Making Web Metrics Decisions: KISSmetrics or Google Analytics?

Any beginner in the world of web analytics will tell you just how exciting and confusing it can be to choose the right tool that fits your business. With dozens of options out there, how do we really know if we’re choosing the right one?  Many of us are drawn to the light of Google. Why? Well; because it’s GOOGLE and anyone who practically re-engineered the web and how people around the world search for information ought to know a thing or two about how I can measure and analyze my company’s website. Although Google Analytics is a fascinating, and very powerful tool for web designers, marketers and IT professionals, there are still some other pretty powerful tools to explore.  This week, I’ve decided to take a deeper look into KISSmetrics.

 

            The first thing you will notice when you visit KISSmetric’s website is the phrase “Google Analytics tells you what’s happening. KISSmetrics tells you who’s doing it.” (Kissmetrics.com, 2014). This is a powerful statement that gains my attention as a marketer.  According to their website, KISSmetrics is a person-based analytics product that helps you identify, understand, and improve the metrics that drive your online business. KISSmetrics make it simple to get the information you need to make better product and marketing decisions. The company claims that they strive to make both installation and reporting as simple as possible (KISSmetrics Overview, 2014).  Some of the additional benefits of this company include enhanced tracking that goes beyond simply measuring pageviews or isolated events. KISSmetrics claims to track every single time a visitor comes to your website, even prior to their signing up.  The company is also known for its simple and quick reporting (KISSmetrics Overview, 2014).  Digging a little bit deeper, it is clear that KISSmetrics provides some additional insight into customer behavior that Google Analytics does not.

For example, one of the biggest differences between the tools is how they measure people.  According to a blog post written by KISSmetrics, “When a person visits your website for the first time, both KISSmetrics and Google Analytics assign an anonymous ID to that person.  For Google Analytics, the visit and registration must take place in the same visit session. If a person visits your website, leaves, and then comes back 10 days later and registers, only the last session is tied to the user ID. The first session is lost. Google Analytics connects data from only the session in which the user was identified. The only way around this is to find a way to identify people during as many sessions as possible. With KISSmetrics, all data from a person’s previous sessions is assigned to an alias.” (“What is the difference”, 2014)

As more of us are viewing websites on our tablets, phones, and mobile devices, it is important for marketers to also understand web analytics as it relates to mobile.  KISSmetrics outlines a common example again in their blog post that demonstrates some of the key attributes of their tools versus that of Google Analytics. Here is their example:

1) Anna registers on your site from her desktop.

2) A week later, she visits your site on her iPad but doesn’t log in.

3) Later that day, she visits your site again, this time logging in with her iPad.

With KISSmetrics, all the data from her desktop gets assigned to her alias once she registers. When she visits on her iPad, KISSmetrics assigns her a new anonymous ID. KISSmetrics doesn’t know this visitor is Anna until she logs in on her iPad. Once she logs in, all the sessions from her iPad are tied back to the ID she originally created when she registered on her desktop.

Anna registered on her first visit, so the activity from that session gets tied to her newly registered User ID. Since Anna’s second visit was on a new device and she didn’t log in, that data gets lost.  All her sessions going forward (on the same device) will be correctly assigned to her. (“What is the difference”, 2014)

This example shows just how intuitive KISSmetric’s data tracking is compared to Google Analytics, which connects data only from the session where the user was verified.

Strength Comparison: Who Does it Better?

 Google Analytics Vs. KISSmetrics

Use	Google Analytics	KISSmetrics
Tracking Visitors/Visits	✔
Bounce Rate	✔
Time on Page	✔
Exits	✔
Funnels		✔
Conversions Tracking	*Must set up Goals	*Must Set up Funnel
A/B Testing	*Can be done with separate URLs	Slightly easier with KM✔
Cohort Reports		✔

What happens when you combine KISSmetrics with Google Analytics?

According to some, this is the very best option. Although many of us have tight budgets, there are those fortunate enough to have used both Google Analytics and KISSmetrics together to strengthen the power of their data and get an even better insight into the customers who visit their websites.  According to the famous “Dummies.com” Google Analytics is one of many services that KISSmetrics works well with via API integration, and the setup is simple (Poston, n.d).  

KISSmetrics has many “out of the box” tools, while Google Analtyics’s tools typically require some expertise to use. Google Analytics can still provide much of the same data with some research and additional GA insights and know-how. 

Some of the Pros and Cons to Google Analytics are outlined below. It is important to note that with Google Analytics, visits to your site that don't execute the JavaScript file won't get counted. If the code doesn't run, then __utm.gif never gets requested from the GA servers and Google Analytics will never know about the visit. Likewise, if you take the code off your site or misconfigure it so that it's not working properly, the visits during that period won't be counted (ActualMetrics Blog, 204). Also, if a visitor deletes the Google Analytics cookies, they will be seen as a new visitor in the next visit, and all information from their previous visits will be lost.  This is one of the setbacks for marketers who depend on the GA tool for customer data.  To those of your who are new to using Google Analytics, it is also important to note that GA data is processed remotely. Once the data is in the account, mistakes in the historical data cannot be reprocessed.  Some experts recommend creating a duplicate profile to use as a sandbox so that you can test filters before you apply them to your production profile (ActualMetrics Blog, 2014).   Google Analytics is a tool that goes beyond simply tracking visitors to your site; it also allows you to create specific campaigns, goals, funnels, and reports that builds actionable data-sets and provides key insight into otherwise unclear data (Edelbrock, nd). 

 References:

Edelbrock, K. (n.d.). 6 Powerful Google Analytics Features. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/google-analytics-why-you-probably-dont-need-the-rest/

Google Analytics tells you what's happening. KISSmetrics tells you who's doing it. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from https://www.kissmetrics.com

KISSmetrics. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://support.kissmetrics.com/getting-started/overview.html#how-is-kissmetrics-different-from-other-analytics-solutions

Poston, L. (n.d.). How to Combine KISSmetrics with Google Analytics. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-combine-kissmetrics-with-google-analytics.html

Sparks, C. (2014, March 11). 10 Great Social and Web Analytics Tools - Search Engine Journal. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/10-great-social-web-analytics-tools/90629/

What is the Difference Between Google Analytics and KISSmetrics? (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-analytics-and-kissmetrics/