- 
February 24, 2006
Reaping the Full Potential of Google Analytics
According to a Jupiter report, Key Performance Indicators - Using Analytics to Drive Action, a stunningly large percentage of companies don't bother to distribute analytic reports to the people within the company who can use them!
Less then 20% of the companies surveyed distribute analytics data to merchandising departments for review on a regular basis, and only 53% of marketing teams review analytics data. But surely the executives pay attention to the analytics data?
Actually, only 41% of executives review web analytics data.
The reports from Google Analytics can do a lot of wonderful things for a company, but only if people pay attention to the data and act on it. The key to improvement through analytics is to measure, change, test, and repeat. Every little change that improves your website adds up over time for increased profits and a more satisfying customer experience.
Google Analytics makes it easy for you to compare the performance of your site before and after any given change by giving you the option to compare data ranges (an example of which is shown to the left). You might notice an icon with two calendars side-by-side displayed to the right of the standard Data Range bar, and this icon launches two calendars so you can compare separate data ranges (an example of this icon is shown to the right).
Suppose you made a change on December 17th. Using the Google Analytics Compare Data Range tool you can compare the two weeks before the 17th with the two weeks after the 17th. You can choose to compare any length of time, so you could even compare your 2004 year with 2005, or any date ranges for which you have data.
