40+ Online Analytics Tools

When you think about online analytics tools, chances are you immediately think about a specific niche of your online model where a significant issue resides.

Unfortunately this causes a lot of problems, as many of us  become fixated on the problems in front of us and don’t realize that the problem is being caused by congestion, mis-direction, lack of attention, or simple loss of traction.

If we think about online analytics like an interstate road that has cars zipping down it at 75… there are all sorts of things that affect how and when travelers reach a specific destination.

Some things that go wrong at 75 mph…

• You are in the wrong lane
• You missed a sign
• Its raining, the roads are slick
• You are pre-occupied
• There is an accident
• Someone thought road-work was a good idea
• You are simply on the wrong road!

As traffic managers… why should we care?

We should realize that many cases of traffic conversion and monetization are direct ramifications of process points previous to “where we are looking.”

We can’t always help people be better drivers… but if we can control the environment to limit distractions, improve visibility, reduce accidents, and optimize routes we can get a much higher percentage of travelers from A to B to C (and back to A.)

This is where a strategic understanding of online analytics helps to quantify and qualify the process points before, during, and after.

As you browse this list of tools that cover all sorts of problem areas, keep in mind some of the top questions you should be using to manage traffic.

•  Is this process helping or hurting the user experience?
• Does it meet the expectations of the audience?
• Do is exceed the expectations of the audience?
• Do you know how they got on the path? (first-touch attribution)
• Do you know how they got off the path? (last-touch attribution)
• How long does the path take? (time to completion/conversion)
• Do they stop on the path? (ads, content, pages, sites, profiles touched)
• Did they experience this with friends? (social sharing, group decision)
• Where did they get lost?
• If/when they became lost, what did they do?
• When they arrived, did they want to do it again?
• What metrics did the trip influence
  (how much gas, how many pit-stops, dollars spent, speeding tickets earned)
• Did any of them have unusual patterns?
  (why did some drive around to the back entrance?)

Measuring the behavior…