10 Ways to Automate Google Analytics with Zapier to Improve Your Business Operations, Fast

Google Analytics is a reporting and metrics tool that many small businesses use as a part of their day-to-day operations. The tool has been around for several years and through several iterations, and today it is one of the most widely accepted solutions for analytics and reporting that you will find on the market. Google Analytics offers a robust selection of reports and reporting tools to help you stay on top of what your business is doing and what it needs.

When combined with the power of Zapier, the two can create an analytics powerhouse that makes sure that everyone knows where your business stands, reports are properly run, and everyone gets the insights that they need, when they need them. Plus, you won’t have to worry about sticking around and doing all the reports after hours anymore because they'll just be done.

Do you know Zapier, by the way? Zapier is a great automation tool and it’s unique in that it is designed specifically to make other tools work better. Integrating Zapier and Google Analytics will allow you to create workflows between your reporting and email, CRM, message boards, spreadsheets and databases, and more. You can go so many different ways, and we’ll show you 10 of the most popular automations below.

First, though, let’s talk a little bit about automation and analytics, and why they’re both such pillars for your business.

The benefits of automation

Automation is changing the way that several businesses do things. It's making business easier, first and foremost, and taking a lot of tedious and repetitive tasks off the table. If you’re still trying to figure out what automation offers for you, here are just a few of the biggest perks:

·      Time: Automation saves a ton of time. What you used to do manually and spend hours on can now be done in seconds with things like the workflows through Zapier. Instead of spending ten minutes chasing down those analytics and uploading them to a new Trello card, you can create a zap and have it done instantly. That means you’ll spend more time taking care of your customers and other aspects of your business and have more time to enjoy your life.

·      Money: When you automate, you reduce the time and effort you put into things. That means you’re spending less on payroll and resources, too. Automation saves money in a ton of ways, so much so that even when you pay for automation tools here and there, you’ll still be saving a small fortune. Plus, the more you automate, the more money you save, and so on and so forth.

·      Human Effort: Whether you’re a solopreneur or you’ve got a team of 100, you can afford to reduce some of the human effort that you’re investing on a daily basis. When you automate, you have people doing less work and that means they can do more of the things that matter. It also means you can cut employee expenses and other things, if you’re looking for ways to trim the fat instead of just ways to improve your existing team.

·      Quality: Automation eliminates common errors and ensures a higher level of quality in the repetitive tasks that are performed. Computers don’t run the same potential as humans for error, so you can guarantee that when you automate tasks, they are effective and going to produce the same results every single time.

·      Standardization: Speaking of the same results, automation is also helpful in standardization. It allows companies to repeat processes that need to be performed over and over without having to worry about any error or accounting for variances in work batches or performance. The AI will always produce the same result and it’s easier to train on some best practices with solutions like this.

As you can see, automation does a lot for the modern business and the more you use it, the better it can be. When it comes to making the most of your tech stack, automating with a tool like Zapier can help you turn your workforce into dedicated workflows and cut down on human capital, employee payroll, and even things like a poor company culture stemming from feeling overwhelmed with mundane tasks.

The value of analytics

Of course, you can’t talk about improving business in any way without talking about the value of analytics when it comes to checking on things like that. You have to be able to know your visitors and Google Analytics makes it easy to do that in so many ways. Using analytics tools like this allow you to analyze things like:

·      Traffic sources

·      Visitor behavior

·      Time on page

·      Number of pages visited

·      Total time on website

·      Links clicked

·      And so much more!

You’ll never have to wonder about any of this again when you put analytics to work for your business and when you do it with Google Analytics and Zapier, it’s easier than ever to automate and streamline as you go.

What will you do with these tools? Here are just a few of the most popular automations to consider. (Another thing to consider: a partnership with the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai, so we can handle mission critical services like after-hours call answering and live website chat, 24 hours a day, seven days a week so that you can sleep, knowing that your business never will.)

1. Generate Slack notifications with new Google Analytics Goals    

When new goals are created or achieved, you can have a Slack notification generated with this automated workflow. Pick the reports, metrics, or goals to track and trigger, and then when an event occurs, it will generate a message being created in Slack, either on the board of your choosing or as a private message to specific people. You can pick the details and set up as many of these Zaps as you’d like, making it easy to keep track of your progress.  

2. Generate measurements in Analytics from Google Forms    

When you take responses from Google Forms, there could be valuable metrics in there. However, you probably don’t have the time to go through all the details yourself. With this Zap, you can integrate a workflow so that all of the measurements are captured and turned into easily readable reports so that you can gather information without having to do all the work. You can even pick and choose which information gets added or which forms are turned into Analytics, and more.

3. Create analytics reports from Gmail emails that match search terms

In addition to using Gmail to notify you of reporting goals and other factors, you can also generate analytics reports that match specific search terms in your Gmail. Google Analytics makes it easy to run reports on almost anything that you want. When you add the power of Zapier, you can automate so much from different apps and even harness the power of your Gmail responses. Perhaps you’re trying to see how many people respond to a survey or just getting insight from employees that you want to turn into data. Whatever it is, this Zap will do the trick.

4. Turn Stripe charges and reports into Analytics reports    

Stripe is one of the easiest, most affordable payment processing tools available today. A lot of businesses use it to take electronic payments and it’s going to be easy to keep track of when you integrate it with Google Analytics. Using this Zap, you can easily turn all of your charges and reports into easily measured analytics reports or data through Google so that you can track everything in one place. You can integrate it with the rest of your data or even keep it as separate Stripe reports, too.

5. Turn HubSpot forms into Google Analytics Measurements    

When you have a CRM like HubSpot, you expect it to deliver in several different ways, including keeping you updated on everything that your business needs. With this Zap, the workflow allows you to create a measurement in Google Analytics based on the forms that are generated in your HubSpot CRM. You can do a lot of different things with this Zapier integration but staying on top of reporting is the general idea and it will free up a lot of your time.

6. Generate Google Analytics measurements for Typeform responses  

Like Google Forms, Typeform responses can also be turned into Google Analytics statistics and reports. You can do that with this workflow, which can be customized to fit your exact needs. You can import specific details, the entire form, or anything else that you choose. Then, generate the reports you want, and you’re done. You can even take it one step further and set a notification for when these responses come in and the reports are generated, if you want.

7. Update or create Google Analytics goals and metrics for Calendly invitees

Calendly is a popular tool for people who are keeping track of appointments and events. When you have new Calendly invitees added to a list, you can then turn them into goals and metrics for your analytics reports. You can even choose the invitees or events to create reports for, allowing you to generate the ideal reports that you have in mind. If you want to track how many people are coming to a seminar or how many employees actually completed training, for example, this would be the integration to use.

8. Create measurements in Analytics from Zoho Forms    

Another CRM tool, Zoho is a great suite to have on your side. You can use the entire Zoho family of products, including Zoho forms, if you want to create a comprehensive solution, or you can just use whatever apps you need on a standalone basis. Either way, you can generate your own measurements and metrics with this Zap that takes your Zoho Forms entries and turns them into readable data for Google Analytics. Like the other integrations, you can even customize what data is transmitted or how much of the form is turned into a report, or you can submit the response as data as a whole.

9. Create Google Analytics measurements from Twilio calls    

When you generate new reports or have new Analytics that need measured, why not import them automatically? Thanks to the power of Zapier, you can now integrate your Twilio calls with Google Analytics. Then, anytime a new call comes in, a measurement is created based on the parameters that you set forth. This ensures call tracking is done seamlessly and you don’t have to do the busywork yourself.

10. Send new goals and metrics from Analytics to Google Sheets    

If you want to make sure that you can track everything in real-time, you can use this Zap to send all of your goals right to Google Sheets, based on the rules and triggers that you put into place. Pick the campaigns, goals, or metrics that you want to add, generate the Zap, and watch them get sent right to Sheets so that you can keep everything organized. Google Sheets and Analytics already work well together and when you add the power of Zapier, it just gets better.

Want more workflow automation? Ask how Smith.ai can help!

We love automation here at Smith.ai, and we love being part of what helps make your business better. When you hire our virtual receptionists, we can be the face of your brand for all kinds of different needs, from after-hours call answering to live website chat and so much more. Plus, we’ll even work with you to come up with the perfect strategy to field all of those needs, regardless of what they have in mind.

Zapier is one of the best tools we’ve found. We love it because it makes creating smart workflows easy for everyone, allowing people to connect business software programs automatically. And thanks to Zapier, Smith.ai is able to integrate with more than 3,000 different apps so that chats, calls, and texts are logged in the right place, from your CRM to your automation tools, and more.

Check out our apps to explore how we connect to Zapier! Learn more about Smith.ai’s Answering Service app on Zapier, and explore Smith.ai’s Website Chat app on Zapier.

Schedule a consultation to find out about how a partnership with Smith.ai can improve your business operations, including with after-hours answering, scheduling, new client intake, and more. You can also reach us at hello@smith.ai or (650) 727-6484.