PugTalk Session | Google Analytics Tips & Tricks

Google Analytics Tips & Tricks

How can you use Google Analytics to support your business?

Join our very own Tommy Nguyen as he unpacks Google Analytics, how to use it, and why it's important for your storage business! In this session he discussed:

  • What is Google Analytics?
  • How do you access and use it?
  • What are the most important metrics in your dashboard?
  • How do you turn data into actionable business strategies?

Featured Speakers: Tommy Nguyen

Aired: April 19, 2023
Duration: 1:45:27

Overview

If you don't have time to watch the whole session, here are some of our favorite parts:

  • At 6:00, Tommy notes what data is available in Insights.
  • 8:00, Tommy discusses the lead sources dashboard.
  • Starting at 9:30, Tommy highlights different lead sources.
  • At 14:50, Tommy covers the conversion table.
  • 21:30, Tommy explains what benchmark data is and how to use it.
  • Around 25:00, Tommy discusses 5 metrics you should be tracking.
  • At 36:30, Tommy shows how to track this data in a spreadsheet.
  • 44:40, Tommy starts diving into Google Analytics.
  • Starting at 46:40, Tommy covers the Google Analytics home screen.
  • Around 49:00, Tommy talks about the importance of comparing year-over-year data.
  • 54:00, Tommy discusses how to move up Google rankings.
  • At 56:20, Tommy talks about clickthrough rate and what it means.
  • Starting around 1:08:45, Tommy digs deeper into more data in Google Analytics.
  • 1:09:14, Tommy highlights things you don't necessarily need to track.
  • At 1:11:10, Tommy notes how to compare store-over-store performance.
  • 1:16:00, Tommy discusses the engagement overview.
  • Starting at 1:19:00, Tommy highlights conversions.
  • At 1:32:50, Tommy covers whether social media is helpful in conversion.

Resources

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Each session features an expert who will dive deep into important topics for improving your self storage business and explore trends in the market. Every session ends with a live Q&A, where you can ask any questions you may have.

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Questions Answered in this Session

  1. What are direct lead sources?
  2. What does each different type of source mean?
  3. Should I not be letting people reserve a unit?
  4. How do you get your business higher in organic search rankings?

Live Poll Results: What tools are most important to provide to your employees?

poll-manager-skills

 

 

Meet your speakers

carol-mixon

Carol Mixon-Krendl

SkilCheck

Website: https://www.skilcheck.com/
Email: carol@skilcheck.com
Hailey Teal

Hailey Teal

Jenkins Organization

Website: https://www.jenkinsorg.com/
Email: hailey@jenkinsorg.com

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Resources from this session

Awesome Quotes

“Once your operation is in place, you can become more dynamic with your pricing, but that requires data. You need some method of being able to record the data that you need to know whether your price is in the right place - whether you need to move it up or start giving some concessions.” - Warren Lieberman
“I never want to downplay to what someone else is doing. I'm better than they are, then I'm going to be worth a higher price. That's what value is. If you go out to a restaurant and get really good service, would you go back? Yes! What if it was pricier? You'd still go back because you got better service and a better product.” - Jim Mooney
"It's good to be informed on your competition. I don't want to ignore them, but I don't want to respond too strongly to them either." - Warren Lieberman
"We did a survey of 10,000 facilities on their pricing. We found out that two-thirds of those operators didn't change the price of a single unit of the course of a month." - Warren Lieberman
“Rate increases and value pricing are the number one ways to grow your revenue.” - Jim Mooney
"Tenants in more convenient units tend to be less price sensitive." - Warren Lieberman
"The size of the unit is only one aspect of what people are willing to pay for." - Warren Lieberman

Highlights

Foundational marketing strategies to have in place - whether leasing up or stabilized:

  • Website
  • Set up listings (Yelp, Google My Business, Apple Maps)
  • Social Media
  • Establish Local Partnerships

Lease up marketing strategies:

  • Lead Generating Strategies (like digital ads)
  • Aggregators (Sparefoot, Storagefront, etc.)
  • Awareness Campaigns (like billboards, flyers, and sponsorships)

Your average customer value
Find the average stay length of all tenants. Next take your economic occupancy and divide by how many units you have. That will tell you what the average customer pays.

Multiply the average length of stay by what the average customer pays, and that's the average value of a customer.

For example, if a customer stays for 12 months and pays $100 per month, then their value is $1,200.

Your average lead value

Figure out your closing rate (or conversion rate) i.e. how many leads do you turn into tenants? Multiply that by your average customer lifetime value to figure out what your leads are worth. 

Pro Tip: see which lead sources are converting the best. It may be that certain sources have a higher conversion rate, so those leads are worth more to you than a source that barely converts.

Typical Lease-up timeline

According to our panelists, it's typical to see a 3-4% increase each month, putting your facility at 36% after the first year, and 72% after the second.

Alternately, you can look at your lease up goals through the lens of your units, aiming for 20 units rented per month.

For Nick and StorageMax, they pro forma their economic occupancy at 85% with their sweet spot at 92%.

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