Sealed with a Kiss

Is It One Tool or the Other?

Before I dive into explaining a bit more about a tool similar to Google Analytics, I think it’s important to note that marketers don’t have to choose one tool over the other. There are plenty of analytics tools out there that assist businesses in tracking things like keywords, online behavior of site visitors, sourced website traffic, and much more. I believe that the smartest marketers should use tools in tandem with each other, so they can learn the most about the true performance of their website.

Jamie Gibson calls Google Analytics an “industry standard”, which it is, but using GA in tandem with other analytics tools can really help businesses connect the dots of visits and behaviors on their site (Gibson, 2016). Aaron Wall suggests using at least two analytics tools to set a baseline of data in case something begins to change on your site; for example, webmasters who though they may be recovering from an update from Google could dive into their analytics platforms to see if there were any other arbitrary changes that could have caused an uptick in their website’s performance (Wall, 2011).

Which Tool Do I Choose?

With so many tools on the market, businesses may be overwhelmed or confused at which tools will help them understand their website and how to increase performance. Businesses and their marketing teams should discuss the ultimate goal of using multiple analytics tools and determine what they’re really looking to understand the most about. Are you looking to increase your backlinks? I’d suggest a tool like MajesticSEO. Wondering what your competition is up to? Maybe you can look into Ahrefs.

If you’re looking for a tool that is pretty comparable to GA with a little more focus on the behavior of engagement within your audience, I would suggest Kissmetrics. Kissmetrics is an analytics platform, founded by Neil Patel in 2008, that is used to “understand, segment, and engage your customers based on their behavior” (Kissmetrics Product, n.d.). At the core of the product, Kissmetrics is about people and how individuals act on your site, while GA, mostly, looks at visitors from a holistic level.

Kissmetrics can help businesses determine what campaigns are bringing in the most money, what products customers love the most, where your customers are dropping off your website, and how you can improve the functionality of your business. At its source, Kissmetrics is a conversion tracking tool that analyzes the behaviors of individuals; the tool can segment similar individuals together to create populations and then assist in creating campaigns that those specific populations or segments will react to (Bulygo, n.d.).

Kissmetrics vs. Google Analytics

Both analytics tools track people and their behavior, the difference is in how they do it. GA tracks website visits in sessions, while Kissmetrics combines sessions, if the user is signed in. Kissmetrics “assumes that activity on one device is coming from the same person” because that devices has been identified through a customer ID (Bulygo, n.d.). Google assumes that each individual visit is from a new visitor or person.

When it comes to conversions, I personally believe that Kissmetrics wins out over GA. Both platforms allow users to set up tracking so you are able to measure how well your efforts are performing in getting customers to make a purchase, or downloading a guide. Google has a 90-day limit on the conversion reports and conversions have to happen in the same visit, since GA does not track multiple sessions by the same person. Kissmetrics allows marketers to set up conversion tracking over a period of multiple sessions, if the user is signed in (Bulygo, n.d.).

For A/B testing, GA does allow businesses to run tests, but these tests must be hosted on two different URLs, while Kissmetrics allows businesses to connect other analytics tools, like Optimizely, to their reports so businesses can understand which test won, without having to separate the data under two different URL strings. Again, GA will only track an individual session, while Kissmetrics gathers data across multiple sessions from the same user.

Bulygo outlines a few use cases for which tool is better, depending on what you’re attempting to track (n.d.):

• Visitors & Visits: Both tools can track these, but if this is all you’re looking to track, you’re better off with Google Analytics, because it’s free to set up on websites.

•  Bounce Rate, Time on Page, Exit Rate: Kissmetrics does not track these metrics, so Google Analytics would be the tool to use.

• Funnels: Both tools have the ability to create funnels, but Google Analytics will only track individual sessions, while Kissmetrics can track multiple visits. Kissmetrics also has the ability to pull historical data.

Kissmetrics also allows the integration of other platforms to really increase the level of engagement over social media, email, and optimization. Marketers can incorporate other marketing tools like MailChimp, Optimizely, and Hubspot which can help with nurturing customers and making sure you’re engaging with them through channels that they’re most receptive to (Integrations, n.d.).

Regardless of which tools you choose to use in your marketing efforts, be sure that the ones you choose can answer the questions you’re most looking for answers to. Google Analytics can provide information regarding your website traffic on a larger scale, but if you’re really trying to understand your audience, or audiences, and their behavior on your website, I would recommend Kissmetrics. This analytics tool allows you to segment your audiences based on similar behavior and focus different campaigns to each segments based on how you believe they will react to help drive conversions.

Shay Sharon at CardioLog Analytics calls Kissmetrics the “most advanced analytics tool in this field” and when it comes to truly understanding the behaviors of your customers or potential customers and making data-driven decisions based on the analytics collected, I would have to agree (Sharon, 2014). It’s important to track the customer’s journey from beginning to end, even if that journey takes place over multiple website sessions, Kissmetrics gives marketers and businesses the ability to do this and truly understand what it takes to make a sale. 

References

Bulygo, Z. (n.d.). What is the Difference Between Google Analytics and Kissmetrics?. Kissmetrics. Retrieved on February 4, 2018 from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-analytics-and-kissmetrics/

Gibson, J. (2016, September 6) Enhancing behavioural insights by using multiple analytics tools. Medium. Retrieved on February 4, 2018 from https://medium.com/vizzuality-blog/enhancing-behavioural-insights-by-using-multiple-analytics-tools-9dd283a6abbf

Integrations. (n.d.). Kissmetrics. Retrieved on February 4, 2018 from https://www.kissmetrics.com/integrations/

Product. (n.d.). Kissmetrics. Retrieved on February 4, 2018 from https://www.kissmetrics.com/product/

Sharon, S. (2014, February 27). The Full Customer Journey – Managing User Identities with Google Universal, Mixpanel and KISSmetrics. CardioLog Analytics. Retrieved on February 4, 2018 from http://blog.intlock.com/full-customer-journey-part-iimanaging-user-identities-google-universal-mixpanel-kissmetrics/

Wall, A. (2011, August 17). Why You Should Use Multiple Web Analytics Tools. SEO Book. Retrieved February 4, 2018 from http://www.seobook.com/multiple-web-analytics