When you look closely at Google Analytics you realize just
how much there is to know about the customers visiting your website. Seeing the
data is exciting and it spurs ideas on how it can be put to use in practical
ways to both make your website better and also find ways to draw more people to
your page.
In the beginning stages of analyzing GA though, one thing
becomes quickly evident; there’s quite a bit of lag time (usually about a day) in
the results that you are receiving. Google Analytics has a lot of great features;
however not being able to see up to the minute results could be problematic,
especially for people who are watching each engagement closely and looking to
make comparisons and updates on the spot.
One analytics tool that looks to compete with Google by
offering results in real time is Clicky. Visiting clicky.com,
their real time power is touted at the very top of the page as their number one
reason why you’ll love their product. They are clearly aiming for GA as they
manage to get a dig in on them as they highlight this feature. “Everything in
Clicky is up-to-the-minute real time. Not just a few things (*cough* Google
Analytics). Everything (Clicky Web Analytics) .”
So, Clicky is great for real time data, but how does it
compare to GA in other areas? Let’s take a look.
Pricing
Both GA and Clicky offer free versions of their product.
While the free version of GA is perfect for most basic users, some question if
it will remain free forever as Google has started charging for other products
that were once provided for free, for instance Google Apps. There is a Premium
Google Analytics package available for $150,000 a year (yes, really). This is
clearly priced out of the realm of reality for many small businesses or
bloggers and the features offered would likely be too much for them anyway. Google
Analytics Premium offers “direct support, account management, hands-on
implementation assistance, greater data processing/limits capacities, and more (Matteson, 2013) .”
Clicky offers different pricing plans and offers both
monthly and yearly subscriptions. Their “Pro” plan costs $9.99 a month or
$79.99 a year and allows you to manage up to ten websites with 30,000 daily
page views. They also offer a $14.99 and $19.99 plan that provide some
additional features. Plans can be customized based on the number of websites
being managed and the number of views you’re getting (Lewis, 2013) .
Features
Individual User Information
One exciting feature that Clicky offers that many users
might find valuable is the ability to view in-depth info on everyone who visits
a site, including “IP addresses, Internet service provider (ISP), location,
operating system, Web browser, referrer, visit length, sessions and actions
during a specific visit, and more. Users can also associate individual visitors
with usernames and email addresses, view complete individual visitor histories
and track when a website was down and for which visitor (Angeles, 2014) .”
This graphic shows some of the detail that Clicky can offer
about users, including their specific actions while on the site.
(Clicky)
Google Analytics does not provide IP addresses for users. In
fact, Google for good or for bad, depending on which side of the fence you’re
on, prohibits tracking personally identifiable information and users must agree
to this caveat in the terms of service. Google’s data is aggregated, so it
provides general info about users; however it is not as specific as Clicky (Iron Paper, 2010) .
Heat Maps
In the “Pro Plus” and “Pro Platinum” versions of Clicky they
offer heat-mapping views of pages to show what users are up to when they are on
a site. The heat maps can show where a page is getting the most clicks, which
can be extremely beneficial for a site owner who is looking to hone in on
website functionality and usability. The heat mapping can be customized based
on goals and visitor sessions and like the other Clicky analytics they can be
viewed in real time (Angeles, 2014) .
Alerts
Clicky also gives users the ability to set up alerts based
on information that they don’t want to miss out on. For example if you want to
know when new users visit your blog you can receive and email or have an alert
pop up on your computer (Angeles, 2014) .
Usability
One thing that comes up over and over again in favor of
adding Clicky to your analytics arsenal is how user-friendly it is. The
dashboard for the site is very straightforward and it was mentioned that Clicky
requires less setup and fewer clicks than GA to get the info you really want to
see. Here is their standard dashboard when you open up the site:
One great feature that speaks to the ease of use for Clicky
is the ability to add the analytics tool right to the page you are measuring. The
Clicky button is only visible to you and allows you to see heat map features
and change date range right from your blog or website rather than having to
navigate to a new window. And remember because Clicky is showing real time
results you can use that button to see what is happening on your page right
now. For instance if you’re running an digital ad campaign it will show you the
number of people currently on your site, where they were sent from, the search
terms they used to find you, and exactly what they did on your site once they
arrived.
There are quite possibly pages to be written about Clicky’s
interface and the insights it can offer to users and this post is just some of
the highlights that were noted over and over again in reviews as bring
standouts for the product. In visiting a number of different articles about the
Clicky, one thing has been came out in the end for most was that they planned
to continue using it.
While Google Analytics is the go to for many because it’s
free, users have liked adding another layer to their analytics insight with
Clicky. Its ease of use and ability to analyze visits a little more deeply, compounded
with the current stats that are available make the tool valuable for those who
are investing time, money, and energy into making their sites great.
If you have more questions about how Clicky compares to GA,
check out Clicky’s checklist here.
References:
Angeles, S. (2014, March 19). 3 Google Analytics
alternatives (and why you should use them). Retrieved February 7, 2016,
from Business News Daily:
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6090-google-analytics-alternatives.html
Clicky. (n.d.). Detailed Information. Retrieved
February 7, 2016, from Clicky Web Analytics:
https://con.tent.network/media/screenshots/visitor.gif
Clicky Web Analytics. (n.d.). Real Time Web
Analytics. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from Clicky Web Analytics:
https://clicky.com/66453167
Clicky.Blog. (2012, October 14). Heatmaps!
Retrieved February 7, 2016, from Clicky Blog:
https://clicky.com/blog/304/heatmaps
Iron Paper. (2010, June 29). Does Google Analytics
Track Users By IP Addresses? Retrieved February 7, 2016, from Iron Paper:
http://www.ironpaper.com/webintel/articles/does-google-analytics-track-users-by-ip-addresses/#.VrduhxgrLDc
Lewis. (2013). The complete guide and review of
Clicky web analytics. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from Cloud Income:
http://www.cloudincome.com/complete-guide-clicky-analytics/
Matteson, S. (2013, January 22). Five things you
should know about Google Analytics. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from Tech
Republic:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/google-in-the-enterprise/five-things-you-should-know-about-google-analytics/
Taplin, R. (n.d.). A Review of Clicky Analytics
(and Why it Beats Google). Retrieved February 7, 2016, from Blog Tyrant:
http://www.blogtyrant.com/a-review-of-clicky-analytics-and-why-it-beats-google/
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