The plethora of web analytics tools available to your business can seem overwhelming. Businesses may not know how to use them. This is where it’s important to hire someone who can really dig into the reports.
This rule is frequently referred to in this regard. If you have $100 to invest in analytics, spend $10 to get reports and data and $90 to pay someone to sort through the information. Without a clear understanding of what these services can provide, the data is just raw data.
“Investing in people is key. And that includes the tools they need to succeed,” says Bryan Eisenberg. He is an author and marketing consultant. But it’s those who are able to understand the data that matter most. ”
While you won’t necessarily use all these tools every day, it is beneficial to be aware of some of the most popular options and how they can fit into your overall web strategy. Multiple tools will give you more insight into your customers, and increase your chances of success.
Avinash Kaushik (author of Web Analytics 2.0, Web Analytics: An Hour A Day), states that the search for a single source or tool to answer all your questions is a surefire way to end your business and make your career as a web CMO and Analyst a short-lived one. It is crucial to be focused on multiplication.
Larger companies may need to use more powerful analytics tools to get the details. However, small and medium-sized businesses can find free or inexpensive options to help them understand this information.
What is Web Analytics?
Before we get into the tools, let’s first define what is web analytics. Here explains in the same book that Web Analytics 2.0 can be defined as:
- Analyze quantitative and qualitative data from your website and that of the competition
- To ensure that your prospects and customers have an enjoyable online experience
- This translates into the desired outcomes you desire (online and offline).
Web analytics 2.0 offers three levels of data delivery and analysis for small and large businesses. The first is your data. It measures traffic, page views, and clicks for both your site and your direct competitors. The second is how you use that data. This means you can take the information from these services and make it useful to your customers. The final tier describes how everything comes back together to achieve your business goals, both online and offline. While data is an excellent way to assess your performance, it doesn’t make sense if you don’t apply what you have learned.
Also read: Top 15 Web Service Testing Tools and Software
Top 10 Web Analytics Tools
1. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a completely free web analytics service that provides detailed statistics about your visitors to your site, is one of the most powerful and simple. Google Analytics is currently used by more than 50% of the top 10000 websites worldwide. According to the site’s usage statistics, you can see where visitors come from, what they do while they are there, and how often they return. You can get more involved with the site’s analytics and you will receive more detailed reports. But it’s the ease of use that makes it the most popular service.
Penn says that there is only one tool that small businesses really need, and it’s Google Analytics. It’s so robust in terms of the features it offers, and if anyone tells you that Google Analytics doesn’t suffice for small businesses, they don’t know how to properly use it. ”
All web analytics professionals we spoke to agreed that Google Analytics was their favorite.
All experts recommend it
2. Yahoo Web Analytics
Once you have mastered Google Analytics, Yahoo offers a similar service that will give you more detail in your surveying.
It provides better access control options, a simpler approach to multisite analytics, raw data collection and real-time data collection (unlike Google you can import cost data), visitor behavior, demographics reports, and customized options.
Yahoo Analytics is a nice alternative to Google when it comes to profiling, filtering, and customization. so for those looking to dig a little deeper, it’s a great option.
3. Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg lets you create heat maps and track visitors’ clicks based on specific locations within your website. This is basically how Crazy Egg helps you explore your website’s usability. This allows you to see which parts of your website users are most interested in and click on the most. It can be used to improve the design of your website and, in essence, convert more visitors. It is easy to set up and they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for all accounts.
4. Compete
Compete, which is perhaps best known for publishing an estimate of the number of visitors to the top 1 million websites on the internet, is a great complement to clickstream analytics offerings.Compete provides creative intelligence about your competitors and how users arrived at your site (and what their clicks were before and after). Traffic volume data is available as a free offer.Compete’s search analytics is where they stand out. This paid service allows you to track which keywords are driving users to your site and to those of your competitors.
Aaron Smolick is the senior director of marketing at Compete. “The more digital insights you have the better you understand your customer,” he says. Compete products will give you all the information you need to make informed decisions and optimize your online campaigns, increase market share, and take over the competition.
5. Google Website Optimizer
Google’s Website Optimizer, another free tool, allows you to rotate content segments on your website. This will allow you to determine which sections or placements convert to the most clicks and ultimately, sales. You can select which parts of your page to be tested, including the headline, images, and text, and then run experiments to find out what users respond to. GWO is free and you don’t even have to use Google Analytics. It could be your only A/B (technical term for multiple sites running simultaneously) and Multivariate(MVT) or complex testing option.
Peterson says that while not Web Analytics, Google’s Web Site Optimizer can be used as a companion to measurement. It allows small businesses to test simple (A/B), complex (multivariate), variations of their website, content, landing pages, and site using powerful statistical methods. Although the setup process is a bit complicated, the interface is very user-friendly and the service is free. Our panel of web analytics experts unanimously favored Google Website Optimizer.
6. Optimizely
Optimizely is a relatively new service that was launched in June 2010, is easy to use and can produce powerful results. It’s a simple way to improve and measure your website using A/B testing. You can use the site’s intuitive visual interface to create experiments for your business. This service has a beautiful aspect. The tools are simple to use and require no programming and coding knowledge.
7. Kissinsights from Kiss Metrics
It is one of the most simple tools to implement (it only takes a one-time Javascript installation). The idea behind Kissinsights was to give businesses a user-friendly and customizable feedback form. You can manage all the questions that customers ask you from the business’s end through one dashboard. Kissinsights’ best feature is the fact that customer feedback can be sent in very short and simple comments.
8. 4Q by iPerceptions
You can get a 100% free online survey that will help you understand the “Why” behind your visitors. The premise behind 4Q basically is to find out what people do on your website. Surveys can be a powerful tool to gain valuable insight from customers’ actual experiences using your website. They offer simple surveys that answer four key questions every customer should answer:
- What should my visitors do on my website?
- Have they completed what they set out?
- If you don’t, why not?”
- How satisfied is my visitor?
Also read: Top 10 Marketing Analytics Tools
9. ClickTale
Clicktale is a qualitative customer analysis that records every visitor’s action from their first click through to their last. Clicktale uses Meta statistics to create visual heatmaps and reports on customer behavior. It also provides traditional conversion analytics.
Peterson says that Google Analytics does not do a good job of telling you what visitors are looking at on a page, and where they are stuck. Clicktale, which is basically a video recorder of website visits, provides detailed information about mouse movements, scrolling, and many other important visitor behaviors. ”
10. Adobe Analytics
Adobe Analytics may be the right choice if you have data from multiple sources, not just your website. Adobe Analytics allows you to pull data from almost any source and store it all in one place. This makes it a powerful tool for the more experienced.
Adobe Analytics will allow you to gather, assess, and take action on all aspects of your data. This includes web, marketing, audience, and custom variables. It is also visually appealing, which might appeal to some people who don’t like boring charts.
Last line – Web Analytics Tools
It can be daunting to start using web analytics tools to make changes to your website. If you don’t know where to look, this can make it even more difficult. Once you’ve collected website data using your web analytics tool, there are many options.
Web analytics services provide useful snippets of data next to your metrics and even give you actionable tips to help you understand what the next steps should be. These insights are already in your dashboard, so you don’t need to search for them.
