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Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

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Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#301

Post by mobjack »

mschuster91 wrote: post #66
z92 wrote: post #23

Parse your server's access log file. The way it had been done for decades. "Analog" was popular then, Should be better options now.

Access logs are almost useless for analytics these days... all they give you is the URL that was visited and some extremely rough idea what OS and browser the client is using (UA parsing is a hellhole ). You don't get any more detailed information (e.g. device class, screen size/orientation) from analytics logs. Also, if you're using one of the free hosting providers (GH Pages and the likes) you're not even going to…

You get most of the value from the UA from just seeing if someone is on a mobile phone or desktop device. That is easy to parse.

Most of the other metrics are noise and don't impact business decisions.

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#302

Post by klmadfejno »

mqrs wrote: post #289
crazygringo wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but they simply aren't going to show me how to create an ingenious idea that takes things to the next level. Of course not. There's no substitute for straight-up creativity and deep thinking. But once you have your ingenious idea, you still have to design it, make sure it's clear to users, that they find it and can use it effectively. Your "ingenious idea" may turn out to be largely sabotaged if a button you though…

If you’re just using analytics to look at how effective UI designs are in making business conversions, couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes? Couldn’t you measure effectivity with a spike or drop in sales? I mean, good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psyc…

What you're suggesting is analytics.

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#303

Post by danaliv »

heipei wrote: post #3

Here's a crazy idea: Don't use analytics at all but focus on your product. If your success relies solely on "improving conversions" by tracking your users and then changing the position and color of your "Checkout" button then maybe try setting yourself apart such that customers want to buy your product even despite an obnoxious purchasing flow. Only then start optimizing it. More serious thoughts: Google Analytics i…

Analytics revealed to me that a product I'd built (well, a free side project, but that's beside the point) was succeeding in the exact opposite of the market I'd built it for.

I used to run an online Japanese-English dictionary. It was geared towards people learning Japanese. I built it when I was studying Japanese and thought it would be useful for other students.

Turns out the overwhelming majority of the traffic to that site was from... Japan! I had it completely backwards! People weren't using it to aid their Japanese studies; they were using it to aid their English studies. (You might be tempted to suggest that it was in fact being used by people learning Japanese, and that those people were taking part in exchange/immersion programs, but there were other data that disproved this hypothesis.)

I never would've realized that if I hadn't had analytics on there.

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#304

Post by nickff »

heyn05tradamu5 wrote: post #299
nickff wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enterprise-focused companies are often some of the most user-hostile, opaque organizations in the world. I would rather a company post prices and documentation openly (with analytics) rather than requiring me to sign up for at least an account, and more often, a one-hour sales call to get any information at all.

Sure, there are some bad enterprise software companies. What does this have to do with the original point though?

You said your enterprise company doesn’t use analytics, and just talks to people. I am describing how I find that to be worse.

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#305

Post by zelon88 »

I don't disagree with this post, but why bother? You have to go further than that. If you don't go all the way you might as well not even bother.

Even the blog hosting this article uses Google Fonts. So what, you didn't give Google Analytics your users info. SURPRISE! You actually did anyway. You didn't keep Google from getting your users info. You just sandbagged your own analytics.

Sidebar: I used to use https://wp-statistics.com/ because it is a self-hosted analytic plugin for WordPress.

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#306

Post by dntrkv »

mqrs wrote: post #289
crazygringo wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but they simply aren't going to show me how to create an ingenious idea that takes things to the next level. Of course not. There's no substitute for straight-up creativity and deep thinking. But once you have your ingenious idea, you still have to design it, make sure it's clear to users, that they find it and can use it effectively. Your "ingenious idea" may turn out to be largely sabotaged if a button you though…

If you’re just using analytics to look at how effective UI designs are in making business conversions, couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes? Couldn’t you measure effectivity with a spike or drop in sales? I mean, good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psyc…

> couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes?

You could have multiple UIs hitting the same endpoint. Also, why limit yourself with such crude metrics?

> good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psychology

UX in theory, and UX in application are two different things. You could have the best models of how users will interact with your site, but until you deploy and measure, you have no idea what will happen.

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#307

Post by mqrs »

klmadfejno wrote: post #302
mqrs wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re just using analytics to look at how effective UI designs are in making business conversions, couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes? Couldn’t you measure effectivity with a spike or drop in sales? I mean, good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psyc…

What you're suggesting is analytics.

Yes but it’s not necessarily Google analytics.

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#308

Post by [deleted] »

dntrkv wrote: post #306
mqrs wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re just using analytics to look at how effective UI designs are in making business conversions, couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes? Couldn’t you measure effectivity with a spike or drop in sales? I mean, good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psyc…

> couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes? You could have multiple UIs hitting the same endpoint. Also, why limit yourself with such crude metrics? > good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psychology UX in theory, and UX in application are two different thing…

[deleted]

Re: Google Analytics: Stop feeding the beast

#309

Post by mqrs »

dntrkv wrote: post #306
mqrs wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re just using analytics to look at how effective UI designs are in making business conversions, couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes? Couldn’t you measure effectivity with a spike or drop in sales? I mean, good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psyc…

> couldn’t you still measure that by checking the backend and looking for a spike in activity towards the API endpoint that the UI invokes? You could have multiple UIs hitting the same endpoint. Also, why limit yourself with such crude metrics? > good UX doesn’t so much rely on Google Analytics but on a UX engineer’s depth of knowledge about human psychology UX in theory, and UX in application are two different thing…

You can still parameterizethe API calls if you want to attribute user activity to a specific flow, and that way you wouldn’t be “feeding the beast” that is GA.
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