The Tool
This research paper is a review of Google Analytics. It is a widely recognized, freemium, self-service Web analytics or business intelligence (BI) and data visualization application offered by Google since 2005 after it acquired Urchin (Baker). The tool tracks and reports Web site traffics and offers useful insights, particularly for marketing and advertising agencies. It has been responsible for driving better business intelligence practices, integrating a wide range of top analytical functionalities for both Internet and mobile users. Based on quality- and functionality-driven applications, Google Analytics applies different visualization methods and data summarization on sophisticated dashboards to allow users to extract data and information that are easy to understand for decision-making.
Google Analytics is based on a tracking code technology (page tags) to support more JavaScript documents, to collect data automatically, to send cookies, and to analyze every user’s behavior on a site. Google Analytics runs on all major devices, including Windows, Linux, Android, Mac, and others. Additionally, it is developed to support various Web pages, such as Perl, JavaScript, ASP.NET, PHP, as well as to support businesses of different sizes, including freelancers and small, medium, and large businesses. It is free for small businesses and individuals, whereas other entities can acquire it on a flexible payment arrangement to exploit more than its 30 features, making Google Analytics the most affordable, readily available tool for all, irrespective of the size, industry, or financial position of users.
Noted Benefits
Insights and reports obtained from Google Analytics are considered instrumental for the commercial growth of any modern business. The tool assists commercial entities to analyze vast volumes of data from disparate sources for market optimization. Different end-users get diverse benefits of this tool. It is, however, imperative to focus on how the platform assists businesses to understand their Web site visitors, evaluate reasons behind the traffic, and more importantly, exactly discern why visitors did or did not convert. From cookies and browser cache files, the tool uses values like keywords, timestamps, titles, and referrers for analysis (DeGrazia).
Google Analytics supports data-driven decision-making and helps companies to save costs. It has different Advanced Reporting features – sales, lead generation, visitors’ behavior, and specific pages visited or files downloaded. It shows the origin of visitors (referrers), visitor location, and time they spend on the site on a users’ computer (DeGrazia). For e-commerce sites, Google Analytics displays sales performance, transactions, revenue, and any other performance indicators of interest. With the real-time analytics feature, Web site owners can see current activities on their sites.
Once it has efficiently classified data on the dashboard, users can rely on Google Analytics to optimize their marketing activities, making it extremely useful for analysts and markets because of integration with AdWords. While savvy business owners can conduct in-depth content analyses to determine poor performances, other casual users may rely on dashboard-type information for insights. Specific insights help organizations to save costs on analysis and reports, which ultimately affect their bottom line and enhance cost-saving strategies.
Cost or Prizing Plans
For individuals and small businesses, Google Analytics is a free platform. The pricing is based on a quote basis under different sophisticated applications, such as “Analytics 360, Tag Manager 360, Optimize 360 (beta), Attribution 360, Audience Center 360 (beta), and Data Studio 360 (beta)” (FinancesOnline). These applications can be purchased collectively or individually.
Performance
According to FinancesOnline, Google Analytics has recorded a user satisfaction rate of 96 percent and a score of 8.7. These metrics indicate that Google Analytics is an important Business Intelligence tool based on reviews from disparate sources and users globally. Customers are actually satisfied with this tool. Such ratings also help other potential users to choose the most cost-effective and dependable tool.
Competition
Various popular Google Analytics alternatives are also available in the market. These tools include Microsoft Power BI, IBM Watson Analytics, and Tableau Desktop, as well as other lesser-known alternatives, such as a competitor, Style Intelligence, Lokad, and others. Their performances and prices vary considerably from one vendor to another.
Limitations
Although Google Analytics is a superior tool for Web site and mobile app data analysis, it nonetheless has some limitations. Google does not provide a higher level of customer support or training relative to other paid alternatives. Thus, users who deploy this tool are expected to handle their own end-user training needs, perhaps because it is considered a freemium product. With limited training, many end users may fail to grasp any useful information from the excessively automated customer support system. Users who only utilize advertising and marketing features may not explore the full functionality of the tool. Further, critics have also raised issues related to the loss of privacy due to tracking and some invalid searches.
Conclusion
Google Analytics is considered a powerful freemium tool for Web site and mobile app analysis, making it one of the most successful BI tools with superior return on investment. It analyzes site audience, referrals, visitor behaviors, and conversion or no conversion. Today, it is one of the most widely adopted Web site analytical tools and favored by marketers and e-commerce firms for optimization. With adequate end-user training, support, and privacy-advancing features, Google Analytics is poised to be the BI most preferred analytics tool.
Works Cited
Baker, Pam. “Google Analytics.” PC Magazine. 2017, Web.
DeGrazia, Mari. “Carving for Cookies: Supersize Your Internet History Timeline Using Google Analytic Artifacts.” Forensic Mag. 2014, Web.
FinancesOnline. Google Analytics Review. FinancesOnline, 2017, Web.