The most important part of every marketer’s job is their ability to measure the success of their goals or projects. Truth be told, without a way to measure your success, it might seem that your work is worthless, and let’s be real – no one likes to waste time doing work that doesn’t add value. What’s more, this ‘time wasting’ can have an effect not just on you but on the user or customer as well.
Peter F. Drucker, a known theorist, once said “there is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.” Hence getting ahead of your competition relies on tracking and measuring of your goals, self-assessment, and how you respond to the information that your data gives you.
Squandering time just to do ineffective and unnecessary tasks just takes us further away from reaching our goal. We need to focus on what’s most important in our work so that we can make sure the process of getting to the goal is effective, right?
What gets measured, gets improved.
The great thing about online marketing is that we can measure just about everything we do using terms like CTR, Open Rate, CPC, CPM, or bounce rates – we all know them and we all use them. Analyzing and optimizing each and every one of those values impacts the most important value of all, the conversion rate. However, there’re numerous factor that go into a high conversion rate, which is why in this post I’ll be looking at online analytics and some basic tools to get started with it!
It’s worth noting that there’s a plethora of tools out there, so make sure that the tool you choose is one that suits your individual needs. At GetResponse we give our customers the ability to start their Landing Page analytics adventures with all of the tools I will be covering in this post – so make sure you check out which ones catch your eye the most! Let’s get into the pros and cons of some of the most popular tools out there:
Google Analytics
The leader, when it comes to popularity in the analytics world. And it’s not without a reason! This tool has been available, free of cost since 2005, and depending on how it’s configured it helps you monitor almost everything!
The tool gathers geographic and demographic data, measures user activity on a webpage, monitors the effectiveness of each channel when it comes to obtaining traffic, and it allows you to create segments of users based on almost any criteria you define. What’s more, it integrates with ecommerce apps and if you plug in your AdWords, it will also monitor your paid traffic. You can also monitor mobile and desktop apps.
Being part of the Google ecosystem, it compliments Google users that use AdWords, AdSense or YouTube. Another thing to remember is that there’s a dedicated mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows.
Pros:
- Free
- Real-time data feeds
- Basic configurations offer a lot of data
- Conversion funnel visualization
- Easy to implement
- API is available
- Automatic alerts
- Numerous educational materials
- The ability to import data
Cons:
- Basic configuration collects page views
- Limit on how much data can be collected
- Data and sampling restrictions
- The ability to collect data about individual users on multiple multiple devices is unavailable
- Advanced configuration requires knowledge or the help of a developer
- 24 hour delay in data updates.
A few days ago Google launched Demo Account which shows real data from their e-commerce store. You can check all the major features like Goals, Events and AdWords linking. It also has more advanced functionalities like Enhanced E-commerce. You can get the access to the demo here.
Mixpanel
Mixpanel was launched in 2009. Although a free version is available, more advanced users might need to buy into a package that will allow them to collect more data. From the start, Mixpanel offered slightly more analytics than Google Analytics. With time it’s evolved and it now gives an interesting array of alternative data for more advanced users.
Mixpanel allows you to A/B test and generate complex reports on your funnel, retention and people analysis. The data gets updated fast and almost every time you check your dashboard, you’ll probably see new insights. There’re also a couple of useful features like display messages that users see depending on the actions they take, as well as surveys that can be shown to our webpage visitors. At this time, you’ll also find analysis for mobile apps.
Pros:
- Data based on events
- Real-time data feed
- Fast data updates
- High configurability
- Conversion funnel visualization
- A/B testing
- Web-form analysis
- Survey and message modules
- Dedicated mobile apps
Cons:
- Basic version has data restrictions
- Paid packages
- Advanced configuration (events)
Yandex Metrica
Google Analytics competitor in Russia. Just like Google’s product, it’s closely related to the search engine offered by its “manufacturer”, Yandex. When it comes to the Russian search engines market, Yandex is on top (in other words – the Russian version of Google) and it offers an advertising system.
Yandex Metrica is very similar to Google Analytics, but it also comes with some additional modules that are worth mentioning, like heatmaps and user path recording. Both these modules are great features for users interested in working on their usability. And we all know – the better the usability, the greater the conversion rate. A great tool and it’s abilities will be greatly appreciated by marketers working in the Russian market.
Pros:
- Free
- Real-time data feed
- Fast data updates
- Basic configuration offers a lot of data
- Conversion funnel visualization
- Easy to implement
- API is available
- Automatic alerts
- Heatmaps
- User path recording
Cons:
- Limits on data collection
- Data and sampling restrictions
- The ability to collect data about individual users on multiple multiple devices is unavailable
- Advanced configurations require knowledge or the help of a developer
- Dedicated to the Yandex advertising platform
- The ability to import data is unavailable
Kissmetrics
We all know and love Kissmetrics. Co-founded in 2008 by Neil Patel, it offers an array of complex reports on your funnel, cohort, paths and revenue. It allows you to analyze activities on a webpage the user level thanks to the “People Search” reports. This allows you to create advanced user segments based on actions they took within your service like, make a purchase, registering, or completing a sequence of actions.
All data collected by Kissmetrics is presented in real-time. Beyond analysis, Kissmetrics offers tools to increase user engagement – kind of similar to Mixpanel. There’re five ready to use elements that you can choose from:
- Announcement
- Bumper
- Lightbox
- Modal window
- Notification window
Each of these can be adjusted to match the design of your webpage, then the can be adjusted to work based on an action a user makes.
A very interesting feature is the ‘Click To Track’, which lets you set up a configuration that tracks an event or sequence of events using the display and clicks – without the need for coding skills!
Kissmetrics is appreciated by more advanced users. Large capabilities, the option to configure without interfering with the codes of the site and placing JS scripts. It, expectedly, comes with a price tag – the basic package starts at $120 per month.
Pros:
- Real-time data
- Fast data updates
- Conversion funnel/parth visualization
- A/B testing
- Engagement tools
- Tracking configuration without coding
- Company blog with valuable insights
Cons:
- Costly
- No free version
- The need for advanced configuration
HEAP Analytics
This is an analytics platform that was created in 2013, therefore, it is one of the newest, but also one of the most interesting tools out there. Their motto “we’re bringing data science to the masses” illustrates the abilities and the target audience for this tool.
HEAP Analytics collects all information that took place on a webpage or within an application, this happens in very basic configuration. What is this information? Page views, clicks, filled out forms, and more. You’ll also find the ability to identify users. Thanks to the obtained data, you can generate complex funnel and retention reports. Last but not least – all data is presented in a visually appealing way!
Configuring tracking on selected by us events take place just as it does in Kissmetrics, with the help of the mouse – this is called ‘Event Visualiser’. Interestingly enough, you’ll also find the ability to configure tracking on mobile apps using the taps on the screen of a smartphone.
Those more advanced packages offer constancy and direct access to SQL data, which is a great feature for those who want to use this data with CRM platforms or internal systems.
Pros:
- Real-life data feed
- Fast data updates
- Conversion/retention funnel visualization
- Visually appealing data visualization
- Tracking configuration without the need for coding (Event Visualizer)
- Free version with data limits
Cons:
- Paid tool
- Packages depend on site traffic and collected data
Conclusion
As you can see, there’re a lot to choose from, and these are only 5 examples that I chose personally! Like I mentioned in the beginning of this post – choose your analytics tool based on your industry and business goals. Bloggers and smaller website owners will be more than happy with Google Analytics.
More advanced marketers and large ecommerce businesses should look into paid tools like Mixpanel, Kissmetrics or HEAP Analytics. Needless to mention, the bigger ecommerce players or corporations are most likely to use Google Analytics 360 Suite or Adobe Enterprise Solutions.
The online analytics industry is growing exponentially, offering more and more in analysis of user behavior. With the dawn of the marketing automation, using these tools is almost mandatory and the development of these platforms will be even more dynamic.
What tools do you use? Is there something you’d add to my list? Let me know in the comments below!