Web analytics is neither child’s play nor impossible to learn, but like
most things in
life, it is a complex journey (Kaushik, 76). Getting analytics right requires that you
start with basic tools and then you can move on to more sophisticated
analytics. With experience and practice, Kaushik states that even a novice can
become a powerful analytical Ninja! (Kaushik, p. 76).
Figuring out how your website is being used, and using that
knowledge to make it better, starts with knowing who is coming to your site,
how long they spend on the site and each page, and how many pages they look at
before leaving or buying can give valuable insight into improving your subscription
or checkout process” (Hill, 2011). Because they are foundational to all web
analytics, there are six key metrics that any tool needs to be able to provide
robust reporting. Kaushik states that these metrics include:
- Visits
- Unique visitors
- Pages per visit
- Average time on site
- Unique visitors
- Bounce rate
Overview of Google Analytics and SiteCatalyst
Google Analytics
is a common tool that is free and will process up to 10 million hits per month.
There is a Premium version that offers a number of enhanced features such as
processing 1 billion hits per month, more customization, and strong technical
support which can cost a flat $150,000 annually; but for most marketers, the
free tool can provide you with plenty of insight without paying.
Google describes their
Analytic services as follows:
“Google Analytics shows you the full customer picture across
ads and videos, websites and social tools, tablets and smartphones. That makes
it easier to serve your current customers and win new ones” (www.google.com/analytics) and since no two customers or companies are
alike, Google Analytics helps you analyze visitor traffic and paint a
complete picture of your audience and their needs, wherever they are along the
path to purchase (www.google.com/analytics).
Site Catalyst is
offered by Adobe and they state that their tool, like Google Analytics, can “create
customized dashboards and reports and share them in a variety of formats and
channels. Using Adobe® Analytics, you can quickly identify the most profitable
paths through digital assets, determine where visitors are navigating away, and
identify critical success metrics for online marketing campaigns (http://www.adobe.com/solutions/digital-analytics/marketing-reports-analytics.html).
You can learn more about the Site Catalyst tool and view 6 short video demos
at: http://success.adobe.com/en/na/programs/products/digitalmarketing/amc/1310-22066-digital-analytics-solution-featurettes.html?s_osc=701a0000000ngd0AAA&s_iid=701a0000000nXVRAA2
Unlike Google Analytics, SiteCatalyst does not start out
with a free model and is estimated to cost well over $100,000 per year. Cost
varies according to traffic volume and the service level, and depends on the
needs of your company (Chianis, 2013).
Start by Understanding their
Business Models
Brian
Katz, Senior Web Analyst at Cardinal Path tells us that to understand which
tool is best for you, you need to start by understanding each of their business
models. He explains it as follows:
The Google
Analytics business model has always been to encourage the use of Google
AdWords. The notion was that if website owners could measure the success of
their websites and marketing efforts, they would optimize them and advertise
more. Rather than being a free tool, Mr. Katz considers Google Analytics to be
a tool made available free of charge in order to support and promote AdWords. Google
Analytics is easy to implement, giving you more than enough functionality to
measure and gain insights into your website to figure out how to optimize your
AdWords spend. It’s also an effective conduit through which AdWords may be
advertised to a highly targeted segment of Internet users.
Adobe’s SiteCatalyst is powered by Omniture (Adobe
acquired Omniture and its suite of products in 2009). The
Adobe/Omniture business model is to maximize revenue by selling a customer at
least one product from a suite of
products, and then up-selling additional products, features, tools and
processing, as well as professional and engineering services. The power of this
Software as Service model (SaaS) is in the very wide scope of activities and
attributes it can track and the sheer volume of data that Adobe’s Omniture
division collects. Omniture data supports other tools, including Warehouse,
Discover, Insight, Recommendations and SearchCenter. Your data, as stored by
Omniture, translates into revenue potential for Adobe.
Let us look at some specific functionality and dig deeper.
Ease of implementation
Google Analytics is easily implemented on your website, and
requires no IT skills. Even a marketer can add Google Analytics to any website
by copying a simple Java Script to their site. You can get started right away
by visiting www.google.com/analytics
and choosing “access Google Analytics” in the top right corner.
The Adobe SiteCatalyst solution demands the skills of a
trained professional and requires a significant amount of upfront work
(Chianis, 2013). This might be a better solution for the sophisticated marketer
in the long run since implementation is highly customized and the data SiteCatalyst
gathers can be tailored to their specific metric needs.
Dashboard
Reporting
Availability of dashboard reports is critical to providing
real time and longitudinal analysis for the marketer. An excellent Slideshare
presentation from www.jimmypad.com
compares the two solutions and shows the strengths of each solution across
different functionality requirements. Based on the needs of the analyst, both
solutions can provide strong support.
Google Analytics can email daily reports in PDF, XML, CSV,
and TSV however, the tool limits each user to one default dashboard/report per
site while SiteCatalyst provides much greater flexibility by providing hourly email
reports in a wider selection of formats including Excel, PDF, HTML & Word
Custom Variables
Google Analytics allows you to set custom
variables, but only allows up to five per page. Variables can be set to
expire at different times, such after a page view, completion of an event, or
at the visit level.
The Adobe SiteCatalyst product has much more robust
customization and also allows for up to 75 traffic variables, plus 100 event
variables, and 75 conversion variables. Similar to Google Analytics, variables
can be set to capture whatever data you want and can expire after a specific
time but they can also be stacked on top of each other, giving you the chance
to identify a sequence of events (Chianis, 2013).
How long can you
keep your data?
Google
analytics will keep your data up to 25 months while Adobe SiteCatalyst
keeps your data indefinitely, as long as you are a customer.
What is the bottom line?
At the end of the day, choosing the platform that works best
for you depends on your business goals and matching those goals to the
individual tool. If you are a novice at web analytics, or if you are a marketer
in a small department with no analysis support, Google Analytics provides an
exceptionally powerful solution that is easy to use and free of charge. As your
company grows and includes more sophisticated strategies and analysts, an
investment in a tool such as Adobe SiteCatalyst may provide the enhanced solution
required.
Would you share your experience with these tools?
Want to learn more? Visit
Chianis, A. Google Analytics vs. Adobe SiteCatalyst — Which Data Analysis Platform is
Better for Business? Retrieved February 8, 2014 from: http://www.businessbee.com/resources/news/operations-buzz/google-analytics-vs-adobe-sitecatalyst-data-analysis-platform-better-business/
Jay, Jimmy (2011, May 20). OMNITURE VERSUS GOOGLE ANALYTICS.
February 7, 2014 from: http://www.slideshare.net/JimmyJay/google-analytics-vs-omniture-comparative-guide
Katz, (2011, June 22) SiteCatalyst and Google Analytics
comparison, conceptually speaking: Part 1. Retrieved February 9, 2014 from: http://raventools.com/blog/sitecatalyst-vs-google-analytics-part-1/
Kaushik, A.
(2010) Web Analytics 2.0. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana
Hill, C. (2011, October 28) 3
Metrics Google Analytics Beginners Should Watch. Retrieved February 4,
2014 from: http://searchengineland.com/3-metrics-google-analytics-beginners-should-watch-98663
Wells, M. (2014, January 6) Lesson 5: Google Analytics.
Retrieved February 1, 2014 from: www.ecampus.wvu.edu
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