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Category Archive: Analytics

1. GA4 Annotations: A Guide by Fabric

   01/04/2025 12:22 pm Leave a Comment

   Google has recently introduced annotations to GA4. This is a pretty simple but powerful feature that will allow users to add notes directly to their reports. The benefits of this is that it makes it easier to track key events, explain data changes and it will improve internal and external collaboration. The key positive to take from annotations now being a part of GA4 is addition clarity, whether it’s a campaign launch, a website update or an unexpected spike in traffic. Annotations will help provide context within your GA4 reports.

   Why Use Annotations?

   What are Annotations useful for:

   • The help explain spikes, dips or trends in traffic by linking them to key events such as campaigns, product launches or site changes.
   • It’s now easier for teams to share insights, reducing the need for external documents and keeping relevant information within GA4
   • By having clarity within daily reports, brands can quickly understand why changes have occurred and react quicker.
   • It’s also easier to track changes made in GA4 by internal or external teams reducing the need for WIP’s

   How to implement Annotations

   Firstly, you will need Editor level access or higher on GA4. Viewers can see annotations but they won’t be able to create or change them.

   Limitations:

   • Each GA4 property can store up to 1,000 annotations
   • Annotations can be created directly in reports with line graphs or via the Admin API

   Getting started

   1. Open Google Analytics and navigate to the Reports section.
   2. Select the report where you want to add an annotation.
   3. Right-click any data point on the line graph and click Add annotation.
   4. Fill in the following details:
      • Title (up to 60 characters)
      • Description (up to 150 characters)
      • Date or Date Range (a single date is recommended for clarity)
      • Colour (for better organisation)
   5. Click Create annotation

   Your annotation will then be visible across all reports and report cards contating line graphs. You do have the option of hiding annotations from view if needed.

   Viewing and Managing Annotations

   • To view an annotation: Hover over the annotation icon below the line graph to see its details
   • To see all annotations for a property:
     1. Click Admin in GA4
     2. Under Data Display, select Annotations
     3. Here, you can create, edit, delete, or export annotations based on your access level
   • Adjusting settings: Within the Annotations Viewer panel, you can toggle annotations on or off for date ranges

   Google Analytics Created Annotations

   One thing to be aware of is that Google can automatically create annotations for such things like significant data-impacting events, such as:

   • System outages
   • Changes to data processing
   • Major Google Ads updates

   These can’t be deleted or turned off but you can hide the annotations if you don’t want them visible

   Best Practice

   • Keep title and descriptions concise, it doesn’t need to be War and Peace
   • Colour code strategically like you would you’re calendar
   • Stick to single-date annotations to avoid confusion when multiple annotations overlap each other
   • Like everything else, maintenance is required, regular review and update

   Final Thoughts

   This is another positive step for GA4 and can be a valuable tool if used properly. For any questions or help optimising your current GA4 setup. Get in touch with the team at Fabric https://fabric-analytics.com/contact/

   For more information on GA4 Annotations – https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/15884203?hl=en

2. Why Your Average Order Value is Lying to You

   17/02/2025 11:27 am Leave a Comment

   Average Order Value (AOV) is one of the most popular metrics in eCommerce. It’s plastered across dashboards, referenced in strategy meetings, and utilsed for key business decisions. But you need to be careful, AOV is misleading you.

   AOV is Just a Middle Point, Not the Full Picture

   Most brands assume that their customers place orders somewhere around their AOV. That’s logical, right? If your AOV is £75, you’d expect a large share of customers to be ordering close to that amount.

   But when you actually visualise order value distribution, you quickly see a different story:

   • A huge volume of orders sit below the AOV
   • Another set of high-value transactions sit well above it
   • AOV? It’s simply the midpoint and not a true reflection of where orders actually fall

   Instead of being a reliable benchmark, AOV often distorts reality.

   AOV is Driving Flawed Strategies

   Because AOV is widely accepted as a guiding metric, businesses frequently use it to set key pricing tactics most notably, the free shipping threshold.

   For example, if your AOV is £75, you might decide to set your free shipping threshold at £80, assuming it nudges customers to increase their cart size. But here’s the catch: if the majority of your orders are actually around £40-£50, your threshold is completely misaligned.

   This means:
   ✅ You’re missing an opportunity to encourage more incremental increases.
   ✅ You’re setting a target that many customers simply won’t stretch to reach.
   ✅ You’re potentially losing out on conversions from customers who see the free shipping threshold as too far out of reach.

   Instead of setting free shipping based on AOV, businesses should be looking at the most common order value ranges and adjusting their pricing strategies accordingly.

   Breaking AOV into Order Value Buckets

   To truly understand your customers’ purchasing behaviour, bucket your orders into meaningful value ranges.

   For example, instead of relying on a single AOV number, look at:

   • Orders under £xx (low-value, high-frequency purchases)
   • Orders between £xx-£xx (mid-tier, balanced buyers)
   • Orders above £xx (higher-end, big spenders)

   By doing this, you can make more data-driven decisions when it comes to pricing strategies, upsells, and incentives. You might find that:

   • Most of your volume sits around £45, meaning a free shipping threshold of £50 makes far more sense than £80.
   • Customers in the mid-tier range respond well to bundling incentives.
   • High spenders have different behaviours entirely and should be treated as such.

   We also recommend visualising ‘revenue’ per bucket, as this can tell a completely different story to ‘order count’. You might be surprised how much revenue comes from your higher-end big spenders.

   

   The Bottom Line

   AOV alone is not enough to guide strategy. Without understanding the actual distribution of orders, businesses risk miscalculating incentives, pricing, and marketing efforts.

   If you haven’t broken down your AOV into order buckets yet, now is the time to do it. The insights you uncover could completely change how you drive more revenue from your customers.

   Want help to visualise your order value distribution? Let’s chat. 🚀