Which Analytics Tool?
When choosing an analytics tool, it
is important to find one that fits a users business and website. After researching analytic tool some things I
realized that are important to keep in mind are metrics needed and budget. Budget plays a huge role in choosing which
tool works best for you. Some are free
while others can be pretty costly.
Google
Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst are two of the most common analytics platforms. Each has its own unique features as well as
drawbacks.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is analytics tool
that is available through Google, and both a free and premium version are
available. Google Analytics generates detailed statistics about visitors to a
website and is the simplest web analytics. It generates where visitors are
coming from, what they do when they are on the site, how long they stay on each
page and how often they come back to the page.
Over 50 percent of the top 10,000 websites in the world use Google
Analytics (Dubois, 2010). It is also easy for a user to customize their Google
Analytics page to see which statistics matter most to their website.
Adobe SiteCatalyst
Adobe SiteCatalyst is an analytics tool
program through Adobe, which is best know for its creative suite that includes Photoshop,
Dreamweaver and After Effects.
SiteCatalyst features drag and drop dashboard, embedded reports, and
test and target for A and B type tests.
Drag and drop allows users to create, customize and distribute reports
and dashboards instantly in different formats.
This makes SiteCatalyst extremely customizable and allows reports to be
viewed on different types of screens including desktops, mobile devices and HD display
monitors. SiteCatalyst also creates reports and data from different marketing
channels and puts them all in one place.
SiteCatalyst also focuses on key performance indicators (KPIs) including
purchasing metrics, customer loyalty, campaigns and visitor profiles. SiteCatalyst features real-time visitor
intelligence and allows users to see online strategies and how marketing initiatives
are performing in real time. Another key feature is the ability to pinpoint the
most successful ads, campaigns, channels and paths to conversion (“Adobe
analytics,” 2014). With this feature, it
can help better budget a marketing campaign.
Comparison
As mentioned, it can be difficult to
determine which analytics tool works best for the users website. Below are direct comparisons of Google
Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst broken down in to six different categories.
Cost
Google
Analytics is free and will process up to 10 million hits per month. Google
Analytics Premium offers more enhanced features and can process 1 billion hits
monthly and has strong customer support, but costs $150,000 annually.
Adobe SiteCatalyst does not offer a free version and costs over
$100,000 per year. The price does vary
depending on traffic volume and the service level and there is not a monthly
hit limit.
Real Time Data
Google Analytics “Real Time” allows users
to see how many people are on their website at any moment as well as where they
were referred, where they are located and what they are viewing. Google
Analytics allows users to see which content or social media is driving the most
traffic to their website (Chianis, 2013).
Adobe SiteCatalyst offers Current
Data reports which allow the user to view traffic on a 20 minute delay on
conversion data. This feature allows
users to check a campaign or content almost directly after it launches (Chianis, 2013).
Customer Support
Google Analytics does not provide
customer support through chat or a phone line, but they do offer a user forum,
help center, and “Digital Analytics Fundamentals” courses, which is a three
week course that helps students learn all about digital analytics. Chianis, 2013, says, “For users who
want to learn even more about Google Analytics, there is the Analytics Academy.
This free online tool offers more in-depth training in Google Analytics and
data analysis. Google Analytics Premium provides access to experts in account
management, implementation and training as part of its Premium service.”
SiteCatalyst does offer a 24/7
support and account management, but unlike Google, training is an additional
fee. Like Google, Adobe offers free video
guides and tutorials.
Implementation
Google makes it very easy for users to
implement Google Analytics to their page.
It does not require anybody with special IT training. All the user has to do is apply the Google Analytics Java Script to the website.
On the other hand, to implement
SiteCatalyst, the skills of a trained profession are required and there is a
significant amount of work required upfront.
The good thing is that since this process takes more time to implement
it is highly customized so the data will be tailored to the specific metrics
that the user is looking for from the website.
This can be more valuable than the metrics that would come from Google
Analytics (Chianis, 2013).
Customization
Google Analytics allows the user to
create custom variables, but only allows up to five per page. The variables can be set to expire at
different times including after a page view, completion of an event or once it
reaches a certain visit level.
SiteCatalyst allows a lot more
custom variables than Google Analytics. The user can have up to 75 traffic variables,
100 event variables and 75 conversion variables. Chianis, 2013, says
“Variables
can be set to capture whatever data you want, and can expire after a specific
time (just like Google Analytics) but they can also be stacked on top of each
other, giving you the chance to identify a sequence of events.”
Back Up
Google Analytics keeps data up to 25 months, while SiteCatalyst
keeps all website data collected as long as you are a customer.
How to Choose?
Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst
both offer great features at different prices.
Google Analytics is great for a blogger or a small business that may not
have the budget for SiteCatalyst, but a larger company looking to really
customize their analytics might want to invest in SiteCatalyst. Google
Analytics also offers free training and tutorials to those who may not know a
lot about analytics, but SiteCatalyst offers customer service. Both are great analytics tools that will
ultimately help a business with their web metrics and analytics. Which platform do you use for your blog or website?
References
“Adobe
analytics/marketing reports analytics,” (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.adobe.com/solutions/digital-analytics/marketing-reports-analytics.html?promoid=KAWQH
Chianis, A.
(2013). “Google analytics vs. adobe
sitecatalyst—which data analysis platform is better for business?” Retrieve
from
http://www.businessbee.com/resources/news/operations-buzz/google-analytics-vs-adobe-sitecatalyst-data-analysis-platform-better-business/
Dubois, L.
(2010). “11 best web analytics tools.” Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/guides/12/2010/11-best-web-analytics-tools.html
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