KISSmetrics vs. Google Analytics: Battle of the web analytics tool

So by now we have all started to become more and more familiar with the functionality and use of Google Analytics and can see that it is a rather robust tool at a very effective cost. Google Analytics is by far the most popular web analytics tool in the market place. Google Analytics is geared towards Internet marketers and small business owners who want to learn more about their website. It helps marketers and website owners better understand web traffic patterns, traffic sources, conversions, and so much more (Sparks, 2014). In all seriousness, when doing an online search to find other web analytics tools to write about for this assignment, Google Analytics was listed as number one in almost every article I found.

So finding another web analytics tool to research and write about started out a bit frustrating as everyone LOVES Google Analytics. After reading some of the posts that other students have already posted and completing my research, I decided to focus on KISSmetrics.

KISSmetrics tells you in great detail what your website visitors are doing on your website before, during and after they buy from you. Google may tell you what is happening on your website, but KISSmetrics will tell you specifically who is doing it and when. The tool allows you to track the movements of individual visitors throughout your site. You can track and follow how their behaviors change over time, identify patterns, and see what the most common and recent referrers are (Jantsch, 2012).

Screenshot taken on 2/17/15 from SearchEngineJournal.com

So one of the most common questions you probably get or even ask yourself is how are any of these other web analytics tools different from Google Analytics. The biggest differences being cost, how they each handle tracking, and what you can and cannot do with each tool.

How Google Analytics and KISSmetrics Track People

At its core, KISSmetrics analytics is focused on people. In the KISSmetrics platform, every visit to your website gets tied to a person. Most people use KISSmetrics to track individual people. Google Analytics only added people tracking as a feature and most people who use Google Analytics may ever actually touch that feature (KISSmetrics, 2014).

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. For example, if a person visits your website one day, and then returns another day to finally register, only the last session in which the user registered is tied to the user ID. Essentially, that first session is lost. With KISSmetrics, all data from a person’s previous sessions is assigned to an alias.

Screenshots from KISSmetrics Blog.

In another example, if a customer comes to your site and registers and then logs out and then the next visit, doesn’t login in at all, what happens to the data from the second visit? Since KISSmetrics is able to read the cookies associated with the device this customer used, this tool is still able to track the user. Google Analytics isn’t as simple as the user would need to see this person’s user ID every time they visited the site. Because every session needs a user ID defined in order to connect that session to a person, Google Analytics would assume that this users second visit was just a completely different person.

Screenshots from KISSmetrics Blog.

Most analytics platforms need to make one of two assumptions when tracking users:

• Each visit from the same device is coming from the same person.
• Each visit should be treated as a new person until they identify themselves. 

KISSmetrics assumes that activity on one device is coming from the same person and that if one person visits your site on multiple devices, that the tool will recognize them once they sign in and will then tie them back to the customer ID that is assigned to them.

Google Analytics assumes that each visit is from a new person. The only way around this issue is to essentially identify each person in each session based on the actions the user takes while visiting the site (KISSmetrics, 2014).

So how do KISSmetrics and Google Analytics Differ in other areas of web analytics?

As you may already know, KISSmetrics and Google Analytics are not the same. Yes, they are both analytics tools that track users actions, but there are a few differences in other common uses.

Tracking Visitors and Visits: While KISSmetrics can track visitors, if all you are interested in doing is tracking visitors and visits, you may want to use Google instead.

Tracking Bounce Rate, Time on Page, and Exits: KISSmetrics does not currently track these metrics so it’s best to stick with Google on this too.

Conversion Tracking: By tracking conversion, you are essentially looking at the percentage of people who have done a specific action on your site. In Google Analytics you will set up goals (in a 90-day limit) to track this. By default, conversions typically have to happen on the same visit, which is useful if you want to test and track conversions that happen immediately. In KISSmetrics, you would need to set up a funnel report to track conversions.

Screenshot from KISSmetrics Blog

A/B Testing: For Google Analytics, the best way to do A/B testing is to set up two separate URLs to be associated with two difference pieces of content. With KISSmetrics, you are able to integrate A/B Testing tools such as Optimizely and connect that data with the A/B test report. All the data collected will get connected back to actual people.

Screenshot from KISSmetrics Blog

Cost is another facture

We all know that Google Analytics is a free tool, which easily fits in to most businesses marketing budget. KISSmetrics on the other hand requires a bit of cost behind it.

Screenshot taken from KISSmetric Pricing page.

So which do we use? Google Analytics or KISSmetrics?

The truth is that Google Analytics can provide a world of insight in to how customers interact with your website. In fact, I would be hard-pressed to find many sites or even blogs that don’t currently use it on their site (at least public websites, Government websites are a different story). According to KISSmetrics, many customers use KISSmetrics alongside Google Analytics. Google Analytics can provide session data, page engagements, and referral traffic. KISSmetrics can be used to gather insights into how customers are actually using the site, document A/B tests, and in all gather data that can help make better business decisions.

In the end, we can conclude that while KISSmetrics is a valuable web analytics tool, it would be even more valuable while using along side Google Analytics.

What other web analytics tools do you think are valuable?

What do you look for in a web analytics tool?

Source:

Jantsch, J. (2012, July 23). The 10 Smartest Web Analytics Tools. American Express Open Forum. Retrieved from https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/the-10-smartest-web-analytics-tools/#_topcommentform

KISSmetrics blog. (2014). What is the Difference between Google Analytics and KISSmetrics. Retrieved from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-analytics-and-kissmetrics/

KISSmetrics. (2015). Pricing. Retrieved from https://www.kissmetrics.com/pricing

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