This is directly from a forum post on the Etsy forums by cindylouwho2
Google Analytics and How Your Buyers Found You
Her post is geared towards sellers on Etsy, however this information is useful for anyone who would like to know how a site visitor found his or her website.
I’ve copied and pasted her post but put her screen shots where appropriate:
Google Analytics and How Your Buyers Found You by cindylouwho2
Google Analytics is not perfect, but most people can use it to track where most of their buyers found them.
First, if you haven't already, sign up for Google Analytics:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/media/bunker/2009/03/GoogleAnalyticsForSellers.pdf
Make sure you also enable the "Site Search" option, which tells you how people searched for you on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/storque/etsy-news/tech-update-etsy-web-analytics-enhancements-3350/
Then, after you make a sale (remember that it can take 2-3 hours for GA to update)
A] log into GA, change the date to today (top right) and find the buyer's location by clicking on Visitors--> Map Overlay--> Country (menu on the left), then the region and/or city.
TIP: not everyone will have exactly the same postal address as GA shows them from. Look for nearby cities. You may have to Google the town or city name they gave you to find out what it is close to
B] if you find the city or town, click on it. You will see a screen like this:
Note the little arrow pointing to the drop-down menu that says "None" - that is called the "Dimension" menu
C] click on the menu that says "None" - your screen will now look like this:
D] if you click on the menu option that says "Source", you will know which website they entered Etsy from.
If that is a search engine (like Google, Yahoo etc.) click on "Keyword" to see which terms they found Etsy with. Sometimes this will answer your question!
E] Unfortunately, GA only shows how people entered Etsy, not necessarily your shop, so if the source & keyword do not make sense for your shop, or if the source is "direct", you need to click on "Landing Page" to see what page they first arrived on.
Often you will get a result that looks like this:
(hover the cursor over the shorter title to see the long one in the box)
In that result, the person searched "In Canada" in the Jewelry-->Necklace category on Etsy, & found my "paua-abalone-shell-and-crystal-necklace" on page 54 of the search.
This page can help you decode the landing page data:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pXKD_gzPKRz7D1SS-RbgFPw
although it isn't 100% up to date. Usually the codes are clear once you look carefully
F] If you could not find the city your buyer listed as their address (maybe they are on vacation & shopping from another location), then you can still try to find them by going to the "Content-->Content By Title" menu (on the left), & locate the item they bought. You can use the "Dimension" menu the same way as before to find out how the people who looked at that page today entered Etsy, & which page they landed on to find your shop.
Sadly, GA cannot track every buyer, as people can block the tracking, & some computers don't have the correct software installed to track through GA. Also, if you have a very busy shop or generally get a lot of business from one region (like New York City) then it might be tough to narrow this down. However, I can track at least 90% of my buyers this way
Try it! it is easier than it looks!
