the google analytics api and analytics canvas
DESCRIPTION
Google Analytics is a powerful tool, but it has some limitations, particularly with very large data. Thankfully, Google has provided an excellent API to allow access to your data- and with tools like Analytics Canvas companies are pushing what they can do with their Google Analytics data to the limit.TRANSCRIPT
AnalyticsCanvas
Using the Google Analytics API to enhance Analytics
Case studies and methods
James Standen15 years of Data warehousing and Business Intelligence
Founder of nModal Solutions Inc.
Analytics Canvas
Released Feb 2011
Google's Featured Application April 2011-Aug 2011
Selected by Google to present at Analytics Partner Summit September 2011
A powerful visual tool that makes using the Google Analytics API point and click.
In this Webinar:
What we love about Google Analytics.
What we “not so much love” about Google Analytics.
How the Google API andAnalytics Canvas can help with the challenges.
What do
we about
It’s FREE! What’s not to love about that?
It’s fast. You can create a new account, install the code and be tracking in minutes.
It’s got lots of features. More all the time in fact. This fall has been a big step change, and there are certainly lots of things to like.
Challenges
Nobody loves sampling. Google samples when more than 500,000 sessions are involved or more than 1M unique dimension combinations.
While its understandable why Google sometimes has to sample, everybody wants to have accurate, “cross-checkable” data. I haven’t found anyone yet that likes the yellow rectangle of inaccuracy.
Sampling
Particularly impacts segmented data.
Very often the value of analysis is to find the 10% that has hidden insight, the smaller the data set the less accurate the sampled results.
€£
$ SDG $ AUD
$ US
$ CND
¥
For companies that do ecommerce in multiple currencies, Google Analytics also has some serious limitations in regards to reporting.
Google Analytics does store a currency with each profile- but not all currencies are available, and it has no effect on the data, nor does it do currency conversion.
Sampling
Global ecommerce reporting
In general, cross profile reporting is a challenge. Sometimes duplicate code is installed- but it all has to be maintained, adds more profiles, and doesn’t cover historical data.
Sampling
Global ecommerce reporting
Cross profile reporting
While GA works well for a small number of analysts that can access entire profiles- if you have large numbers of users and want to control what they see, it has limited capabilities.
Sampling
Global ecommerce reporting
Cross profile reporting
Fine grained user access control
One solution:
• Much, much more data• Much higher sampling limits• Larger export capability• Better user access control• And much more.
$150,000
Another Solution:
The Google Analytics APIs
Why
+
Analytics Canvas provides a visual, easy to use user interface that lets you take advantage of the API without having to learn how to program it.And when the API changes, you don’t have to rewrite everything- just upgrade to the latest version to be able to take advantage of new features, but still use all your existing queries
Control sampling
Lets look into more detail at how we can use the API to control sampling.
Not pre-queried and:
500,000 sessionsor1M dimension value combinations
When does sampling start?
Analytics canvas lets you define a query that breaks the API requests up into small date ranges, and therefore avoids sampling by never asking for too much data. Then it combines the data sets together, giving you your exact answer- Automatically.
Cloud based data warehouse example
1) Load all historical data, partitioning to ensure no sampling
2) Incrementally load a sliding X day window of data every night automatically
Case Studies
Plus , a Franchise reporting website delivering Ad words to 50+ franchisees in an end to end solution.
Global ecommerce reporting
Q1 USD
Q2 USD
Q2 Euro
Q3 USD
Asia Q3 USD
Fairmont has many hotels, each one with its own Profile in GA, and does ecommerce in 10 Currencies. It used to mean lots of work in Spreadsheets to get reporting.
Global ecommerce reporting
$US,$CND,$AUD,$SDG,€, ¥ ,£
With Analytics Canvas, a single canvas does all the conversion, they can run the report every day if they like, and get a single currency view.
Global ecommerce reporting
Global ecommerce reporting
Automated Multi profile datamanagement
SQL Server
Multiple queries per profileas required by Business Intelligence model.
Now GSK’s Google Analytics data can be integrated into their Business Intelligence system, and combined with data from their enterprise systems.
Client: US wide franchise based retailer.
• 400+ Stores• 50+ Franchisees
Fine grained user access control and reporting
Regional Ad wordsCampaigns
Regional Landing Pages
Ad words managed by Franchisor
By building a custom website and dashboards, nModalprovided an end to end cloud based solution.
Now all of the franchisees can access the data they need, and ONLY the data they need in a set of dashboards with drill down and export capabilities.
Analytics CanvasDesktop tool
Full service end to end solutions on-premise or in the cloud.
Google Analytics API solutions from Do-it-yourself to turn key.
