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makapangyarihan
Joined: Nov 17, 2003
# Posts: 3
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Posted: 2006-Mar-29 07:37
We are looking to make an informed decision on what Web analytics tools to purchase and use. I have only seen 2 reports available out there that did a comparative analysis of popular Web analytics platforms and these 2 reports are;
1. www.sherpastore.com/Buyers-Guide-to-Web-Analytics-Software.html
2. www.e-consultancy.com/publications/web-analytics-buyers-guide-2005
Does anybody know of a more recent similar comparative study? These 2 reports are almost 2 years old already.
[ Message was edited by: OAC 03/29/2006 09:39 pm ... Reason: No links in post please. ]
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flyingrose
Staff
Joined: Oct 30, 2003
# Posts: 3361
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Posted: 2006-Mar-29 09:30
The Sherpa report is the one I usually recommend. I haven't specifically looked for a newer one. The information is likely to still be valid although there are bound to be new features in all of these programs.
Unless there is something newer one of these should give you a good idea which would suit you best. I can make a few comments on the companies mentioned on the e-consultancy page.
The big players I hear most frequently are Omniture, Coremetrics, and Webtrends. These are high-end, super powerful, challenging to implement, and have a high learning curve. They are favored by the largest companies although Webtrends also has smaller users.
At the other end of the spectrum are some useful products that are easier to implement and easier to learn and use. Among these are ClickTracks, Urchin (purchased by Google and now known as Google Analytics), and IndexTools.
I have several accounts using IndexTools and find it provides what we need to track e-commerce effectively. It does have some accuracy issues and no program can track every sale.
ClickTracks has some interesting features and offers both online (hosted) and software versions. Personally I prefer online analytics programs. Depending on your traffic volume and desires ClickTracks can be more expensive than IndexTools for low traffic sites and probably about the same for those with high traffic.
The more expensive versions of both ClickTracks and IndexTools have more features so you'll want to determine precisely which you need to make a valid price comparison.
Urchin was another popular, inexpensive program and since being purchased by Google instead of Urchin look for the new name (Google Analytics). The version of Urchin often provided by hosting companies usually does NOT include e-commerce tracking.
Google is offering the higher end version with e-commerce tracking free to anyone with a Google Adwords account. This is fairly recent and the demand for it is very large so there is a wait to get an invitation to use it.
I'll know a lot more about it when some of my clients manage to get it fully functioning but so far I really like aspects of it compared to the least expensive versions of the other two I mentioned. (Their higher end versions are more similar.)
If you have specific questions about any of these we can probably find some answers for you.
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OAC
Staff
Joined: Jan 25, 2001
# Posts: 6809
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Posted: 2006-Mar-30 06:06
Rose has covered this issue very well.
You don't say whether you need this for an ecommerce site or not. If it is an online store, then I would choose Urchin 5 with the Ecommerce module or Clicktracks.
You also don't say whether you need the analyzer to track PPC advertisements. If you do then I would choose Urchin with the appropriate modules.
If for a normal website then there are a slew of excellent low priced (some free) analyzers around, including Google Analytics. If you are a sales and marketing type, not much interested in tech side of things then Clicktracks does the best job of presenting information. Unfortunately, over recent years Clicktracks have jacked their prices so they are the same as the price leader (Webtrends) (and I am not meaning leader in terms of charging the lowest price) such that this is an expensive option (if you include PPC tracking) for sites with smallish budgets.
Webtrends or whatever they are called today (it changes it's name annually, or at least it seems to) specialize in making things as complex and confusing as possible to configure and then charge you for a training session to teach you how to configure it. I wouldn't touch it with a 40 foot pole if I were you (although I still use it myself).
Urchin 6 is supposed to be being released by Google Analytics later this year and it will be interesting to see what they charge and what you get. In the meantine, there is two fiths of five eigths of very little information available on Urchin, at the Google Analytics site. Before Google purchased Urchin, there was a wealth of useful information available on the Urchin site about how Urchin worked - now there is nothing.
FWIW
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frankreese
Joined: Apr 08, 2006
# Posts: 1
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Posted: 2006-Apr-08 11:10
Hi,
last month we published or 'Guide to Web Analytics Solutions 05/06', covering 73 solutions.
Might be worth a look  .
www.idealobserver.com
Kind Regards,
Frank Reese
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