Google Analytics provides a New vs Returning report to measure the pull of your site and the extent to which you are encouraging first time users to return. Making this report with Analytics Edge allows you to easily track these metrics the way you want to see.
Creating Your Own New vs Returning Report
To make your own report, start from the Analytics Edge ribbon in Excel, and select the Google Analytics > Analytics Reporting menu item.
When the wizard opens, select the AUDIENCE > Returning report option.
Review the selections on the Views* tab, in case you do not want to use your default view.
Review the selections on the Fields* tab, in case you want ecommerce metrics or specific goal completion metrics.
Review the selections on the Dates* tab, in case you want something other than the last 30 days.
Last Calendar Month
For example, if you want the last calendar month instead of the last 30 days, you could pick the LAST_CALENDAR_MONTH from the preset date range list. ref: Selecting a Date Range
Finish The Query
Clicking the Finish button completes and runs the query, delivering the results back to the Add-in. You now have a customized report easily refreshed in Excel.
Formatting Notes
Percentage columns can be formatted in Excel using the % format button.
Time formatting is also possible. The default report shows the times (Avg. Session Duration) in seconds (e.g. 89.7 seconds). To change it to a minutes:seconds format requires a change to the query AND a change to the cell formats. First, the query needs to report time metrics in days (vs seconds).
Then the cell formats in Excel need to change to a custom format of ‘m:ss’. The result now shows 1:30 (1 minute, 30 seconds) vs 89.7 (seconds). This is a more typical format used in key performance indicators and widgets.
Further Reading: