I sometimes wonder about the value of real-time analytics. I use Google Analytics real-time, and it can be extremely addictive watching visitors arriving, navigating, hoping you'll get a conversion, looking at how they found you.
But does it really add anything over none-real time analytics? Much healthier to check your reports once a week or so I would think.
I often think its just another distraction (like checking email or HN) that can moves focus from what I really should be doing.
Though I'd love to hear what uses people have found for real time analytics...
Look at their marketing. It's for publishers. Testimonials from Al Jazeera, Fox News and Fast Company. The value in real-time analytics for them is clear -- they're micromanaging their daily page view numbers by seeing what news of the day is attracting the most eyeballs from what sources, moving those stories up on their front page and expanding them, writing more about those topics, etc.
It's depressing news has become something where the story that gets eyeballs is more important than the story that needs telling. I understand WHY it's this way due to how marketing dollars play out, but it's still depressing.
Same experience here. They're great to watch but generally quite worthless in the grand scheme of things. They have value sometimes but it's not regular, for example if we need to do emergency maintenance we can check how heavily a specific thing is being used, but beyond that...
Real time analytics are an amazing tool in e-commerce.
Incremental merchandising gains can lead the huge wins in e-commerce. Real time analytics are one way to see what people are buying and what's hot right now.
Let's put this example out there.. you have a product on your site that is now featured on a hot fashion blog. Customers are coming to your shop and clamoring to purchase it. Problem is, it is already running low on stock and once sold out, you'll miss the benefit of the blog exposure. Real time analytics allow the merchants to make quick, informed buying decisions so that the product remains in stock.
I'm very interested to see what Chartbeat does for e-commerce analytics.
I understand you get a better feeling off it, but I'd love to hear from people who have noticed something using real-time analytics they wouldn't have seen from plain old analytics.
I'm not sceptical, just curious as I think it can easily turn into a great way to waste time...
Hey Tom, it's not my testimonial, but that of a close friend. This person runs a pretty successful, non-tech, blog. He uses Clicky real-time analytics, and explained to me that he uses it in real-time to either push content (via social media) or hang on to it in order to get a steady number of monthly visitors. Example, if he gets 25,000 page views during half a day, and only "needs" 30,000 a day to be on target with his estimates/budget he won't tweet/fb, or publish a post, etc. On the other hand, if he sees mid-day numbers are down, he will push content in order to reach to the desired number. From his experience, real-time analytics is worth it and works.
I'm certain this no so much the case with non-publishers or page view driven businesses.
we are using chartbeat. we are measuring how many visitors got into the website right after the tv advertorials on our tv shows which have the highest ratings on the days they air. yes, we cross check with google analytics. :)
it is also helping us to understand at which point we fail. chartbeat really is a great service.
I am having a really hard time comparing all the available traffic analyzers; I had my eyes set on Gauges (http://get.gaug.es) because of its pristine look compared to the unholy mess of Google Analytics, but maybe there are better or equally-good alternatives out there.
How do you compare the tools available out there, as long as one of your main parameters are design/UX?
It feels like there are as many traffic analyzers as there are to-do apps for iOS.
Great dashboard facelift too. I've been following one of their designers on Dribbble for a while now, and his has been consistently hitting the style and usability nail on the head.
I've used Chartbeat at both, my last and current jobs. It's really invaluable for immediate feedback.
I went by their headquarters last week, and they're a quality team doing really good work. They've got some great new ideas that I hope this funding helps them produce.
I wonder how the introduction of Google Analytics' Real-Time beta has affected their business. While it doesn't have all of the social features that Chartbeat does, it does cover a lot of their ground.
Hey, I'm the CEO of chartbeat. When Google Analytics launched their real time we saw a slight jump in churn that month and then things settled down to normal levels again the next month, so not much effect at all thus far. This might have something to do with it: http://chartbeat.com/infographics/measure-different
Google only receives pings on the page load so it then assumes that each visitor is there for five minutes to get its measurement of concurrents. Chartbeat is being pinged every few seconds so we can tell if someone is really there or not. The infographic I linked to above explains it better.
I don't have a proper business per se, but I do make a living from a puzzles (flash and javascript games) site with adsense.
I use the API to see what games are trending right now, and use that to order the games on various "listings". That way, new and cool stuff are always on top.
I can also see exactly what times most people get on the website, and I use that information to send newsletters(and posts social media) on what I think is the best time.
I see what games are more engaging and I can focus on them, writing more features or simply promoting them better.
At the end of day, you won't get much more data than from a traditional tool like Google Analytics. But the real-time nature and the presentation make your data so vibrant that you check Chartbeat 100 times a day—everytime you get some small hints and insights you would overlook without. Basically with Chartbeat your site lives and breaths.
My name's Doug and I actually work over at Chartbeat. You can get a breakdown of our pricing at chartbeat.com/plansandpricing. Any other questions, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at support@chartbeat.com.
But does it really add anything over none-real time analytics? Much healthier to check your reports once a week or so I would think.
I often think its just another distraction (like checking email or HN) that can moves focus from what I really should be doing.
Though I'd love to hear what uses people have found for real time analytics...