How to Install Google Analytics for Volusion Sites

Posted by eellsworth on 16th Aug 2014

Installing GA Tracking Reveals Valuable Ecommerce Metrics

Although there are many ecommerce hosting solutions out there, from a SEO and small business perspective, Volusion is a tough act to beat.  I’m a firm believer that a small business should focus on its core competency and only take on what’s absolutely necessary.   I think hosting an ecommerce web store falls into that outsourcing category. volusion-logoSpending most of my career in small business, I’ve learned you have enough hats to wear without trying to master the technical aspects of hosting and ecommerce.  What you need is something simple yet effective and Volusion falls into that category. [caption id="attachment_90" align="alignright" width="235" caption="Joomla Open Source Software"]Joomla Open Source Software[/caption] I’ll save my detailed review of Volusion for another time but suffice it to say it’s one of the best turnkey systems out there.  Joomla is also a great system but you will need either a Joomla expert or someone with advanced technical skill to install it.

Installing GA in Your Volusion Template

As a template-driven solution, Volusion only needs to be updated in the main template to track all your transactions, from cradle to grave.  Once installed in the main template page, Volusion will dynamically build your store pages, inserting the necessary Google Analytics tracking code that will capture the data. To begin:
  1. Log in as an admin to your Volusion store.
  2. Navigate to LiveEdit File Editor under the Design menu tab. [caption id="attachment_73" align="alignnone" width="439" caption="LiveEdit File Editor in Volusion v5.0"]LiveEdit File Editor in Volusion v5.0[/caption]
  3. Once in LiveEdit, you will see a set of “shortcuts” on the right.  Click on the first link underneath “Design Files” which is your live template your store is using.  This name will vary from store to store. [caption id="attachment_74" align="alignnone" width="417" caption="Finding Your Volusion Template"]Finding Your Volusion Template[/caption]
  4. Scroll to the bottom and insert the following code just before the </body> tag

    Remember to the sample GA Tracking code below, UA-xxxxxxx-x with your Google Analytics ID as well as the yourdomain.com to your own domain name!

Unfortunately this code is not retroactive so you will only see metrics moving forward and not in the past. However, now that you’ve installed this code you’ll have access to the following:
  • Conversion Rate
  • Number of Transactions
  • Average Order Value
  • Number of Products Purchased
  • Revenue by Keyword
  • Conversion Rate by Keyword
  • Revenue by Product
  • Revenue by Source / Medium
  • Visits to Purchase
  • Days to Purchase
And that’s just the beginning!

Analyzing Your Volusion Data

By installing this code you can begin to understand your customers and how to enhance your SEO efforts (or, if you’re a SEO like me, I use this to refine pages or optimization efforts for greater margin products!).  Maybe you realize that you have a high conversion rate for a product you don’t consider a core item.  Or, perhaps your average sale is derived from 2 or more visits from the prospect before buying…how does that change some of your internet marketing efforts? With 5 minutes of effort, you can begin to increase your knowledge about your customers and where you may find some low hanging fruit. [caption id="attachment_88" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="Volusion Metrics Using Google Analytics"]Volusion Metrics Using Google Analytics[/caption]
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