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Beyond Google Analytics, What kind of tracking software do you use?

Marketing, social media, advertising

BizyDad

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I detailed my tracking methods here:

Track As Much As Possible

Nobody has an unlimited budget. Nobody wants to waste money. It is imperative to stretch every dollar of the budget as much as possible. But you won’t know what is working if you don’t track it, right?

So we use callrail.com for our call tracking and call recording, integrated with Google Analytics. (We report first time callers to Analytics to best reflect actual results generated)

We’ll also use a call tracking number for our TV ads, TV spots, Postcards/Direct Mail pieces, Billboards, Street signs, Digital ads when possible. Pretty much everywhere except a directory or a Google/Bing/Apple/Mapquest map listing.

We’ll also use tracking domains to track our offline effort. We forward them to URL’s with UTM parameters. Sorry for the tech babble, let me see if I can explain it simply.

Let's say we've got a billboard to promote the forum. So we set up something like www.fastlanefreedom.com and set it to redirect to www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/?utm_source=billboard&utm_medium=offline&utm_campaign=3rdAve

In this case, a billboard on 3rd Ave will say visit fastlanefreedom.com and when they type that in they’ll come to this forum, but analytics will track that they saw the 3rd Ave Billboard.

You can use the same tactic for your street signs, your postcards, etc. We use this free Google tool to set up those UTM values - Campaign URL Builder — Google Analytics Demos & Tools

We also use appropriate tracking pixels for social ads, programmatic ads, etc. And to track the effects of press or other difficult to track marketing mediums, I will dig into the search volume to see what kind of lift we received in the days that follow a new marketing article. We promote our actual domain in press, for SEO reasons.

Lastly, we trained staff to ask clients how they heard about us. Some of that data is reliable "I drove by" or "so and so told me" and some is not "I saw you online".

The truth is, there is no perfect tracking solution. There is always stuff that will slip through the cracks. In the end, we do the best we can and this kind of set up gives us more than enough data to make educated choices about our marketing efforts.

But I don't know what I don't know.

For example, lately I've been thinking that when I start an ecommerce store, I might want to move beyond Google analytics.

I know there's other solutions out there that get more granular on a user basis.

I did a search for some threads on tracking, and they're all 6 years old or older.

Have you had any experience with paid tracking platforms? Does anyone have any feedback on HubSpot, Zoho, or similar platforms?

I guess my question is what software do you use for tracking your online results and why?
 
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alexkuzmov

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I detailed my tracking methods here:



But I don't know what I don't know.

For example, lately I've been thinking that when I start an ecommerce store, I might want to move beyond Google analytics.

I know there's other solutions out there that get more granular on a user basis.

I did a search for some threads on tracking, and they're all 6 years old or older.

Have you had any experience with paid tracking platforms? Does anyone have any feedback on HubSpot, Zoho, or similar platforms?

I guess my question is what software do you use for tracking your online results and why?

Give this a check: Yandex.Metrica — free All-Round Web Analytics: session replay, heat maps and form analytics combined with advanced reporting tools

Also, what is it that you want to track?
Google Analytics is pretty powerful and has aloooot of options.
I cant think of something that I would want to track in a ecommerce store that the store itself + GA cant provide.
 

BizyDad

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Thanks. I guess I have two goals.

First, like I said in my post, I don't know what I don't know. I'm looking for people who have used other platforms to tell me what GA doesn't do and why they like another platform better.

Great example, I didn't even realize the Yandex did analytics. So I'll check that out, thanks.

But I'm also looking for something that will allow me to track at a granular user level. That's something GA won't do.

As a couple of hypothetical uses...

Being able to pull a list of users who haven't ordered in 6 months to throw into an audience or send emails or postcards to reactivate them.

Being able to see a users entire history of interaction with my site and marketing efforts before I hop on a sales call.
 

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Sounds like you're looking for a CRM (customer relationship manager) based on your examples of HubSpot and Zoho. Google Analytics is for the macro, a good CRM is for the micro.

I use AgileCRM for my B2B outbound, and it's capable of tracking individuals once they're in the system. So for instance, I have a prospect Robert that I want to reach out to and have his email. If I send him an email and he clicks through to the website, it's able to record what pages he went to, for how long, where he left, if he started a checkout process, etc.

Once they're customers, I use Klaviyo to continue communication. It also can track what the first page a customer visited, where they went to, what emails they've opened, etc. For instance, about an hour ago someone placed an order. On their profile, it shows how they found me (Google), when they created an account and whatnot.

30071
30072

On another account, someone that's been using the site for a few months, it tracks their time for each visit and the last page they visited.

30073

You can also easily create segmented lists like your 6-month example. So I could create a new segment of VIP Customers that haven't placed an order in the last 30 days and send them a win-back email.

@AllenCrawley has a great thread on the Inside and is what convinced me to switch. It's freaking great.
 
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BizyDad

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Sounds like you're looking for a CRM (customer relationship manager) based on your examples of HubSpot and Zoho. Google Analytics is for the macro, a good CRM is for the micro.

I use AgileCRM for my B2B outbound, and it's capable of tracking individuals once they're in the system. So for instance, I have a prospect Robert that I want to reach out to and have his email. If I send him an email and he clicks through to the website, it's able to record what pages he went to, for how long, where he left, if he started a checkout process, etc.

Once they're customers, I use Klaviyo to continue communication. It also can track what the first page a customer visited, where they went to, what emails they've opened, etc. For instance, about an hour ago someone placed an order. On their profile, it shows how they found me (Google), when they created an account and whatnot.

View attachment 30071
View attachment 30072

On another account, someone that's been using the site for a few months, it tracks their time for each visit and the last page they visited.

View attachment 30073

You can also easily create segmented lists like your 6-month example. So I could create a new segment of VIP Customers that haven't placed an order in the last 30 days and send them a win-back email.

@AllenCrawley has a great thread on the Inside and is what convinced me to switch. It's freaking great.

Thank Charnell, that's good info. Super helpful, I'll check out those tools and that thread.

I sat through a Hubspot demo a few years ago, and the guy was billing it as a robust alternative to GA, which is why I mentioned it. But you're right, these screen shots do look like what I was hoping to find.

Much appreciated.

Side note, great signature... :clap::
 

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