Monday, November 7, 2016

Is Clicky the way to track?


Clicky is a popular alternative to Google Analytics that has many similar features, but also some unique reporting that sets it apart.  Clicky prides itself on real time analytics on every report that is run.  Similar to Google Analytics, Clicky can provide reporting on various parts of analytics with times and actions for users.  Segmentation of users is available, along with segmentation by multiple variables.  This is helpful for marketers that are looking for common similarities among the brand’s website visitors.  Goals and conversations along with campaign tracking are also available in Click, similar to Google Analytics.  This feature helps with the tracking of campaigns and measurement of webpage successes.  Marketers can also look at multi day tracking in both systems, which helps spot trends in the data over a specific period of time.  One of the other similarities is that both have customizable dashboards for easy marketer use.  These dashboards can be pre-populated to give the important statistics and data at first glance.  While both are free initially, Clicky does have a charge for a webpage over 3,000 views or for any additional webpage.  Additionally, there is a cost for additional features and higher webpage views with Clicky, including options for monthly and yearly plans.  Clicky provides a breakdown of the comparison with Google Analytics on their webpage, a snapshot of which is seen below:



In addition to the features listed above, Clicky also has some additional assets that a marketer could find helpful and insightful.  Clicky’s tracking allows for custom data to be connected to visitors along with historical tracking.  This really creates a detailed profile of the visitor for the marketer.  Another feature of Clicky that marketers may like is that it blocks spam, to ensure that statistics and measurements are accurate with real users.  Additionally, Clicky features heatmaps tracking user sessions for those that complete a goal.  These heatmaps help Clicky users understand their visitor’s path through the webpage for individual visitors as well as a per page view. 

Click also notifies the client when the site is offline for any reason.  This reduces downtime of pages and lost data because of a possible malfunction with the page.  Proactive efforts like this can lead to more accurate data and no loss of revenue.  Clicky can notify the user of a downed page in various manners, with client’s choosing the quickest mode of communication.  In addition to downtime alerts, Clicky informs,”users of specific events, based on triggers, so you never miss out on important information. Triggers include new visitors, goals, campaigns, searches, referrers, IP tags and custom data” (Angeles, 2014), allowing the users to be notified of the events they deem important. 

 Clicky is also very easy to view in mobile form for analytics on the go.  Again, this is mode allows the client to pick and choose the way that they are seeing their analytics and allows them freedom to view their information on different devices.  There are four different mobile apps that can be used for viewing Clicky on the move.  Additionally, Clicky has a few plug-ins for popular blogging platform such as Wordpress.  Many of Clicky’s features such as this are geared towards client convenience.  Clicky seems to be more user focused that Google Analytics which is information focused. 
As with every comparable analytics tool, Clicky has some drawbacks.  The main issue with Clicky is that many of the premium features are additional costs.  Spy, where a marketer can in real time watch people that are on their webpage, is one of these unique features that is an additional cost.  Heatmaps are another innovative feature that are only included in the paid account types.  Custom account aside, the highest cost for Clicky is $159.99 or $19.99 per month for the Pro Platinum account that includes all the features.  Most marketers could find easy justification for this price based on their revenue gained from the analytics insights Clicky provides. 

One feature mentioned is posed as a negative for Google Analytics.  Google Analytics leaves a footprint that can be viewed, “anybody can do a View Page Source from their browser and find out what your GA UA code if you have Google analytics installed” (McFadden 2015).  It would be interesting to test this to see if this is verified.  It would be up for debate if this could be a negative as analytics tracking is generally accepted or understood.  With Google Analytics as the main analytics tracking system, there are many tutorials and guides.  Clicky isn’t as popular so the support material is more limited for this system. 

Overall it is important to research and understand a web analytics system before purchasing.  It may be worth testing one and then testing the other, weighing the pros and cons of each.  This is the best way to understand if the web analytics tool is right for that webpage. 

References:

Angeles, S. (2014). 3 Google Analytics Alternatives (and Why You Should Use Them). Retrieved November 06, 2016, from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6090-google-analytics-alternatives.html

Clicky. Retrieved November 06, 2016, from https://clicky.com/

Connell, A. (2015). 8 Google Analytics Alternatives. Retrieved November 06, 2016, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/9-google-analytics-alternatives/92071/


McFadden, K. (2015). Why I use Clicky Instead of Google Analytics. Retrieved November 06, 2016, from http://smartbusinesstrends.com/clicky-review/

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