Google Analytics vs. Open Web Analytics

Google Analytics (GA) is an extremely valuable tool for brands looking to track their website’s performance. (Google, 2018) GA allows a business to track their website visitors’ demographics, the path they took while they were on the website, the device the user was using and even more custom data the marketer can add that GA doesn’t already have pre-populated. To top it all off, GA is free for businesses to use on their website! But, is GA the only option for tracking a website’s performance? Are there any other options out there businesses can use?

It turns out, there are actually several web analytic tools out there at the disposal of digital marketers all with their own unique features, price points and data sets. Instead of taking the time to go into detail about every single one of these, one platform I’m going to specifically mention is Open Web Analytics (OWA).

The reason I chose to talk about OWA is because it’s another free platform, it’s fairly easy to install and provides some additional metrics that GA does not. (Walgrove, 2016) OWA is an open-source software so there is no limit on the amount of data a brand can track or even the amount of websites they’re looking to measure. GA only allows up to 10 million “hits” (pageviews, events, transactions, etc.) per month - to track more you can upgrade to Google Analytics 360 which is a paid service and includes more technical support.

Looking at OWA’s interface, many of the same metrics like unique visitors, average visit duration, bounce rate and revenue that marketers might be used to seeing on other web analytics platforms. Below is a screenshot of OWA’s main dashboard:

(Open Web Analytics, 2018)

This is very similar to GA’s interface which is also shown below for comparison.

(Google Analytics, 2018)

Some things that set OWA apart from GA mostly include the level of detail OWA is able to provide. (Fernando, 2014) OWA features heat maps, mouse movement recordings and DOM click tracking. (Open Web Analytics, 2018) “DOM click tracking records the entire stream of in-page events and allows you to record them for all of your visitors or just a sample percentage.” This capability allows a brand to see so much more insight into the journeys visitors to their website actually take such as any keyboard shortcuts they used and how far they scrolled down all in a single recording. (Fernado, 2014) Some downsides to OWA include that there is no mobile app available for the interface that marketers can look at on the go and you cannot export the data through the user interface, data has to be exported from your own database since the platform is hosted on your own web server. This can seem cumbersome to most marketers who are used to pulling Excel files of their data straight from GA or any other web analytics platforms.

Both GA and OWA will provide a brand with key metrics to track such as the visitor’s location, the pages they looked at when they got onto the site as well as unique visitors, bounce rate and average session duration. You can also look at the traffic source detail on both platforms and see where exactly users are coming from whether it’s from an organic search, social or they bookmarked the page. Both platforms are free to use (unless you need the extra capabilities with Google Analytics 360) and are set up with similar pie charts and line graphs that make the data easy to read.

Unlike GA, OWA allows a brand to look into more detail on specific paths and features of a page a user clicked on. OWA offers heat maps (pictured below) that provides updated information on where users clicked the most and where they took action. OWA is also hosted on your own web server but doesn’t allow you to export the data directly from the interface.

(Open Web Analytics, 2018)

With any web analytics software, there will be pros and cons to each and it really comes down to making sure a  brand chooses the right software that most closely fits their needs and current capabilities so there isn’t time or resources wasted on a platform that doesn’t deliver the right results. Avinash Kaushik outlines the questions companies should ask themselves when they are looking to implement a web analytics software in his book Web Analytics 2.0: the art of online accountability & science of customer centricity. (Kaushik, 2010) The questions that should be answered before implementing web analytics are:

1.       “Do I want reporting or analysis?”

2.       “Do I have IT strength, business strength, or both?”

3.       “Am I solving just for Clickstream or for Web Analytics 2.0?”

Kaushik then goes on to list more specific questions to ask each of the vendors when the selection is narrowed down but as long as companies always start with the three questions listed above they will be much more likely to choose a web analytics software that best meets their needs.

Figuring out whether an organization needs reporting or analysis is critical because these are actually two completely different things. (Kaushik, 2010) The huge difference is that analysis provides insights and next steps into what the data is telling you while reporting simply provides the data key decision makers need to process and decide for themselves what the correct course of action will be. Reporting only is useful for large organizations that have several different matrix partners weigh in on key metrics and business objectives for the brand.

Also knowing where your current strengths lie – whether it’s in IT or business – is another helpful question to answer. (Kaushik, 2010) Successfully implementing web analytics software to properly track information on any website is hard to do and requires specific IT knowledge. If a brand is lacking in this area but has strong business (marketing, sales, and analysis) skills, then outsourcing this skill or working directly with the third party software if it’s at all possible will be extremely helpful in choosing the appropriate analytics software.

Finally, knowing whether an organization has a clickstream or a broader Web Analytics 2.0 mindset is another important question to answer when deciding on a web analytics software. (Kaushik, 2010) Whether the business is looking to understand clicks or needs a more robust platform with both quantitative and qualitative data provided can seriously impact which analytics platform they will end up using for their website.

With most things in digital marketing, there is no one right answer on which platform to use or which metrics to track. As long as brands take a good look at their current strengths and what they’re trying to solve through their analytics platform, they should have an easier time at deciding on one that works for them. Both GA and OWA are great platforms that are free to use and provide very robust, detailed data that will help them make better business decisions.

Fernando, D. (2014). Web Analytics Tools: Analytical Tools Other Than Google Analytics. Woorank. Retrieved February 5, 2018 from https://www.woorank.com/en/blog/analytical-tools-other-than-google-analytics

Google. (2018). Google Analytics Solutions. Retrieved February 5, 2018 from https://www.google.com/analytics/analytics/features/

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web Analytics 2.0: the art of online accountability & science of customer centricity. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishin Inc.

Open Web Analytics. (2018). Retrieved February 5, 2018 from http://www.openwebanalytics.com/?page_id=2

Walgrove, A. (2016). The Top 10 Free Content Analytics Tools. Contently. Retrieved February 5, 2018 from https://contently.com/strategist/2016/08/02/the-top-10-free-content-analytics-tools/