Mobile market is growing fast but at the same time the competition for the same customers among the providers is expanding too.
As a result even the most devoted customers can switch the providers for low-cost plan, a better user experience or the latest services and devices. The simplest way to be informed with day-today market and face to the new challenges are mobile web analytics services that offer insight necessary for brands and managers to optimize their businesses by monitoring the customer’s activity.
Mobile web analytics tools are similar to traditional web analytics and study the data about the user’s access and their activity to the websites from mobile phone. Data gathered as a part of mobile analytics includes information about the user behavior: number of visits, usage, preferences; location (cities, states, countries and regions the access was made from); technical details (devices, platforms being used), error reporting (the use of current and historical reports to identify the errors that might interrupt the user experience), promotional activities, etc.
Mobile web analytics tools can work in two ways:
- Out-of-network (off-site)– the web analytics collect and monitor the data of how specific sites and applications being used form the mobile phone by its user
- In- network analytics (on-site) – installed with the operator network and monitor all mobile navigation patterns.
The data about the internet pages with out- of -network web analytics services provided with using JavaSript and cookies, while in- network work analytics services give more adequate and clear picture of what users are doing. This means that operators can understand the whole picture of consumer habits and behavior, handset information, and collecting consumer data from visited web pages.
Mobile web with varying capabilities are available at prices ranging from free (Google Analytics, Woopra: free for basic, Facebook Insights, Flurry, AdMob analytics) to tens of thousands of dollars (Mixpanel, Localytics, Kontagent etc). So choosing the right mobile web analytics tool depend on several requirements including the budget.
Below you may find the main categories that taken into account:
• Features – every analytics program has its own characteristics that help to understand the customer better.
• Traffic – it helps to track a large amount of detailed information like who visits the website, what the visitor does (on what icons he/she clicks, what views, etc), and at what point they exit the website.
• Referrals -according to the Web Analytics Association, a referrer is “the page URL that originally generated the request for the current page view or object.” Essentially, this is where your guest came from immediately before arriving on your website.
• Report Stat Intervals– it’s detailed statistics with monthly and yearly reports that shows the day or hour as well.
• Events – according to the Web Analytics Association, an event is “any logged or recorded action that has a specific date and time assigned to it by either the browser or server.”
• Visitor Details -web analytics programs keep track of each visitor to your site. This information can be used to identify target audiences, develop campaigns, or learn what might work better to increase conversions. Detailed geographic information about where the visitor is accessing the website from is also available in most cases.
• File Exporting -most web analytics programs offer a variety exporting options to meet your specific needs.
• Tech Support/Help -web analytics solutions can be very complex, so product support is provided for a period time following the initial purchase.
And now let’s see what actual practices become popular for mobile analysts:
* Google Analytics and Adobe Omniture – provide insight into website traffic and available also for mobile apps. It helps to track mobile websites, mobile apps and web-enabled mobile devices, including both high end and non-JavaScript enabled phones.
* Bango – tracks visitor’s information, who connected to Wi-FI networks, mobile marketing campaigns and one-click payments. Clients include EA Games, Facebook, Fox, Amazon, CNN and Windows Phone Store.
* WebTrends – web analytics company that also offers solutions for mobile analytics and tracking. Gives insights into in-app ad engagement, session data and conversion history.
* Localytics Mobile App Analytics– enterprise-grade app analytics tools for developers and app marketers, including audience reports, customer insights and insights that help you maximize in-app purchase revenue.
* Flurry – draws on its integration with over 200 million apps to provide developers with app store data across iOS and Android platforms. Measures consumer behavior to help developers better monetize and build more effective apps.
* Mixpanel – claims to have built the most advanced mobile and web analytics platform, analysing 6.2 billion actions every month. Provides insight into app usage and conversion optimisation. Recently launched mobile analytics for the Android platform.
Choosing the right mobile web analytics tool will have a huge impact on the success of a company’s profit grow. It will help to monitor the customer’s activity along with metrics information on mobile device.
It’s a good management strategy in order to get the success and to call out the competitors.
Thank you for your attention and please feel free to share your experience.
