5 Web Analytics Tools That Aren’t Google Analytics—But Are Worth Considering


When it comes to web analytics, Google is king. Many of our own clients use it and, if they don’t, we often recommend they do. It’s a fairly comprehensive tool that easily lays out key readership metrics and integrates seamlessly with Google’s paid search offerings. For many organizations, Google Analytics is everything they need in one place—so it’s no surprise that it’s the first platform that comes to mind when an organization’s marketing team is looking to get a better grasp on the return on investment of their digital efforts.

But Google Analytics is not the only game in town and, while it may be a stellar (and free!) platform, perhaps something more niche and specialized may be needed. Below are some additional analytics tools that might be worth exploring for your own organization.

Clicky

Clicky’s claim to fame is that it tracks all analytics in real time, something Google can only achieve for some metrics. Each time you log in, you get real-time data on every metric tracked, including visitors on your site at that very moment. The platform also provides an extensive amount of detailed information on user behavior. For example, you can gather detailed information on an individual user’s actions during a given visit and generate a heat map of user actions based on specific desired outcomes. Clicky is great for facilitating nimble campaigns, allowing you to make rapid adjustments to your program—and back those changes up with data.

Clicky’s free version should be suitable for many organizations’ needs. But if your website routinely pulls in more than one million monthly pageviews, there is a reasonably-priced paid version available, as well, that starts at $10 per month.

Church Analytics

For those organizations new to analytics, Church Analytics is an ideal starting platform. Not only does it provide a number of features not currently available on Google—including real-time data tracking for all analytics and integration with other services, such as Bit.ly, Twitter and Feedburner—it provides an elegant, user-friendly interface so that you can get the information you need, analyze it correctly and act on it quickly.

Unlike Google and Clicky, Church Analytics does not offer a free version. But with a $79 per year subscription fee, it still falls within the realm of affordable.

KISSMetrics

KISSMetrics is a highly-targeted analytics tool focused on tracking user behavior leading to conversions, making it a compelling platform for e-commerce sites or subscription-driven services. Like Clicky, KISSMetrics can identify individual user actions from the first pageview through conversion, even if that user has accessed your site through multiple devices. Other novel features include A/B testing to see how certain changes or actions affect customer behaviors; revenue reports broken out by channel; and reports that track changes in user behavior over time. Given the focus on conversion—and building your site to optimize it—KISSMetrics might not be the best bet for your blog, but for those looking to move product and drive revenue, it’s certainly worth a look.

KISSMetrics comes at a higher price point, with subscriptions starting at $200 per month.

Clicktale

Clicktale is another platform well-suited for organizations looking to track customer behavior, with a focus on website efficacy. The platform allows you to view playbacks of specific user visits so that you can see what aspects of your site visitors are drawn to, as well as those that slow them down or cause them to leave. This might include form submissions that are too long or confusing, or even webpage errors that might irritate users (e.g., JavaScript malfunctions). The platform also provides access to industry consultants to help you convert insights into action.

Clicktale offers a variety of plans at different price points based on the data you hope to track, though you’ll need to speak with a sales rep to get this information.

CloudFlare

While CloudFlare is a relatively new entrant to the analytics market, it offers a unique value proposition: analytics combined with site performance optimization and security. A strong platform for websites dealing in sensitive customer data, CloudFlare serves not only as an analytics tracker, but also as an intermediary to filter out bandwidth-guzzling crawlers and bots, as well as malicious attacks on a website’s network. Moreover, it uses data gathered from websites on its service to continually weed out new threats to site performance and user security.

CloudFlare sits on the affordable end of the spectrum, offering both free plans and paid options that start at $20 per month.

The takeaway? Google Analytics may not always be the right—or best—tool for your business. Think about what you want to get from your web analytics data. Do you want to enhance the user experience? Increase sales? Improve performance? There are tools out there that can specifically help you achieve those goals, while providing many of the same metrics as Google. In fact, the platforms we’ve discussed here are only the tip of the iceberg. Do some digging to figure out which platform helps you meet your goals—it’s what we would do for any of our clients.

Photo credit:  Blue Fountain Media

Connect with Meghan:

Email: meghan@blissintegrated.com
Twitter: @meghanistan
LinkedIn: Meghan Warren