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Google Analytics email reports were created to provide an easy way to automate your reports and get detailed reports in your email daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly.
Many business owners and webmasters do not use the email reporting function of Google Analytics for many reasons including that they simply do not know-how.
Creating automated Google Analytics reports can you save hours of time checking statistics by giving you pre-defined reports right to your email inbox whenever you need them…
You can even add multiple recipients, attachment types and a custom subject like for optimal customization.
In the guide, we are going to walk-through Google Analytics email reports and how to use them.
Why Use Google Analytics Email Reports?
There are a ton of good reasons why you should be using Google Analytics email reports but here are a few big ones:
So now that you know why you should be using this great analytics add-on, let’s get into all the great ways you can use email reports and what reports are most important to create.
Installing Google Analytics
If you haven’t done so, head to Google Analytics and create a free account.
Next, you will need to install the js tracking code on your website or application. If you use a CMS like WordPress, you can install a simple plugin that allows you to easily connect your Google Analytics account.
If not, you will need to copy the tracking code and paste it into every page you want to track. If your website uses dynamic templates you can simply paste it in the footer template.
Click Create Account to create a new account for your website property.
Choose whether you are tracking a website or mobile app, enter the website name and URL. When you are done, click the Get Tracking ID button and it will spit out a small code that you can simply copy and paste into your website.
To test if it’s working, you can go to the real-time tab and see if you can see yourself on the website or if you have traffic, you will see users start to show up. If you want to get really crazy, you can install the Google Tag Assistant to check if you have installed the script properly.
Now that your tracking is installed correctly, you can start building automated email reports for Google Analytics.
How to Create Automated Email Reports in Google Analytics
Creating automated email reports in Google Analytics is pretty simple and straightforward.
First, log in to your Google Analytics account and find any report.
You will see an ‘Email’ link at the top of the page where you can create an email report.
When you click the email report link, a modal will appear where you can edit the settings of the new email report.
Here are what each field means and some suggestions on the best use case:
From: This is where the report will be sent from
To: The recipients of the email report separated by commas
Subject: This is the subject line of the email that you will receive. Creating a custom subject will help differentiate reports in your emails.
Attachments: Select which format you would like to receive the reports in. Allowed options are CSV, TSV, Excel, and PDF.
Frequency: How often you want to receive your automated email report. Options include once, daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly.
Day of Week: Which day of the week would you like to receive your email report? Note that this option will not show up for once and daily frequencies.
Advanced Options: If you want to run the email report for a certain time period you can select anywhere between 1 and 12 months.
Body Text: The big white box at the bottom allows you to enter the custom text that will be sent in the body of the email.
Once you have filled out all of the required fields, simply click ‘Send’ and your automated Analytics email reports will start sending based on the details you entered.
You have now created your first automated email report in Analytics…But what if you want to change your report?
How to Change Analytics Email Reports
Editing or deleting your scheduled analytics email report can be done by clicking the admin tab in the navbar.
In the view, column scroll down to the Personal Tools & Assets sections and click Scheduled Emails.
You should see a list of your current schedule email reports.
To edit or change your automated analytics email report, click the link in the subject column.
This will open a form to change the settings of your report.
Click save when you are finished and your report will be changed.
How to Delete Analytics Email Reports
To delete a report, click the actions button in the last column and choose delete.
Confirm the deletion and your report will now be removed and you will not receive them anymore.
Users: New and returning visitors are called users.
Pageviews: The number of views your pages got.
Pages/ Session: Average page depth per users.
Avg. Session Duration: Average amount of time (in minutes) users stay on your site.
Bounce Rate: The percentage of single-page visits. The lower the bounce rate, the better.
Acquisition
Source/Medium: Where your visitors are coming from?
Social: Which social media sites are your visitors coming from?
Campaigns: If you have any Adwords campaigns or URL parameters, you can track campaigns here.
Behavior
All Pages: Your most popular pages.
Exit Pages: Which pages are visitors leaving from?
Site Search: What searches are being made on your website?
Events: If you have custom events set up, then you can get a report of them here.
Conversions
Goals: Any goal information like conversion rate and goal count can be viewed here.
E-commerce: If you have e-commerce tracking set up, you can view revenue and other important reports here.
Wrapping Up
So in conclusion, you can save a ton of time by creating scheduled reports that send out whenever you want. This will save you time from reporting to clients as well as having to compile the reports and send them.
Choose whether you are tracking a website or mobile app, enter the website name and URL. When you are done, click the Get Tracking ID button and it will spit out a small code that you can simply copy and paste into your website.
To test if it’s working, you can go to the real-time tab and see if you can see yourself on the website or if you have traffic, you will see users start to show up. If you want to get really crazy, you can install the Google Tag Assistant to check if you have installed the script properly.
Now that your tracking is installed correctly, you can start building automated email reports for Google Analytics.
When you click the email report link, a modal will appear where you can edit the settings of the new email report.
Here are what each field means and some suggestions on the best use case:
You should see a list of your current schedule email reports.
To edit or change your automated analytics email report, click the link in the subject column.
This will open a form to change the settings of your report.
Click save when you are finished and your report will be changed.
Confirm the deletion and your report will now be removed and you will not receive them anymore.
