Piwik Analytics - Funny name... Seriously good analytics!
Updated May 29, 2014
Piwik Analytics - Funny name... Seriously good analytics!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
2.2.2
Modules Used
- WP-Piwik (WordPress)
Overall Satisfaction with Piwik
I am currently using Piwik Analytics as a supplement to Google Analytics and other minor WordPress Analytics plugins.
Right out of the "box" Piwik Analytics provides insights that either need to be set up in Google Analytics or (to my knowledge) do not exist. Piwik Analytics gives some tremendously useful and valuable granular insights broken down by individual sessions. I love having the ability to see the path a visitor took, where they went, spent their time and even what they downloaded.
Currently, Piwik Analytics is only used in the Marketing Department... specifically me. Although I do not have a lot of free time to really dive in, learn how to customized Piwik Analytics and set up custom reports; with very little effort I was able to quickly install the program and immediately fill the gaps in our current Analytics reporting. Additionally, having the WP-Piwik plugin loaded on all of our WordPress web sites gives me a very valuable, quick snapshot of the current state of affairs right from the WordPress Administrator dashboard.
Right out of the "box" Piwik Analytics provides insights that either need to be set up in Google Analytics or (to my knowledge) do not exist. Piwik Analytics gives some tremendously useful and valuable granular insights broken down by individual sessions. I love having the ability to see the path a visitor took, where they went, spent their time and even what they downloaded.
Currently, Piwik Analytics is only used in the Marketing Department... specifically me. Although I do not have a lot of free time to really dive in, learn how to customized Piwik Analytics and set up custom reports; with very little effort I was able to quickly install the program and immediately fill the gaps in our current Analytics reporting. Additionally, having the WP-Piwik plugin loaded on all of our WordPress web sites gives me a very valuable, quick snapshot of the current state of affairs right from the WordPress Administrator dashboard.
Pros
- Default Admin dashboard provides a ton of very useful information that is easily maneuvered around with "click-n-drag" to meet your preferences
- Provides some very valuable granular insights by default without needing to do additional customizations
- Breaks down insights into categories, then sub-categories which allow you to really drill down
- Compiles and presents the data in a nice, visually friendly way
Cons
- I wish there were some additional pre-formatted tiles/tabs to choose from
- Creating custom data sets for tiles/tabs is not straightforward and there isn't much in the way of explanations on how to do it
- I have clicked the "WP-Piwik - SEO" button in setting/statistics but can't seem to get the data to populate. Again, not much in the way of "Help" on the site to assist in figuring it out.
- Piwik has enabled us to determine the value of content offered for download
- It is has provided a more granular view of geographical engagement
- By having access to more data and insights, we are better able to guide our marketing efforts
- Google Analytics,bing webmaster tools,Google Webmaster Tools
We are a pretty small company and even smaller Marketing shop. We use tools from both Google and Bing but have not had the financial freedom to explore additional tools out there. I have looked at Moz and would really like to evaluate that one at some point. For real hard-core Analytics, look into the Adobe products such as Business Catalyst. I had the opportunity to experience that for a little while at a previous employer.
Using Piwik
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Initial dashboard view is comprehensive
- Top menu provides nice deep dive into individual metrics
- Detail provided is easy understand
- Still haven't figured out how to make a custom view
- This is not for a beginner or novice...you need to have at least an intermediate knowledge of code
- Adding geo-location info could be difficult for beginners
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