Examining new features available in Google Universal Analytics, how they can be used to track customer behavior, and comparison to KISS metrics.

1. Business Intelligence with
Google Universal Analytics
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David Portnoy
Datalytx, Inc.
312.970.9740
http://LinkedIn.com/in/DavidPortnoy
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© Copyright 2013 David Portnoy and Datalytx, Inc.
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2. Google analytics has been evolving...
...to be even more compelling for BI applications, including campaign and
product optimization
Before
New since 2013
(Traditional GA)
(“Universal Analytics”)
Model for tracking data
Session oriented
User oriented
(Can tie even anonymous
user activity together and to
CRM)
How it works
Relies on cookies
Moves tracking to serverside
Non-web traffic
Must simulate (aka, “fake
it”) by requesting a page
that’s not displayed
Use Measurement Protocol

3. For website tracking
New features geared specifically to website tracking

4. Custom Dimensions vs. Variables
Before there were custom dimensions, GA made it possible to augment
insights from page hits and events with using Custom Variables. UA
enhances this capability greatly using Custom Dimensions.
There are a few key differences:
Custom Variables
Custom Dimensions
Both make it possible to apply user defined values to each hit
within the specified scope (visitor, session, page)
Managed client-side
Managed server-side
• Less data is sent with each hit
• Only index & value sent at collection
time
Name & scope must be edited within
code
More flexible: Name & scope can be
edited in web property settings without
modifying code
Each web property (collection of pages)
has only 5 custom variable “slots”
Each web property has 20 custom
dimension indices available

5. What does this mean for KISSmetrics?
UA is encroaching on the turf of a well-known player in web analytics:
KISSmetrics.
On one hand, UA has new features historically strengths of KISSmetrics
 Server-side tracking
 Universal collection
But KISSmetrics isn’t dead yet, still claiming advantages in several
capabilities
 Update historical data (specifying date), not just new incoming
 No limit for first-touch attribution (UA tracks up to 60 days before
purchase
 Track multiple purchases to get metrics like Lifetime Value, Monthly
Recurring Revenue, Churn
 Add any data using a MySQL database or CSV file
 When people become a customer, historical & anonymous data gets
connected to their customer profile retroactively

6. On Anonymous IDs
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Not intended to store PII (Personally Identifiable) data in GA accounts
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Anonymous IDs must be linked with internal company systems, such as CRM