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February 14, 2007
Yahoo! Stores and Google Analytics: Huh, That's Funny
ROI Revolution has worked with a lot of different clients over time, and we often get people with Yahoo! Stores who call us up because they have noticed some problems.
See, the way Google Analytics interacts with a Yahoo! Store prevents referral data from the Yahoo! Store from correctly flowing into Google Analytics.
You may have been using Google Analytics on your Yahoo! Store for some time and not noticed anything wrong right away. As it turns out, there are a few holes that need to be filled in. It just so happens that those 'holes' represent some of the most important information that Google Analytics can provide for you: referral data that is associated with actual products and transaction amounts.
Without this information you can't see which search terms somebody used in a search engine to find your site and then purchased something. You also can't properly track e-commerce transactions without this information.
In summary, without this information you have no idea what your ROI is.
Don't worry - there is a solution! We searched high and low for a solution, and we finally stumbled upon a great tool: the Monitus tool. You can even sign up for a free 1 month trial for the Monitus tool.
This tool bridges the gap between Google Analytics and Yahoo! Stores, and it is the only tool we've found thus far that will provide full functionality of Google Analytics for Yahoo! Stores. When you sign up for the Monitus tool, you'll get additional code to add to your site. It uses a 1st party cookie for tracking like Google Analytics. Keep in mind that it only works with the new checkout manager.
Monitus also offers other tools, such as
* Keyword Monkey: keeps track of both converting and non-converting keywords that brought visitors to your site
* Shopping Cart Recovery tool: captures incomplete checkouts so that you can follow-up with those shoppers
* Zero Results Optimizer: changes the "Sorry, no matches were found" message into a more helpful message
* monitus.net Benchmark: measures your store's relative performance against other Yahoo! Stores
