Behind every Next Analytics dashboard and report is a series of script commands. These simple text strings start with a command name and are usually followed by comma-separated parameters. When we added the ability to make Google Analytics queries, we had to create a new script command that would translate into a full query behind the scenes. We called it uiGetGoogleAnalyticsData, and it is this script command behind our fancy UI that lets you pick the metrics and dimensions, profiles and segments, time period and unlimited row count.
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I was looking at a report from a customer intelligence vendor last week and got thinking that a lot of the same data was available in Google Analytics, but it wasn’t very accessible in the normal reports that people use. Now I wouldn’t suggest we can replace the paid service entirely, but the value of an analytics tool like Next Analytics is being able to view the data you have in a number of useful ways. Way back in the early days of On-Line Analytics Processing, we used the term “rotate the cube” to describe looking at your data from a different perspective, where that different perspective just might give you valuable insight into how your business is running. It helps to get a fresh perspective every now and then.
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In this week’s Excel dashboard, we look at website landing pages – which ones are your most effective and how different visitor groups treat them. Four major segments are shown side-by-side: direct traffic, visits from search engines, visits from referring web sites, and clicks from paid advertising. Leveraging Excel’s conditional formatting makes it easy to do a quick visual comparison between the 4 groupings. It makes it pretty easy to tell which landing pages are pulling in the referrals, and which paid campaigns are being outdone by organic search.
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With all the online reports provided by Google Analytics, the one that seems to be missing, years after it was pointed out, is the What’s Changed Report. Way back in 2007, Avinash Kaushik wrote in his blog (Occam’s Razor) and his book (Web Analytics, An Hour a Day) about the wonderful value of this report (from ClickTracks, now Lyris). The conversation continued through several of Kaushik’s other writings since then, with other vendors picking up the baton (Juice Analytics, ClickEquations).
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In this week’s Web Analytics TV with Avinash and Nick, Lisa C asked if it was possible to see a trend report for the top landing pages from SEO. Although Avinash agreed “I want this!”, he said this is one of those reports that is only possible through the API today. Since Next Analytics has that API connectivity, I thought I’d show just how easy it is to produce the desired report right in Microsoft Excel.
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(a.k.a. how do I find my profile ID?)
One point of confusion for new users is the need to identify a profile ID in our templates and examples. No, it is NOT the UA-xxxxxxx-x number you used in your tracking code. Here’s the scoop…
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As noted in Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik, as well as his popular books Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, the most important aspect of any web analytics initiative is getting to the actionable insights that drive strategic decisions. He says that from raw data alone, it is impossible to deduce a good strategy. To get any insight into your information, you need to segment it into useful metrics. He also says that default reporting segments are never adequate; you need to draw your own conclusions about your customers. As Kaushik puts it, you have four steps to follow:
• discover what is important from a business point of view
• create a segment tailored for that,
• apply relevant reports to spot key performance indicators, and
• take action
We’d add another step because we are firm believers that nothing stays the same for very long. So don’t build a system that is static or difficult to change. The very nature of business today means that KPIs must evolve.
• iterate
In this article, we’re going to focus on the second step, segmentation, and the challenges of iterating the process.
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May 27 2010 by
mike in
News |
In part 1 of this article, I introduced a new report that shows some of the powerful analytics capabilities of Nextanalytics for Excel – in this case, a full series of tables exploring the relationships between the Recency, Loyalty, Duration and Depth segmentation. This Excel-based dashboard also provides the ability to filter by any of Google’s default segments or your advanced segments. The combination provides an unprecedented visibility into visitor behaviour, all in one screen.
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Most of the templates and sample reports that I’ve posted simply demonstrate that Nextanalytics can produce all the same web reports you have seen elsewhere. But Nextanalytics can go so much further; we’re not just another quick and easy reporting tool – we can run with the big dogs.
In this example, we not only create segments for Recency, Loyalty, Duration and Depth of Visit (like in the Excel-based Website Visitor Dashboard), but we compare all the various combinations thereof on a percentage of visits basis and use Excel’s conditional formatting to highlight the hotspots.
This is a 2-part blog – in this article, I will describe the technical aspects of the report. See part 2 for the interpretive description.
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As I was digging into some web traffic from Brazil, I happened to notice that the most popular screen resolution was 1024 x 768. OK, that makes sense, but it got me thinking…with all the huge resolution desktop screens, wide screen laptops and odd-shaped mobile devices, just what is the most common size/shape of display screens these days. Using Nextanalytics with our Google Analytics connector, I downloaded the screen resolution numbers for our web site visitors to have a look, then I played with analytics and made it visual in Excel.
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