Universal Google Analytics - a combination of mobile and WEB analytics. The magic of Universal Analytics

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Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Google's analytics service is rightfully considered one of the most functional on the Runet market, and at the same time it is absolutely free.

In this article I want to introduce you to the principles of operation of this system and basic concepts, embedded in its foundation, so that even with a closer acquaintance with it, you understand what’s what and do not confuse users, sessions (sessions) and interactions (hits), and also understand the relationship between parameters and indicators.

During the current period, the system Google Analytics is undergoing an update phase, because it is being replaced by a more advanced complex called Universal Analytics, whose tracking code is already offered for installation. Therefore, in this article I will describe the new capabilities that Google Analytics will receive after its reincarnation in UA (receiving data from any devices connected to the network, etc.).

Possibilities and principle Google work Analytics

Google Analytics is an analytics system that goes far beyond the capabilities of ordinary ones, such as Top100, and even Yandex Metrica. This system is as powerful as it is difficult to master, especially for untrained users. For all its impressive functionality, Google’s brainchild has a fairly high barrier to entry, and many either do not use this analytics or use only a very small share of all the opportunities it provides.

WITH using Google Analytics you can collect and analyze data various devices and digital media. In this way, for example, you can understand how customers find your websites or mobile applications and how they interact with them (evaluate user behavior). The analytics system itself consists, one might say, of four blocks that perform the following functions:

Data collection

Block that allows you to make settings

Data processing unit

Outputting reports in the most visual form

With these four components, you can collect, customize, and analyze data across your site. Let's start in order, namely with the data collection block. How is extraction done? necessary information? That's right, using the counter code installed on the website (or mobile application). In general, as usual.

This tracking code contains a series of instructions to Google Analytics that tell you which user interactions with the site you should pay attention to and what data you should collect. The method of data collection is determined by the digital environment in which the meter operates. For example, when installing it on a website, use JavaScript code tracking. And to integrate the meter code into a mobile application, a so-called developer kit (SDK) is used.

The user, through his actions, brings to life the Google Analytics tracking code (opens a page on your site or goes to new screen your application). As a result, information is collected about all actions performed, including titles and URLs of pages viewed, and other things, which are then collected into a package (hit). This packet is sent to the system server to perform the next step - data processing.

All this “raw” data on the Google server passes through the sieve of the settings you have made (your configuration), which allows you to sift out the unnecessary in accordance with the given measurement plan and the intended (business) goals. What does this mean in practice? Well, for example, you can set a filter in the Analytics settings to filter out data from your employees visiting a website or mobile application. They will not be further processed and will not affect the results presented in the reports. Moreover, this data will not really be collected, and even after canceling the filter, you will not be able to view it.

In addition to collecting data using the counter, it is possible to import this information from other services of the “good corporation”. For example, you can link your Google Analytics account to an account in , or in . In principle, you can import data into Analytics even from sources that do not belong to Google (for example, collected by yourself).

What is noteworthy is that it is at the processing stage that the system combines all this data from different sources (including those collected by its counters) and they will contribute to the resulting reports. The Google Analytics reporting system includes quite convenient tools for visually presenting data. However, if desired, you can also access reports via the API if, for example, you want to create your own own systems reporting outside the GA interface.

Let's in general outline Let's look at how Analytics collects the necessary data about your site. The collection model itself takes into account three things - users, sessions (sessions) and interactions.

A user is a visitor to your website or mobile application

A session (more understandable, in my opinion, is the term session) is the time spent on a website or application

Interaction is the actions of users on a website.

This diagram has a hierarchical structure, going down from the user to the interaction. Users are differentiated between those who visit your site only once and those who visit it several times a day. In the Google Analytics system, each visit is considered a session (session), which implies the ability to recognize the same user (returning) within several sessions.

In turn, a session completed on your website consists of individual interactions. For example, a user might go to home and immediately leave, resulting in only one interaction being recorded by Google: browsing. home page. During another session, the user could also watch the video and make a purchase. This would result in three interactions.

These individual interactions within a single session (session) are called hits, which are in turn subdivided into groups that refer to either pageview, transaction, or event hits. Let me emphasize again hierarchical data collection scheme adopted in Google Analytics— each interaction tracked by the system belongs to a session, and each session is associated with a corresponding user.

As you already understand, the tracking code that you installed on your website, mobile application or other digital environment directly collects data (information about user actions). It sends the collected information to your Analytics account for the purpose of processing and generating reports.

Linking the tracking code collected to your account is done using a unique identifier embedded in the code. For example, in the example Google Analytics code for a website or application.

Registering with Google Analytics and running the tracking code

In fact, a new tracking method has now emerged from the beta testing stage, which is called Universal Analytics (we’ll talk about it a little later) and the code for which is already being offered to be installed when registering on the official website Google.com/analytics/ :

Please note that you are free to choose, using the buttons at the top, where exactly you want to collect statistics - on the website or in the mobile application. After filling out all the fields of the registration form in Analytics, you will be asked to agree to the terms and conditions and copy the tracking code with a unique identifier to your website, albeit from Universal Analytics:

Let's first look at the aspects of GA's work, and only then we'll talk about how the new UA (Universal Analytics) differs from it and what prompted Google to develop it and gradually transition from classic GA. Those. Now let's continue the conversation about Google Analytics. So...

The tracking code collects information about how users interact with a site or web application. This information is collected in packages and sent to Google servers (for example, in the form of a list of parameters in the Url). The tracking code can also recognize new and returning users. All collected data is attached to your Google Analytics account using a unique identifier embedded in the tracking code. We just talked about this.

Installing Google Analytics tracking code on your website

To track and collect data on websites, a piece of JavaScript code is used, which was shown in the previous screenshot. It contains a link to the analytics.js library, which controls the type of data collected on the site. Naturally, in order to collect all the statistics, this code must be present on every page of your site.

To do this, it is usually added to the template file of your site (if it works on, for example). So, for example, you can find in your theme a file in which the “head” of the document (web page) is formed, consisting of the closing and opening Head tags. Just before the closing tag you can insert the Universal Analytics tracking code.

How JavaScript tracking code works on a website

If the tracking code is placed on all pages of the site, then each call (opened by a user) will form a hit (an interaction element). If this rule is violated, then you will not get a complete picture of all interactions (performed within a specific session). In addition, adding a tracking code to the most top part source code pages ensures that the browser, when parsing this code (starting from the top and going down), activates the execution of the Analytics script.

So even if a user leaves before the page finishes loading, their interaction with your site will be counted. The Analytics code runs asynchronously, i.e. runs in the background while the browser performs other tasks of loading web page elements. This again allows you to start collecting data before full load pages.

After the tracking code on a given page has executed, the system creates anonymous unique identifiers intended for. There are several ways to create such identifiers. By default, Google Analytics uses its own (read and what they eat), but you have the opportunity to create and use your own identifier.

While loading JavaScript pages The counter code collects information about the website itself, for example, URL address current page. The counter also collects information about the browser in which this page is opened, for example, its name or language settings. And even about the operating system under which this browser runs. All this information is packaged and sent to the Gula server as a page view hit. And this process is repeated every time the page is loaded in the browser.

What’s remarkable is that all this will work great without any preliminary settings. Registered with Google Analytics, received the code and everything will work great, and you will see the collected data in the form of final reports. However, there is an additional option for customizing the code, allowing you to collect more information about users, their session(s) and interactions with your site.

How the Analytics SDK works in mobile applications

With Analytics you can also collect... However, the process is somewhat different from how it is done in the case of a website. It is not JavaScript code that is used, but the so-called SDK (development kit), which will be different for different operating systems(Android, iOS). At the same time, data is collected about what exactly the user views in the application, how often he opens it, etc.

This data is again packaged into hits and sent to your Google Analytics account, but not immediately, but after accumulating on the mobile device. Why is this being done?

Firstly, mobile device(unlike a website) does not have to always be connected to the network, and even at the moment of connection there are “dead zones” of reception, cell congestion, etc. circumstances.

Secondly, the very process of sending data to Google servers in real time (as is done by counters installed on websites) can significantly reduce the battery life of a mobile device.

Therefore, collected hits (packets of captured data) are accumulated on the device and sent by the SDK service to Google servers every half hour when using Android OS and much more often for iOS (every two minutes). What’s noteworthy is that you are free to change this interval at your discretion in order to control the battery life of the mobile phone of users of your application.

The SDK, as well as the Javascript code of the counter, can differentiate (distinguish) users (more precisely, the mobile devices on which the application runs). When the application is launched, an anonymous unique identifier is generated, which is then tracked. Those. the mobile device and its user are identified (the first is marked, since the second is more difficult to mark).

When updating the application to a new version, the device ID does not change. However, when reinstalling (uninstalling and then installing the application), the old identifier will be deleted and replaced with a new one. Such a user will not be counted as a returning user, but as a new one. The SDK can also be modified to collect additional information about your users, their sessions and interactions with the application.

What’s noteworthy is that Google Analytics can collect data not only from websites or mobile applications. It also supports other devices, which, it would seem, are absolutely impossible to connect to this system (terminals for accepting payments, cash register, etc.). Ah, no. There is a special protocol with an unpronounceable name (Measurement Protocol), which allows you to send data from any device connected to the Internet.

When working with websites and mobile applications, the counter code itself created hits (packets of collected information) and sent them to your Google account. Here you will have to create these same hits yourself. How this is done is precisely described in the aforementioned unpronounceable protocol and page for developers.

Processing data collected by counters in Google Analytics

So, we’ve talked about data collection in general terms; it’s time to move on to the blocks responsible for processing and setting them up. The interaction of these two blocks allows you to structure and transform the collected data into the information that can be seen in Analytics reports. How does it work?

The system divides the collected data by users and sessions (sessions), and by changing the settings you can influence this process. In addition, data collected from other sources (not using the Google Analytics tracking code) is mixed into the total mass.

This can be data from Adwords, Adsense, Google Webmaster (by linking the accounts of these systems) and other sources that do not belong to the “good corporation” (by downloading a prepared file manually or using a specially written program using API capabilities Analytics). You can also use the “import spending data” tool, which is used to add information about the funds spent on third-party advertising (not Google), so that you can then evaluate the effectiveness of the advertising campaign data.

All this summary data will pass through the filters that you set in the settings. These settings tell the system what data to include and what to exclude from future reports. They can also influence how the collected data is formatted. Well, in the finale everything collected information structured and collected into database tables (DB). Generate any required by the user An analytics report based on these databases will not be difficult.

How Analytics distinguishes between users and sessions (sessions)

On the site side, data about users, sessions (sessions) and interactions is packaged into hits, and they are processed in the Analytics system itself. How does Google Analytics create users? When your website or mobile application is first loaded on a device (mobile or desktop computer), along with the first hit (packet of collected data), a unique identifier corresponding to this device is created, and in the future it will be attached to each hit sent to the system servers.

When analyzing the collected data, Analytics considers each such user as a unique user (although in reality it is a “dumb” piece of hardware, not a person). Each new identifier discovered during the analysis of the content of hits will be considered a new user. If in the next hit the identifier turns out to be previously encountered, then such a user (a “dumb” piece of hardware) will be considered returned.

If the user (for example, by setting the browser settings to clear them when closing the program), then such identifiers are destroyed. The same thing happens if you delete and reinstall a mobile application. As a result, such a user will be considered new, and not returning, as he really is.

If a person visits your website from a phone, tablet, laptop, etc. desktop computer, then Google Analytics will count them as four different users by default, because the tracking code will assign different IDs to all these devices. True, in the system settings you can change the way the identifier is created and assigned. Essentially, this will allow you to combine user interaction across multiple devices, i.e. obtain more reliable data as output.

How does the system create sessions? In Analytics, a session is a collection of interactions of a specific user (consisting of individual types of hits) over a given period of time. These interactions could be page views, events, or transactions (making a purchase) in an online store. The same user can make multiple sessions, which can occur within the same day or at intervals of several days, weeks or even months.

After the end of one session (session), another can be started. But what about the system? It turns out that by default the session is considered completed after half an hour of user inactivity. This period is called a session timeout and is characterized by the fact that during this period of time the system does not receive hits (packets of data about actions on the site) from a given user.

In this case, a new session will begin after the system receives a new hit about the actions of this user. The half-hour timeout is taken as an average number that is suitable for most sites. But in the system configuration settings you can set the timeout that in your opinion will be optimal. The main thing is that this allows you to more accurately track statistics and understand the processes occurring on your site. For example, if you have a lot of videos longer than 30 minutes, then it makes sense to increase the auto-end session timeout.

Analytics configuration settings

The concept of users and sessions is at the heart of the work Google service Analytics and understanding how this data is extracted from raw arrays is important for getting the maximum information from the generated reports. It is also important to understand how the system applies configuration settings (made by you) to the collected data and how it prepares them for reporting.

Configuration settings can affect the resulting reports as follows:

Include data

Exclude data

Change how data is displayed in reports

There are a huge number of configuration options in Google Analytics. Perhaps even too much, because it is very intimidating for a beginner. However, if among them we single out the most important groups of tools, we won’t get much:

— with their help you can change the data included in the reports (include or exclude something), as well as change the way they are displayed in the reports so that they are better suited to the tasks you face. For example, you can create a filter that excludes traffic from a specific IP address or an entire range of addresses (so that, for example, visits from your employees do not distort statistics, since they are not your target audience). Filters are applied at the data processing stage (when receiving hits from the tracking code - they are either not accepted, as in our example with IP, or are modified).

— in the process of setting up goals in Google Analytics, new indicators are created for reports, for example, conversion or conversion rates. Goals allow you to specify which hits (such as page views or screen views) should be used when calculating conversions. You can set a goal, for example, to track newsletter subscriptions, and for each subsequent subscription made by a user on the site, a conversion will be recorded in your account. Well, with the help of conversion indicators, after some time it will be possible to determine whether you have achieved the goals assigned to the website or mobile application (level of sales, registrations, etc.).

is another way to transform the data collected by tracking code, allowing you to connect specific pieces of data to analyze overall performance. In Analytics you can create groups of channels (marketing activities - for example, media advertising, social networks, email newsletters, etc.) and content groups (used to create and analyze a collection of content - for example, in an online store you can combine all product pages into one group, and all informational articles to another to understand what role each group plays).

All configuration options described above Google settings Analytics is applied to data before it is aggregated ( last step data processing stage). But during the aggregation process itself, the system creates and distributes report parameters across tables (indicators are recalculated for each parameter). When you open a report in your account, it first sends a query to aggregated tables filled with data. In response, specific parameters and indicators are returned to the report. At using the API requests for data from aggregate tables sends the application you created.

All data collected by the tracking code that has been processed will be available to you in the form of reports in the Analytics web interface, or in your own interface, which receives data via the API. Most often, the system's web interface is used to access reports. It can be thought of as a layer on top of your data that allows you to structure, segment and filter it using a set of analytical tools. Using the API, you can programmatically add to custom applications analytical data (for example, in the admin panel of your CMS).

All reports are based on combinations of parameters and indicators:

By combining different parameters and indicators, the Google Analytics system can generate almost any report necessary to evaluate marketing actions and user behavior on a website (or mobile application).

"Parameter" is intended to describe the characteristics of the data. For example, the traffic source from which the visitor came to your site may be:

An example of a user with your site could be the name of the page he is viewing:

"Indicators" are quantitative measurement data that can be used to count the frequency of events occurring, such as the total number of users on a website or mobile application.

Average values can also be used as indicators, for example, the average number of pages viewed by a user on a site within one session (the same notorious indicator of viewing depth, which is believed to influence the behavioral assessment of the site by search engines).

Most often, parameters and indicators are displayed in Google Analytics reports in the form of tables, the first column of which contains the value of a specific parameter, and the remaining columns contain the corresponding indicators. However, when creating reports, each of them has its own scope (which corresponds to a certain level of the hierarchy of analytical data related to either users, sessions, or hit interactions).

In most cases, it makes sense to combine in reports only those dimensions and measures that belong to the same action area. For example, "number of visits" is a session metric, so it can only be used with session-level parameters (such as "traffic source" or "geographic location").

It would not be logical to combine “number of visits” with hit level parameters such as “page title”. Or, for example, the “duration of visit” indicator (measures the time a user spent on the pages of your site) refers to the hit level and cannot be used in conjunction with session level parameters (all with the same “traffic source” or “geographic location”) .

If you delve into the essence of the parameters and indicators, then this will help you get more meaningful data necessary for analyzing the performance of your website or mobile application.

Universal Analytics

Universal Analytics service is new standard Google Analytics. Soon, all accounts will be required to use Universal Analytics. Not long ago it left the beta testing stage and now on your account pages in the “Administrator” tab there is an offer to switch to it.

The tracking code (if you paid attention) already includes the UA identifier, which means one of the advantages of Universal Analytics will be realized automatically - the ability to collect data from any electronic devices connected to the Internet (using Java script code, or with using SDK, or using Measurement Protocol). We already talked about this a little higher.

In UA, the ability mentioned above to create your own user IDs that will not be tied to the device has become available. Remember, I gave an example about logins from a mobile phone, tablet, laptop and computer of the same person? In classic GA, these visits would be counted as four different users, but thanks to the Universal Analytics settings, you can manually set user identification for your site, and in our example one user will be counted.

It’s up to you to decide whether to switch to Universal Analytics or stay on GA for now.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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Web analytics is like mining for gold. The deeper you dig into the mine, the more shiny metal you get and the stronger the flow of tears of happiness. The same goes for information about users. The more you know about them, the better you can make your website and business. Therefore, today we are dealing with Google Universal Analytics. This is a fairly old update to the analytics system, but not everyone knows how many cool features it added. Our article will help fill the gaps in knowledge.

What it is

This is an analytics system standard that replaced the old version of Google Analytics. It was launched in beta in 2013, a full-fledged transition occurred in 2014. Universal Analytics helps to monitor clients and website visitors everywhere: the tool assigns each user a User-ID, which is assigned to him forever and roams from device to device. If the same person accesses the site from a phone and a computer, Google Universal Analytics will understand this and take it into account.

Further more. The tool tracks any activity of your audience: website visits, actions in mobile applications, and even offline purchases. It helps to evaluate user behavior as a whole, rather than within a single visit. In fashionable terms, this is called “cross-platform behavior tracking.” Now you can monitor how they behave People, but not visitors. Previously, it was necessary to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of a website based on all recorded visits. At the same time, the same person could first find something useful on the phone, and then study everything in detail from home and successfully convert into a buyer. But at the same time, the first visit to the site was counted as non-converting and useless, although in fact this is not the case.

How Google Universal Analytics works

Easier than the old version of the tool. Previously, Analytics used as many as 5 different cookies to collect visitor data. They told the system where the user came from, what keyword he entered into the search, and other important information. Now everything is different - Universal Analytics only uses a special User ID. As soon as the user goes to the site, this identifier is sent to Google servers, and everything else is calculated there.

Not for all

The scheme works only for registered users. By default, all site visitors are new. But as soon as a person registers and enters a username and password, the system immediately pulls up and assigns him a User ID. Everything that a logged-in user does is recorded on his personal counter.

Let's look at an example. Let's imagine that we have an online book store

A new user enters the site by clicking on a contextual ad, the device is a smartphone. It is assigned ID_1. The man looked for the book he needed, found it, but did not dare to order it right away - he wanted to do everything from his home computer.
Having reached home, he again goes to the store’s website. This time the transition is direct and the browser is already a regular computer one. It is assigned ID_2. The user registers, selects the desired book and orders it. All this is recorded on his personal account.
A week later, our hero again accesses the site using a link from social networks (last time he subscribed to the VKontakte store). Initially he is assigned ID_3, but then he enters Personal Area and the system pulls up the old identifier – ID_2. A person places an order, and all actions on the site are recorded on the old counter.

The User ID function can be enabled in the “Administrator” section. We are interested in the menu item “Tracking Code” –> User ID.

Okay, but what about the other functions? Let's figure it out now.

How to use Google Universal Analytics Track customers offline

Measurement Protocol will help here - a special tool for linking data from different sources. Customer information from CRM can be transferred to the analytics system in CSV format. This can be gender, age and any other data about clients.

Measurment Protocol works with any device capable of sending a simple HTTP request, even a terminal and barcode scanner. This function is useful if customers often pay for purchases in cash when meeting a courier or at a pickup point. The main difficulty is to make sure that the fact of payment is recorded on the User ID specific person, but it is quite possible to do this using the protocol itself. Google itself writes more about this.

Create your own reports

This feature comes in handy if you need something special. This is where user parameters and metrics come to the rescue. The first ones help sort users by different characteristics: city, traffic source. keywords and so on. The second ones are needed to track any specific indicators with the parameters you need, for example, calls longer than 5 minutes or conversion among women. The main thing is to arrange the sending of this data from your CRM and back.

Set session timeout

By default, a session in Google Universal Analytics lasts 30 minutes, and campaigns last 6 months. If this is too short for you, you can adjust the waiting time to your liking, even for 10 hours. This can be useful if users have to hang on the site for a long time to place an order (this happens). You can also configure the parameter in the Administrator menu, here:

Filter branded queries

Nobody remembers website URLs, everyone just searches for them by company name. If you do nothing about it, then such transitions will be counted as normal search traffic, although in fact they have already found you and know you. Universal Analytics will help you do this. Go to the same Administrator menu and select “List of excluded search queries» in the “Tracking code” supermenu (it is in the screenshot above).

Return users to the site

Universal Analytics has its own remarketing tool. It helps you run AdWords advertising campaigns for audiences that have already visited your site. For example, a user was looking for a camera on your website, found it, looked at it, but didn’t buy it. If there are many such people. You can run an advertising campaign with a dynamic attribute. In this case, the ad will include the same unpurchased camera and say “well, buy me, you promised.” You can enable remarketing in the same Administrator menu that everyone is tired of:

Assess the composition of the target audience

You can configure the analytics system so that it collects data on the gender, age and interests of visitors (just like in Yandex.Metrica, yeah). With their help, you can segment your target audience and immediately take it into circulation - launch an advertising campaign in AdWords based on the segment.

Track the path to the target action on all platforms

The User ID attached to each user helps determine which devices the person used before making a purchase - I have already given examples of such situations. Using analytics tools, you can see how many people view the site from a phone and buy goods from a computer, or vice versa. This will help to evaluate the role mobile traffic in your case. If gadget users buy a lot from you, you should think about improving mobile optimization and all that.

Google Universal Analytics is very powerful tool. Compared to the old version of the service, a lot has been added. You can add integration with offline sales, set up remarketing, generate your own reports with the necessary parameters, and do a bunch of other useful things. Yes, figuring out how a system or a separate function works is not always easy. But if you fight your way through all the fields, columns and graphs, the result will be a huge array of useful information.

Most of the questions I received for last days, concerns Google Analytics. And over the past year it has not become easier to answer questions, since the situation is far from being so certain. But now that Universal Analytics is moving out of beta, becoming the default version, and gaining support for remarketing, demographics, and other features we've discussed in these episodes, it's ready to go live, and it's time for an update. First, I'd like to answer the question I get asked most often: Universal Analytics is not the same as premium Google version Analytics. We will look at the premium version of Google Analytics in more detail in the next video, but now I will summarize everything and say that Google Analytics Premium is paid version Google Analytics, which is offered to corporative clients when they need to analyze larger volumes of data.

For such volumes it is required fast processing, higher sampling limits, more user variables or custom parameters, performance guarantees and the like. With some exceptions, this version has the same interface and the same features as the standard version free version, but with greater power and processing speed. Like the standard free version, the premium version of Google Analytics can run in the standard version of GA or in the new universal version. From point of view practical application these two versions really have nothing in common. To use an analogy, the premium version is like a two-car garage compared to a one-car garage.

and Universal is the type of machine you put inside. So, no matter what type of car you put in your garage, Universal or Classic, one of these options simply gives you more storage space for that car. So, this is not Google Analytics Premium. But what then? This is the next generation of the Google Analytics platform. The way data is collected and stored varies greatly between these versions. Ultimately, you'll have a suite of reports to take advantage of these new data sets. But at the moment these changes are not so obvious. In fact, the foundational part of the course we are currently recording does not cover this difference at all, since the cases in which Universal Analytics is used concern only more advanced users. So, if we know that this is not a premium version, then what is it? And why is it called that? We know that people use multiple devices. But at the moment, if visitors use different devices, then when they log in, they are registered in GA as different users. For example, as you are now, on the site lynda.com. The site itself knows that you are one person and one account, and shows your history, the status of your account, etc. no matter what device you are using.

And here's yours analytical system doesn't know how to do it yet. She perceives you as different people because she does not understand that they are all one person. When working with Universal Analytics, you can tell the system to override the ID that Google Analytics assigned to you and instead use the universal one that you assign to all these different devices. This feature is known as user ID override and is one of the features you can take advantage of when working with Universal Analytics. We'll look at it in more detail in another video dedicated to it, but you should consider this possibility if you need to identify a user entering the site with different devices, you are using a login or another method. The next advantage is that we can now combine offline conversions with online conversions.

Very often conversions start in online mode, but end offline. Let's say, for example, that your company is a car dealership or a call center, or even gaming company, allowing the use of the In-App purchases service. Now you can associate the initial visit, which we call " hidden conversion", with what will happen later and often not on the Internet. The measurement protocol allows you to send data directly to Google Analytics. In this case, you can add to Google system Analytics your own data. In fact, we have seen that people can do anything, take for example making coffee drinks: every time a new drink is prepared, data is sent to Google Analytics, or data is sent to GA whenever there is someone in the holiday park -passes through the turnstile.

All types of non-web devices that send data to Google Analytics. In this regard, this is Universal Analytics. Essentially, Google Analytics says, “Because you get the data in the format we need, you can send that data to your account and we will accept and process it.” So, when this office conversion occurs, you receive offline customer interaction data (CRM data). A feature known as "data import" is another way for data to enter the system. Let's say you're tracking variances through Google Analytics as part of product e-commerce, but for those products you have internal labels that you want to upload.

Or you are tracking the sales region to which the location of this store belongs. You can add all kinds of additional data using functionality such as dimension widening. It allows you to upload data that complements and expands the data that originally goes into Google Analytics. The only warning is that you still can't add personal information(PII). You can't just dump out all the customer interaction information. Therefore, you should definitely consult with your lawyers. But in practice, if Google didn't review your account, they wouldn't be able to tell who they were tracking. No names, addresses Email, social security numbers, they wouldn't know any of that information.

In addition, you can currently download pricing data from other advertising sources. If you want to track how much you spent on those Bing ads, you can now do it the same way you did for AdWords ads. But to download AdWords data, you don’t need to use this option, continue to use automatic tagging, and this data will be automatically pulled from AdWords. One more thing - Universal Analytics is code-based. Previously, we had several JavaScript versions that were considered somewhat productive. Even real outdated version urchin.js, believe it or not, was also valid. Synchronous version of ga.js.

Asynchronous version of ga.js. And dc.js, which includes functionality such as remarketing and audience reporting. Now there will be another code base. It's an analytics.js file, and since it's no longer beta, it supports remarketing as well as all the other features. Those. it is truly a universal code base. There are also universal cookies. Previously, we had all sorts of different cookies that controlled Google Analytics activities. If you were to change, for example, session delays, you would have to change the task description to include special code, which will modify these delays in cookies.

Now all these things are tracked through settings in the account configuration, so you don't have to change the code, which is always a good thing. Session delays, campaigns, selection of those sites that need to be excluded from peering as transitions, sometimes called self-transitions - all these points will be tracked in the account itself. We'll look at this in more detail in the next video, in which we perform the upgrade. And so these are thorough by-products of this simplified cookie. So, important question: "Do I need to initiate a migration to another version"? As a consultant, I am required to answer, “It depends on the situation.”

I will say that most users need to upgrade. IN currently this is the primary code base, and the goal Google- perform 100% borrowing as quickly as possible, since maintaining these two different processing pipelines is costly for them. So from that point of view, they are against older codebases, so eventually you will be forced to migrate to a newer version. Don't expect it to happen very soon, but sooner or later it will happen. But what you'll probably be more concerned about is that these new features will only be developed for this new code, which is the new standard. If you want to take advantage of the features we discussed earlier and some of the new ones, they will most likely be for Universal Analytics only.

But for some of you it will be much easier than for others. If you have an advanced installation with user variables, e-commerce, events and the like, then you are considering quite a large number of retargeting, because everything you see on the screen now will have its syntax changed. I hope I've given you enough information to understand what Universal Analytics is, what it isn't, and whether you should consider upgrading to it. In the next video I'll show you how to run the upgrade if you decide to do so.

To track source information, the system uses data collected by the service Universal Analytics by the Universal Analytics standard.

You can also familiarize yourself with the settings and connection of Universal Analytics.

Adding a site to Universal Analytics

In order for your site to be registered with Universal Analytics, you must have a Google account.

If you already have a Google Account (that is, if you already use a Google service), sign in to your account. We do not recommend using accounts here that are intended for personal use (such as your personal email).
If you don't have an account yet, go to the Google registration page, fill out all the fields and click Further. If the data is entered correctly, registration will take place successfully.

Let's create an account Universal Analytics.

Universal Analytics is an advanced Google Analytics standard. Further, the words “Google Analytics” will mean the service as a whole, and “Universal Analytics” will mean only the customizable functionality.

Creating a Universal Analytics account:

Please indicate whether you want to track a website or a mobile app.

Enter the name and URL of your site.

Select the business category your site is related to.

Specify the time zone by which days will be determined in reports.

Enter the name of the new account.

Select required settings access to data.

Click the button Get Tracking ID.

After creating a Universal Analytics account, you will automatically be redirected to your Google profile, which will show the name of your site that you want to track and your Universal Analytics account number in the format UA-XXXXXXXX-X. This code is called the Google Analytics Web Property ID and is unique for each property being tracked.

Setting Up Ecommerce Tracking Google account Analytics

Once you've signed up for a Universal Analytics account, you need to set up ecommerce tracking.

Note: in the demo version of the system, downloading from Universal Analytics is not possible.

Settings in Universal Analytics

To enable ecommerce tracking in Universal Analytics, follow these steps:

Go to section Administrator.

In column Performance select Setting up the view.

In point Ecommerce Settings select Ecommerce Tracking.

Click the button Apply.

An important point in this section is setting up the currency. You need to install the same currency that is configured and used in the system. By default this is the Russian ruble, but your store can use other currencies.

Receiving a tracking code

Universal Analytics tracking code is a script in JavaScript, which is executed by the browser of the visitor to your site. Using the tracking code, data about visitor actions on your site will be sent to Google Analytics.

To get the tracking code you need:

At the top of any page, click Administrator.

In column Resource choose Tracking code.

You will see code like this:

You will need to copy your entire tracking code from Universal Analytics. In it instead UA-XXXXXXXX-X Your valid tracking ID will be located.

Settings on the site

Now you need to add tracking code to the pages of your site, to do this, copy the tracking code to all pages of your site before the closing tag.

In order for Universal Analytics to receive information about completed orders, it is necessary to notify the user about the completion of the order on the page modify tracking code, adding order information to it.

The code needs to be modified only on the pages that the user sees after completing/confirming the order; thus, the modified code needs to be executed only once for each order.

Unlike the modified one, the regular tracking code must be executed every time any page is viewed.

For Universal Analytics, you need to modify the tracking code as follows:

... ga("send", "pageview"); // unmodified tracking code ends here. Add the following commands: ga("require", "ecommerce", "ecommerce.js"); // function that connects the e-commerce module. ga("ecommerce:addTransaction", ( "id": "1234", // Transaction ID "affiliation": "example.com", // Store name "revenue": "1500", // Total cost of the order "shipping ": "250", // Delivery cost "tax": "" // Tax )); // the addItem method must be called for each product (item) in the order: ga("ecommerce:addItem", ( "id": "1234", // transaction ID "name": " Mouse Logitech", // Product name "sku": "AAA000", // Article or SKU "category": "Wireless", // Size, model, category or some other information "price": "750", // Product cost "quantity": "2" // Quantity of product )); ga("ecommerce:send"); // Sending data

In this code, you can specify the fields in any order. Only fields containing transaction ID and product name are required. Field names must be small in English letters, for example, category, not Category, and not CATEGORY.

The following functions are visible in the code:

ga("require", "ecommerce", "ecommerce.js"); - a function that connects the e-commerce module.

ga("ecommerce:addTransaction", - a function that transmits information about the order itself.

ga("ecommerce:addItem", - a function that passes information about the products in the order.

Fields that need to be passed to the function:

ga("ecommerce:send"); - a function that confirms the sending of data.

WITH full list possible fields can be found in the official documentation

Integration with the system

Note Uploading orders from the store to the system occurs on the server side of the store website. Uploading is configured by the developer or webmaster of the store via .

Uploaded orders may contain:

External ID (externalId);
Internal ID (id);
Order number (number).

From the store to Universal Analytics, data is downloaded from the client side, that is, directly from the store visitor’s computer.

This data consists of two parts:

Information about visits obtained thanks to the tracking code that is placed on each page of the site;
Transactions containing information about orders.

The code that unloads transactions should only be executed when the user confirms the order.

Transactions contain a unique (within the store) identification number (transaction ID). It must match either the external or internal ID, or the order number in the data uploaded to the system. This is required to link Universal Analytics transaction data with data within the system.

In order to successfully integrate the system and your Universal Analytics account, you must do the following:

1. Get the online store view ID in Universal Analytics. To do this, you need to select in Universal Analytics Administrator > View Settings and copy the View ID.

2. In the system, go to the section Administration > Integration.

3. Select integration with Universal Analytics. Activate Integration by checking the box.

4. Specify which data that is uploaded from the store to the system corresponds to the transaction ID.

Attention! If the order number is not set when uploading data into the system, it will be generated automatically based on the external ID. In this case, the transaction ID must match the external ID of the order, and in the integration settings you must specify the linking via the external ID.

5. Add a custom parameter/variable that is needed to store visit data.

In Universal Analytics, this is a custom dimension. You need to go to the section Administrator > Resource > Custom Definitions > Custom Parameters and add Parameter retailCRMVisitorID. It will correspond to an index number that should be remembered.

6. Specify the Universal Analytics profile/view ID.

In addition to the Universal Analytics profile/view ID, on the Integrations page you will need to enter the index number that appeared when you added the custom parameter.

The “Translate common names of sources and channels” checkbox allows you to display sources and channels in common spellings. That is, instead of mail.yandex.ru, “Yandex.Mail” will be displayed.

7. Copy the system username. This is a robot that collects data from Universal Analytics for the system.

8. Add a user to your Universal Analytics account. In Universal Analytics you need to select Administrator > Account > User Management. The user to be added must have rights "Read and Analyze".

9. Add a counter to the code in Universal Analytics

/** * Get cookie value by name. retailCRM integration with Universal Analytics uses it. * Name should match pattern + * * @param string name * * @return mixed **/ function getRetailCrmCookie(name) ( var matches = document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|;)" + name + "=([^;]*)")); return matches ? decodeURIComponent(matches) : ""; ) ga("set", "dimension1", getRetailCrmCookie("_ga"));

You will need to insert it before ga("send", "pageview"); in the tracking code on all pages of your site.

Important! IN last line added code, ga("set", "dimension1", getRetailCrmCookie("_ga"));, the unit at the end of dimension1 must be replaced with the index of the user parameter if it is not equal to 1.

Universal Analytics identifies website visitors using temporary cookies that are stored on the user's computer. One of them contains the user's unique tag. The script that is added to the tracking code reads the unique label and then sends that value to Universal Analytics, where it is stored in a custom variable (in the Client ID custom parameter in Universal Analytics).

Cookie _ga contains a unique identifier in the format GA1.2.XXXXXXX.YYYYYY, For example, GA1.2.1129978185.1425645525, where the label itself consists only of the value 1129978185.1425645525 (clientId). You can pass either the full cookie value to the system (which will happen if you use the above code) or just the clientId without the prefix.

10. After you integrate with Universal Analytics, the dates when last time downloaded:

sources,
visits,
funnel events.

Loading event data

For example, in addition to making a purchase in your store, a visitor can order a call or fill out a form feedback. In this case, an order is created in retailCRM. But you don't want to create a transaction in the Universal Analytics e-commerce module because the corresponding event is not a purchase. In this case, you can set up an event in Universal Analytics and collect web analytics data for this client through it (sources, channels, campaigns, visits and other data).

If you have chosen the option of linking orders through events, two data entry fields will appear below for loading events: “Category” and “Actions”.

In these fields you must specify categories and actions for events, the labels of which contain identifiers corresponding to orders in the system. You can specify only a category or only a label; in this case, downloaded events will not be filtered by another field.

Please note that you must fill in the category and action, but the label must be left empty, because it will contain the order ID for communication. On the site side, for the action you need (click, form submission, etc.) you register the sending of events in Universal Analytics. Be sure to include your order ID as the label.

You can read how to create, edit, and publish goals in Google Help.

Uploading data from the system to Universal Analytics

It is also possible to transfer information on offline orders from the system to Universal Analytics. To do this, in the “Order processing methods for unloading” block, check the boxes for those order processing methods, information about which must be transferred to GA. Using the “Do not unload orders without goods” checkbox, you can also set whether orders that do not contain goods will be unloaded.

For orders whose clients have a known Client ID, data is transferred to your Universal Analytics account every 2 hours; offline transactions are uploaded only for those clients whose Client ID is known by the system, i.e. the client must have made at least one order or application through the website before this.

Additional information on the Client ID parameter and scenarios for its use

Client IDs- this is service information that does not need to be specifically specified manually. They are automatically generated on the user's computer and stored with all information in Universal Analytics.

In this case, there may be such usage scenarios:

1. In conjunction with CallTouch. The order is created over the phone, and CallTouch, through its systems, passes some data (Client ID, source) into the system, and we send it to Universal Analytics.

2. By already known Client ID. For example, there is standard integration with Universal Analytics and a client who placed orders on the site. Then the system has its Client ID obtained from Universal Analytics. After that new order this client is created over the phone, but by knowing the Client ID we can send it to Universal Analytics as if it were created on the site.

In the second case, it does not matter where the Client ID was obtained from - from GA or from the first case, although in the latter case data will also be received from CallTouch.

If the Client ID comes to the client not from Universal Analytics, but, for example, from CallTouch, then the next time data is loaded from Universal Analytics, the system will try to pull up the data for this client.

For example, a client wandered around the store and visits were recorded in Universal Analytics, made an order by phone and the data was transferred to the system via CallTouch, then the visits should be pulled into the system.

Retroactive upload to Universal Analytics

This setting allows you to specify how old records will be read when loading more than short term. This is required for Universal Analytics accounts with heavy loads, the data into which arrives with a delay.

To turn on this setting, you need to go to the section Administration > Integration > Universal Analytics. In the “Data lag” field, set the reading time you need.

Features of setting up integration with InSales

InSales is probably the most convenient CMS for integration in terms of setting up a client site. To do this you need to go to Settings. The tracking code is added to the javascript code field for display on all pages of the store. Example (in all examples, UA-XXXXXXXX-X will need to be replaced with the real resource identifier!):

Since InSales does not place this code at the top of the page, it needs to be duplicated. Therefore, the transaction upload code must be placed in the javascript code field for display on the successful order checkout page, adding the above code to its beginning (and, in fact, duplicating it within the page). Example:

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m)(i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function())( (i[r].q= i[r].q||).push(arguments)),i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o);a. async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) )(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js","ga" ); ga("create", "UA-XXXXXXXX-X", "auto"); function getCookie(name) ( var matches = document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|;)" + name.replace(/([\.$?*|()\[\ ]\\\/\+^])/g, "\\$1") + "=([^;]*)")); return matches ? decodeURIComponent(matches) : ""; ) ga("set" , "dimension1", getCookie("_ga")); ga("send", "pageview"); // UA transaction upload code starts here ga("require", "ecommerce", "ecommerce.js"); ga("ecommerce:addTransaction", ( "id": ((order.number)), "affiliation": "site.ru", // replace with real Domain name"revenue": ((order.total_price)) )); (% for item in order.items %) ga("ecommerce:addItem", ( "id": ((order.number)), "price": ((item.sale_price)), "quantity": ((item .quantity)) )); (% endfor %) ga("ecommerce:send");

Attention! When integrating with InSales, in the analytics settings you need to specify “Link transactions via Order Number”, which Not Same as default setting. In the InSales settings there is also a field Google Code Analytics for analyzing visitors to the site. There is no need to fill it out: firstly, a GA code will be generated, not a UA code; secondly, the code will be generated out of the box and will not allow you to add a unique label entry from the cookie to the custom dimension.

Not long ago, Google announced a new statistics service called Universal Analytics. However, many began to use it not as actively as the creators of this system had planned.

For this reason, the developers decided to make the transition to the Universal Analytics service mandatory. Now, for a month, you will have the opportunity to continue to use the regular Google service, but after this time you will be automatically redirected to the new system.

How is Universal Analytics so different from the usual Google Analytics? By and large, there are very few differences. However, the new statistics service provides you with many new features that will be useful to you. There will be extended reports on the traffic to your project and the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. However, if you have been using Google Analytics for a long time, you will not notice much difference.

The mandatory transition to an analytics service is due to the desire of developers to combine several tools into one. On the one hand, everything is good, because you will have access to wider opportunities. However, a forced transition to the Universal Analytics service is not so bad for those who are used to working in the old system. But what can you do if you don’t have much choice?

However, in order to use the new statistics service, you will have to make some adjustments to your site. First of all, you will need to update your tracking code. Without this, the analytics service will not be able to collect all the information you need. It's very easy to do. In your account settings, you will need to select a tracking code, copy it to a file, and then upload it to your hosting. Within a couple of minutes, Universal Analytics will begin collecting data from your project.

What is Universal Analytics As the developers themselves say, Universal Analytics is a completely new standard for the traditional Google Analytics service. Although he announces a large number of features that will be available, there are no special innovations right now. Most likely, new ones will appear in the future functionality, but now there are no big differences between the old and new versions.

If you have not yet switched to the new Universal Analytics service, then do it quickly. Otherwise, after some time you will be forced to use the new service, and access to traditional Google Analytics will simply be blocked.

Universal Google Analytics - a combination of mobile and WEB analytics. The magic of Universal Analytics

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