Analytics and web analysis – what is it and why?
Essentially, when people talk about web analysis, they also speak of web trackers, analytics or analytics tools.
These tools are able to show, through linking with a website (domain, e.g. myshop.com), whether users come from organic search, paid search, retargeting, or from affiliate marketing measures. It can also be tracked whether the user has generated a conversion.
What can a web tracker capture?
It is impossible to list all key figures here. But here are a few essential ones. Importantly, the web analytics tools presented below can be used in line with European data protection law (the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)), provided they are configured correctly and, where required, users have given their consent. What can web trackers essentially show?
- Place of origin (country, city, continent)
- Device access (i.e., whether your website has been accessed via smartphone, tablet, or desktop PCs/laptops)
- Access via online marketing channel (SEO, SEA, display, newsletter, affiliate, Facebook advertising)
- Conversion rates (which can also be filtered by channel or country of origin)
- Loading speeds of individual URLs (web pages)
- Bounce rate
- Exit rate
- Time on Site (i.e. how much time users have spent on your pages)
- And much more …
Why should I use web analytics?
If you run a blog so successfully that, for example, a large online retailer asks whether they could place advertising for their range of ties, you should know how many clicks the blog receives. Additionally, you will want to verify whether the retailer is correctly counting traffic and, above all, the commissionable sales. If this is done, for example, on the basis of clicks on an advertisement (banner or similar), it should be verifiable.
Assuming the partnership (in this case, it would be an affiliate partnership) develops very successfully and there is a lot of money to be made from this cooperation right from the start, you will wonder how revenue could continue to grow. The next goal could very well be to get more traffic to the blog. This could be achieved through search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine advertising (SEA). However, this only works if monitoring tools are in place. And thus, a hobby becomes a business, and web analytics becomes essential!
If your business has conversion goals, you will also have to use a tracking tool.
Overview of the 4 most important web tracking tools
It is impossible to know them all, so here is a selection made by our colleagues (sorted alphabetically).
Econda, the e-commerce business solution
The analysis tool from Karlsruhe is primarily designed for medium to large online shops. The tool is versatile and can be expanded at any time with custom solutions. This also makes it very well suited to uncovering usability potential. Bearing in mind that it is a paid tool, you can put it together like a modular kit. Our experience is that the implementation and initial configuration are quite time-consuming and require some expertise. However, it is definitely worth it, especially if you want to professionally optimise your online shop and get to know your customers. What is particularly exciting is that you can evaluate your offline campaigns and that you can link your own CRM or product data with the tool. The company also offers training, consulting, and workshops in addition to the software. For prices and conditions, you should contact Econda’s sales department.
For smaller online presences, we would point you to the following tools (especially because the cost factor is simply more manageable there).
Etracker, for smaller shops and web projects
Etracker comes from Germany and also hosts its data there – which may provide greater reassurance for privacy-sensitive individuals. This tool is primarily optimised for the operation of online shops. In addition, it is possible to connect to common content management systems (WordPress, Drupal, etc.) or shop systems such as Oxid, Magento, and Shopware. Additionally, the tool offers a connection to Google Ads, which makes things much easier for shops that run SEA. UX analyses are also offered. A special feature, however, is the so-called “Cookie Less” solution, which means that an opt-in for tracking & cookies is not necessarily required despite the GDPR. Your users will thank you for it. The operating costs are very manageable, although we still recommend a personal consultation.
Google Analytics, the classic
With the seamless integration with all other Google products (Google Search Console, Data Studio, Google Ads), Google Analytics is certainly the market leader. The tool is an ideal solution for bloggers and micro-enterprises as well as for medium-sized businesses and larger shops in its very extensive basic version (upgrade only recommended for very large internet businesses). Since the European market is extremely important for Google, the provider always responds promptly to changes in data protection regulations. However, this does not automatically make its use unproblematic under data protection law: as a rule, you need your users’ consent (e.g. via a consent banner), a privacy-compliant configuration and a notice in your privacy policy. If in doubt, have its use checked by a legal expert. You should also know that the data is not hosted in Germany. What makes using Google Analytics exciting is implementation via Google Tag Manager. This allows for significantly more precise usage data to be collected, especially regarding A/B testing. For Google Chrome, there are some interesting analytics apps that can noticeably simplify website analysis. On 1 July 2023, Google Universal Analytics was shut down and replaced by Google Analytics 4. Since then, website data can only be tracked with Google Analytics via the version Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
Matomo (Piwik), for data security
Matomo (formerly Piwik) is a serious alternative to Google Analytics and has a unique market advantage: data security through tool & data hosting on your own web server. This protects the data from external access. The open-source software is continuously developed and now also has interfaces to Google Ads and Google Search Console. So if you are looking for a truly secure and successful free web tracking alternative, you are in the right place. The once-justified concerns about the lack of user-friendliness due to a very nerdy web interface are now unfounded. The documentation is available only in English, which certainly is no longer a limitation today. However, its user interface can be switched to German and 50 other languages. In addition, Matomo has had its own tag manager solution since 2018. Installing it on your own server requires some technical knowledge, but rewards you – as mentioned – with absolute security. Alternatively, there is also a paid cloud solution (data hosting in Frankfurt), which can also be tested as a free version (https://matomo.org/pricing/).
If you need help optimising or setting up web tracking on your website, feel free to send us a message. We are happy to assist you!
