databases, etc. Integrating the data from these systems with Google Analytics provides a better understanding for how your customers behave on the web.
At the 2014 Analytics Summit we announced the new Data Import. Data Import helps unify data from your different business systems, allowing you to organize your data the same way your business is organized. This will allow for more accurate analysis and bringing together previously disparate datasets into one complete picture. Using Data Import, you can upload your brand’s existing data into Google Analytics and join it with GA data for reporting, segmentation and remarketing.
By using the Data Import functionality in Google Analytics Premium, consumer legal services brand Avvo created clear, accurate data, which continues to impact decisions across their organization. While Avvo already had a successful and fast-growing business, the lack of visibility into advertising success made it hard to align key revenue opportunities with actual site usage. Read the full case study here.
“We’ve been very pleased with the results that were realized using Data Import in Google Analytics to analyze client behavior on our website. This exercise has given us better insight into valuable data that will ultimately impact how we segment the market for legal services.”
- Sendi Widjaja, Co-Founder & CTO, Avvo, Inc.
Data Import also now supports a new Query Time mode that allows you to join your data with historical GA data. With this mode you can:
- Enhance existing, already processed GA data with imported dimensions and metrics.
- Upload calculated values after a transaction occurs, like total customer spend, last transaction date, or a loyalty score.
- Correct any errors in data you have uploaded to GA in the past.
Query Time mode is currently in whitelist release for Premium users. For more information, contact your Premium account manager. You can learn more about Premium here.
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| Illustration of a new Google Analytics report with data from multiple sources |
We are also introducing a new version of Cost Data import that provides more versatile support for importing historical data. Additionally, cost data can now be uploaded directly through the Google Analytics web interface (previously, data import required using the GA API). Note: Users of the original cost data import must migrate to the new version. Details can be found in the cost data migration guide.
How to get started using Data Import
For more information, read Data Import on the Google Analytics Help Center. Also check our new developer Data Import guides that will get you up and running in no time. Some features are currently not rolled out to all users. If you’d like to join the beta for full-access, sign-up here.
Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Jieyan Fan, Richard Maher, Rick Elliott and the Google Analytics Team
