Analytics is the practice of methodical exploration of an organization’s data with emphasis on statistical analysis. Some of the most intelligent decisions are made using the information derived from the Analytics tool, it is all about providing relevant information based upon site visits and site traffic. In this blog , we will be learning about two such analytics tools which can be used to observe activity of a user/visitor visiting a site. Also the focus will be the implementation and integration of both the tools with Drupal.
We will be accomplishing this in three blogs: 1. Google Analytics vs adobe analytics 2. Google analytics and adobe analytics implementation with Drupal 3. Migration from s_code to AppMeasurement js in adobe analytics
This blog contains : - What is Google analytics? - What is Adobe Analytics?
- How are they different from each other (in terms of data collection, subscription charges, customized tracking and analysis , speed of tracking, report generation). - Which one should be preferred?
Google Analytics vs adobe analytics
What is Google Analytics ? → Google analytics is a web analytics service provided by google that tracks activities on site , website traffic and generates the reports accordingly. It is a 'freemium' service offered by google launched in November 2005 and has got major improvements and accuracy in tracking since then. It is offered in two additional versions, namely :
Google Analytics 360.
Google Analytics for Mobile Apps. - an SDK that allows gathering usage data from iOS and android apps.
Implementation :
→ Google Analytics is implemented with page tags, in this case, called the Google Analytics Tracking Code, which is a snippet of JS code that the website owner adds to every page of the website.
→ The tracking code runs in the client browser when the client browses the page and collects visitor data and sends it to a Google data collection server.
→ In addition to transmitting information to a Google server, the tracking code sets a first party cookie on each visitor's computer. This cookie stores anonymous information, called the Client-Id.
What is Adobe-Analytics ?
According to its official site here , It is the industry-leading solution for applying real-time analytics and detailed segmentation across all of a website’s marketing channels. Used to discover high-value audiences and power customer intelligence for a business. The objective is same as that of google Analytics implementing site analytics and tracking website traffic and generating the relevant reports related to the visitors visiting the website to carry out the business process effectively. More or less we are implementing analysis to figure out what is the most important information that a specific user wishes to see on the website. Implementation :
→ The Adobe analytics (previously sitecatalyst or omniture) offers implementation in a form of javascript code that contains Plugins , Modules targeted to track a specific content and event on a page of a website. → The detailed reports are generated in a form of a report Suit
How are they different from each other (in terms of data collection, subscription charges, customized tracking and analysis , speed of tracking, report generation).
Lets look that the detailed difference between the two :
Cost :
→ Google Analytics is free and will process up to 10 million hits per month. Google Analytics Premium offers a number of enhanced features such as processing 1 billion hits per month, more customization, and strong technical support, but it costs a flat $150,000 annually.
Whereas,
→ Adobe analytics will likely cost you well over $100,000 per year. Cost varies according to traffic volume and the service level, and depends on the needs of your company.
Implementation :
→ As described above , Google Analytics implementation is based upon adding JS code to every page of the website for tracking. But a user need not do this manually. Google analytics provide simple procedure of integrating a website to google analytics by simply creating an account for that specific site and using the web Property ID provided by google analytics for site integration. Custom implementation is an option.
Whereas,
→ Adobe analytics requires significant knowledge for implementing analytics to the website by making good amount of changes to the JS code. But in terms of customized tracking offers great flexibility of altering JS code as per requirement. Which in turn offers better customized tracking than google Analytics.
Custom Variables :
→ Google Analytics allows 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.
Whereas,
→ Adobe analytics on the other hand allows 75 traffic variables, plus 100 event variables, and 75 conversion variables. Variables can be set to capture whatever data required to be tracked, and can expire after a specific time. Also adobe analytics offers a modular approach for tracking a specific event. For ex there exists a module for integrating media tracking on the website.
Real time Data analysis :
→ Google Analytics “Real-Time” allows the user to see how many people are on their site at that moment, what traffic sources referred them, where they are located geographically and what content they are viewing.
Whereas,
→ Adobe analytics (version15) offers “Current Data” reports that allow the user to view nearly real-time data on traffic reports, and about a 20 min delay on conversion data. This enables the user to check the effectiveness of a campaign or piece of content almost immediately after it launches.
Now the question arises :
Which one should you prefer for implementing analytics on your website for your enterprise?
→ The answer to this question greatly depends upon the business requirement and the resources available for implementing analytics.
In case where your business is small and still growing up and you are not willing to invest too much into analytics and the data that google analytics gives in the free account is more than sufficient in analyzing site traffic then the answer is Google Analytics (For Ex : You are currently being tracked while reading this blog and that too for free!! ).
In case where you have millions of hits happening on your website and it comprises of both larger and smaller chunks that needs to be analysed with a tool that provides details in a modular level and your business requirement has too many requirements for tracking that can only be achieved through a custom code and last but not the least, the enterprise is willing to invest in tracking site traffic then adobe analytics is your answer (Let’s not forget the fact that we need a development and testing team to implement this !! ).
Analytics is more than just tracking user activity on a website. The benefits of implementing analytics extends to implementing personalization using the data provided by the analytics tool. Also, it provides a great power in decision making and finding out the areas of the website that an enterprise still needs to focus on. We will be getting more deep into this in the coming parts of "All About Analytics".
That's all for now :)
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