analytics

• Data Observability is not a tool: understanding data quality at the source, in transformations and in governance Have you ever wasted time or money because you made a decision based on incorrect data? Then you'll appreciate good data quality. Buying an observability, however, might not be the solution to your data quality issues. Let's explore how data quality issues arise at the source, in transformations and in data governance and find the appropriate solutions to those problems. Continue reading...
  observability data-quality data-governance lineage ETL analytics

  18 min read
• Why web analytics is still a mess in 2023 Web analytics still feels 'messy' in 2023. Why is it so hard to solve the problem of web analytics? Let's dive into some of the misconceptions that fuel the mess, like the ideas that websites are easy, are visited by people, that web analytics is about tracking poeple, that we have all the tools we need, and that web analytics is actually important. Continue reading...
  analytics reflection 2023

  9 min read
• The 5 essential steps of a (web) analytics pipeline: collection, routing, ingestion, storage and visualisation When we think of analytics we think of tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel or even Tableau or PowerBI. But analytics is not just a tool. When we understand the mechanisms behind these tools we are ready to see what each of them brings to the table and how they might solve the problems for the unique snowflakes that we are. Continue reading...
  analytics data google-analytics gtm reporting tracking visualisation

  10 min read
• Real Time Analytics Monitoring with Google Sheets Whether it's because you don't want your business to lose money or because you just like to watch videos on YouTube, automating your analytics monitoring can help you sit back and relax knowing that everything's under control. This time we'll look at how a simple Google Sheet can help you check your analytics on the fly with the Google Analytics Real Time Reporting API. Continue reading...
  howto analytics api google-analytics google-apps-script google-sheets monitoring real-time testing

  10 min read
• Analytics and tag testing with Cypress One thing that's often overlooked in setting up your analytics is making sure it keeps working. When you add new tags or your developers deploy new versions it's easy to forget about your site tracking until the revenue in your ecommerce reports drops to zero. That's usually the point where accusations fly back and forth past the office chairs and the boardroom starts asking uncomfortable questions. So let's set up some tests for your analytics and tag management. Continue reading...
  analytics cypressio gtm testing browser_automation

  4 min read
• Why you should stop using Google Analytics (as we know it) Google Analytics has grown to be the most common means of tracking web behaviour since its launch in 2005. However, the tool itself hasn’t really been updated since the launch of its ‘Universal Analytics’ in 2012. That’s almost eight years ago, and eight years is a long time in the online world. Now might just be the right time to ditch the good, old Analytics and start using, yes, Google Analytics. Continue reading...
  analytics google-analytics gtm measurement tracking

  6 min read
• 8 ways to optimise Google Tag Manager (GTM) for speed and performance Google Tag Manager makes it incredibly easy to add marketing tags to your site. From registering ads conversions and transactions to sophisticated tags that segment users based on the weather in their current location, you can go crazy without having to go back to your development team every time. But that doesn't mean you should do it all. While your dev and SEO teams are working hard to reach their pagespeed goals all the marketeers are having a proverbial party in their yard. Here you'll find a few tips to keep your GTM container lean and fast. Continue reading...
  analytics gtm page-speed performance

  9 min read
• GTM Custom Templates: how to think about building your own Custom templates are a way to make tag management even more manageable, scalable and secure. GTM’s custom templates can seem very limited, since they’re built on a very restricted, sandboxed version of JavaScript. There's much potential in custom templates, but it helps to think about the fundamentals of tag management when you start building your own custom template. In this post I’ll show you my thinking behind a custom template for building a frequent-flyer style tag to track user behaviour as an attribute. Continue reading...
  analytics code gtm measurement tracking

  10 min read