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Google Analytics is the best Free Analytics tool out there
Updated July 22, 2021

Google Analytics is the best Free Analytics tool out there

John Laudisio | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Google Analytics

Overall Satisfaction with Google Analytics

Google Analytics is used as one of the main reporting engines for our company. It quickly gives us insight into where are traffic is coming from, breakdowns of who is purchasing, and detailed, itemized sales history. We also use Google Analytics to track individual marketing campaign performance, like ad hoc emails or social campaigns.
  • Gives detailed demographics
  • Allows you to segment out traffic to analyze
  • Shows where your traffic is coming from
  • Can't accurately track returns / fraud orders
  • Can be difficult to set up correctly sometimes (especially in the new interface)
  • Mainly uses last click attribution
  • Sales by Channel
  • Ecommerce Product Performance
  • Realtime visitor info
  • GA is free so there is a ton of value
  • Knowing your audience leads to better marketing
Google Analytics is free and also is a leader in the analytics world. The amount of data captured is remarkable and the ability to segment out different sets of traffic can provide much needed insight into your customer base and website traffic. We have not explored other analytics tools since GA accomplishes all the things we need it for - and does it at no cost.

Do you think Google Analytics delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Analytics's feature set?

Yes

Did Google Analytics live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Google Analytics go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Google Analytics again?

Yes

Google Analytics is free, which is one of the best parts about it. Once set up, it provides access to a large portion of the information you would need to optimize marketing campaigns and your website overall. Knowing who is visiting your site is the first step to optimizing your marketing efforts and GA does exactly that.

Using Google Analytics

50 - Our users of Google Analytics are typically split between our marketing team (seven people), client services team (over twenty-five people), and Business Intelligence team consisting of four people. Engineering and creative also have access, but don't use it as much as the other departments; we are aiming to change that.
3 - We have several admins of our over arching Google Analytics account(s) that help set up new accounts, add new users to existing accounts, and stay abreast of any day to day changes that may need to happen. In general, once it's set up correctly, it's mostly a set it and forget it use case.
  • Tracking Traffic Sources
  • Monitoring Campaign Performance
  • Seeing Sales Data
  • Identifying User Behavior
  • Focusing on specific platforms where the users are
  • Identifying Sales Trends
  • Following traffic sources
We will continue to use Google Analytics for several reasons. It is free, which is a huge selling point. It houses all of our ecommerce stores' data, and though it can't account for refunds or fraud orders, gives us and our clients directional, real time information on individual and group store performance.

Evaluating Google Analytics and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
The fact that Google Analytics is free was a huge factor. We have experimented with other data and analytics platforms, but ultimately these are just tools and it all depends on how you use them. For our needs, Google Analytics in combination with our in house reporting tools gives us all we need.
I would not change anything - I would stay with Google Analytics and not even bother with other analytics tools.

Google Analytics Implementation

I didn't have to do it personally - but our team can quickly launch Google Analytics for new accounts very quickly.
  • Implemented in-house
  • Linking all of our stores into one master GA account

Google Analytics Training

  • no training
You will need some guidance to get up and running. If there isn't anyone in house that can help show you around Google Analytics, there are plenty of YouTube videos that can teach you the basics so you will be up and running quickly.

Configuring Google Analytics

It is just right for our ecommerce stores and since Google Analytics is free, there is zero complaining about the feature set. If we needed something else, we would have to go pay for it.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code

Google Analytics Support

It mostly falls on us to correctly set up and support Google Analytics. That said, it is not a particularly daunting task to get it set up correctly, and once it is, there is little to no extra work to maintain that connection. Google does have some help offerings but we haven't had to use them.
ProsCons
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
No escalation required
Support cares about my success
None
We have not purchased premium support for Google Analytics; our in house team has been able to successfully navigate any and all issues.
I cannot.

Using Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a great tool to give insight into your websites. That said, it is exactly that - a tool - so you will need to learn how to best use this tool for your specific needs. For our ecommerce sites, Google Analytics provides many ways to slice and dice our web traffic so we know what's happening in our stores.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Lots to learn
  • Identifying marketing channel performance
  • Identifying Product Sales
  • Identifying web traffic demographics
  • Some segmenting
  • Honing in on specific user behavior
Yes - Some aspects work really well, but desktop is a much cleaner and easier to use interface. For real-time stats on the go, the mobile interface is a nice addition for us internally and clients externally. It is much harder to get specifics on mobile than it is desktop, but still a nice addition to the software as a whole.

Google Analytics Reliability

Google Analytics runs 24 hours a day and rarely do we see any issues with going down or missing particular data.
There are rarely any outages or application errors. If there are errors, the vast majority of the time it is user error and not the fault of Google.
When creating segments, sometimes Google Analytics will take a bit or more than likely slow down older computers a bit. That said, in general google analytics is extremely reliable and is there when you need it.

Integrating Google Analytics

Our team can quickly and easily set up Google Analytics for any new store in a matter of minutes.
  • Proprietary Ecommerce System
It was not difficult
  • No
N/A
N/A
If you are not technical, spend some time watching YouTube videos on how to set up Google Analytics or pay someone to knock it out for you.

Relationship with Google

Google makes it very easy to set up Google Analytics without their assistance.
This software is free so there was no sale.
N/A
N/A

Upgrading Google Analytics