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Google Analytics for developers

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Re: Google Analytics for developers

#3

Post by dangrossman »

I was expecting something different with the "for developers" title. Perhaps replicating some of the features of MixPanel or KissMetrics, which can track all kinds of interesting things for developers -- which features users of your app use most, in which order they use those features, whether this week's signups are more engaged than last week's signups, etc.

Re: Google Analytics for developers

#4

Post by yashke »

dangrossman wrote: post #3

I was expecting something different with the "for developers" title. Perhaps replicating some of the features of MixPanel or KissMetrics, which can track all kinds of interesting things for developers -- which features users of your app use most, in which order they use those features, whether this week's signups are more engaged than last week's signups, etc.

That's the next topic I want to digg in playing with Google Analytics. When I have some results I'll post them.

Re: Google Analytics for developers

#5

Post by iamchrisle »

dangrossman wrote: post #3

I was expecting something different with the "for developers" title. Perhaps replicating some of the features of MixPanel or KissMetrics, which can track all kinds of interesting things for developers -- which features users of your app use most, in which order they use those features, whether this week's signups are more engaged than last week's signups, etc.

I actually use event tracking a lot to track exactly that. For our clients, we not only know which features they're using most but by tracking validation errors in Google Analytics we also know what parts of the app is giving users trouble.

Best part is, with Google Analytics you can see what people did before and after they ran into trouble and correct for the user experience.

Re: Google Analytics for developers

#6

Post by bluetidepro »

> "You probably use most of basic features of Google Analytics - you know how to get information how many visits was made each day, you know your users browser segmentation etc. But how can you measure effects of your blog post?"

That hits the nail on the head. Great article, although I wish you went into it a bit more in depth on how to do those actions, how to do other actions, and then maybe talk more about the benefits.

I love browsing Google Analytics but I will be the first to tell you that I don't really understand much from it, other than than the obvious things. I really wish I could figure out how to integrate it better with my web sites, like you quickly demoed. Again, I really suggest doing this same article with a bit more information. It would really help out those who are your target audience for this article. Thanks! :)

Re: Google Analytics for developers

#7

Post by kevinconroy »

Here are two of my favorite tricks. You can do this just after you set your account ID:

        
	
	  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
	  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'YOUR ANALYTICS ID GOES HERE']);
	  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

          //*******************
          // Trick #1: Track page load time in Google Analytics
          // (note: only works for HTML5 browsers)
          //*******************
	  _gaq.push(['_trackPageLoadTime']);

	  (function() {
	    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
	    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
	    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
	  })();
	  
          //*******************
          // Trick #2: Add a Javascript error handler so that it creates an event in Google Analytics
          // whenever there's a CLIENT-SIDE javascript error
          //*******************
	  window.onerror = function(message, file, line) { 
	     var sFormattedMessage = '[' + file + ' (' + line + ')] ' + message; 
	     _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Errors', 'Browser', sFormattedMessage, null, true]);
	  }
Update: Included complete GA code to address any confusion on order and values available in stack.

Re: Google Analytics for developers

#8

Post by yashke »

bluetidepro wrote: post #6

> "You probably use most of basic features of Google Analytics - you know how to get information how many visits was made each day, you know your users browser segmentation etc. But how can you measure effects of your blog post?" That hits the nail on the head. Great article, although I wish you went into it a bit more in depth on how to do those actions, how to do other actions, and then maybe talk more about the be…

Thanks, as I mentioned in other comment - I plan to digg deeper and share knowledge, so be patient :)

Re: Google Analytics for developers

#9

Post by swalberg »

iamchrisle wrote: post #5
dangrossman wrote: post #3

I was expecting something different with the "for developers" title. Perhaps replicating some of the features of MixPanel or KissMetrics, which can track all kinds of interesting things for developers -- which features users of your app use most, in which order they use those features, whether this week's signups are more engaged than last week's signups, etc.

I actually use event tracking a lot to track exactly that. For our clients, we not only know which features they're using most but by tracking validation errors in Google Analytics we also know what parts of the app is giving users trouble. Best part is, with Google Analytics you can see what people did before and after they ran into trouble and correct for the user experience.

This. We recently started doing this and the data it's provided has been awesome.

Re: Google Analytics for developers

#10

Post by bluetidepro »

yashke wrote: post #8
bluetidepro wrote: post #6

> "You probably use most of basic features of Google Analytics - you know how to get information how many visits was made each day, you know your users browser segmentation etc. But how can you measure effects of your blog post?" That hits the nail on the head. Great article, although I wish you went into it a bit more in depth on how to do those actions, how to do other actions, and then maybe talk more about the be…

Thanks, as I mentioned in other comment - I plan to digg deeper and share knowledge, so be patient :)

Oh, I must have missed that in the comments. I really appreciate that! Keep me posted, would love to see that article! Thanks! :)
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