Recommended Analytics Tool, Need help finding right tool Options

[petersn]

Currently my web developer provides Urchin tracking as part of our basic service. It provides pretty good data on visitor stats, sessions, pageviews, etc. However there are some issues. Because our secure pages (checkout pages where credit card info is taken) are hosting on a different server from the rest of our site (for security reasons according to the developer) we cannot track abandonment between the initial shopping cart and final checkout confirmation. Furthermore our site is not converting particularly well, and we don't get great data about conversion from particular sources. I need help figuring out where our issues are.

So I am thinking that I should look into a more robust analytics tool. I see from a little research that there are many options. I did see a recommendation in another forum for a product called ClickTracks. I checked it out, viewed their demo, etc - looks pretty good. But I don't really know if this is the right thing for me and if there might be better options. Cost is definitely a consideration and ClickTracks seems quite reasonably priced ($495).

What do the people here in this forum think? Any products that anyone could particularly recommend? Or am I even on the right track?

-Nancy

[Vertster]

Hi Nancy-

Because your purchase process is on another machine, you will be plagued with this problem. Many analysis programs rely on your server logs and are dependent on their accuracy. Because the purchase process is on another machine, those actions won't be in your logs. I would recommend you purchase your own digital certificate if you have not done this. Depending on your host, this may alleviate the problem, and you will begin seeing what you are looking for in the logs.

If on the other hand, you are using an off the shelf e-commerce system (Miva for example,) you will be limited by what the system can give you. In the logs, it will be just as you describe- like the user stepped into a black hole. Unless the e-comm sys is designed specifically to work with a stats package, or vice versa, you're going to be out of luck.

In this case, your best bet will be to design an e-commerce system from the ground up that will give you the data you need, or invest in a shopping cart that provides good analytics or compatibility with leading stats software.

[Ruud]

Well, might be that I'm not on track of what you need but I use phplogger on a lot of sites. Shows you where a person started in your site, which pages you visited in which order. Of course can show you the referrer. You can use special URL's to track certain files/pages.

Ruud

[Jill]

Nancy, the latest version of Urchin does track conversions. So does ClickTracks, HitBox and WebTrends, to name a few.

Jill

[cline]

I'm happy with ClickTracks.

I haven't tried it, but I believe you can get it to handle the conversion tracking between your two servers -- IF you can pull the log files from BOTH servers.

To be sure before you buy, you can ask the very nice folks at ClickTracks. They have excellent customer service. I once found an obscure bug in their software and they fixed it right away. They're really attentive.

[Randy]

It's always tricky to track conversions when you're going off-server for part of the process. I guess the first question I would ask of your web developer is if this is absolutely necessary. Though if you don't maintain your own merchant account it like is necessary for the secure processing.

Urchin does have an e-commerce mode now as Jill mentioned. However I've never looked into seeing if it can be configured to pick up the information after someone has left your site. It may be possible, in theory, if your customers come back to a specific page on your site after the purchase.

Another option would be to write a special little application to retrieve such data. I do something very with our sites (because I like the info formatted in a specific way) which could also work even if the actual purchase is taking place off of the server.

Basically what I do is record a small cookie to the visitors computer at the moment they click the Buy or Checkout button to begin actual purchase. The cookie does nothing but set a unique identifier for each particular customer so that we can grab the info on the back end.

Then after the purchase is complete everybody is redirected back to a Thank You page, and as part of that URL I am including a lot of variables (name, email addy, amount of purchase, item numbers, etc). The thank you page is set up to throw all of those URL variables into an array and also to test to see if the cookie is on their computer. It then takes all of that info and drops it into a MySQL database for me to analyze later. It also emails me, but that's just because I'm a glutton for punishment.

As long as they customers end up back at your site, you may be able to get Urchin to record that info, assuming you have access to a version with the e-commerce module available. If not, you might want to talk to a programmer, have them look at your site and come up with a way to store the informaiton you need.

[Matt B]

I haven't tried it, but I believe you can get it to handle the conversion tracking between your two servers -- IF you can pull the log files from BOTH servers.

FYI - You do need the Pro version of ClickTracks to read log files from multiple servers.

I like ClickTracks for finding problems such as you are experiencing, as you can compare conversion rates among your targeted keyword and find out if you need to better target your terms or emphasize others. Also, you can set up the reporting to find where people are dropping out through the "holes" in your shopping process. Identify the "holes" and come up with a strategy to streamline the process or keep people in the cart, and your conversion rate should improve.

[dsm1217]

Hi gang, check out indextools. I have begun using it and it gives you roi info. It is a hosted solution all you have to do is implement some html code on your pages. I dont think it would matter at all what server the pages are on as all the data is grabbed by the code on the pages. The ecommerce edition is only 49 a month and you can track up to 3 sites for the same fee. I am also going to use the add on the offer for ppc tracking that will give me roi and roas down to the keyword level from ppc campeigns. The ppc roi module also gets your click costs automaticall, which is a great help if you have a large keyword list. It ends up being about 80 a month is you use the advanced roi tracking for ppc. Check it out at [http://www.indextools.com], they have a demo i went through with a rep with the login of demo01 and the same password.

This post has been edited by Jill: Jan 22 2004, 11:25 AM

[AussieWebmaster]

I have used a couple and like www.keywordmax.com but am doing a trial of websidestory.com which is hitbox.com they have good integration with SalesForce and LivePerson which are 2 elements we use in the sales process.

[petersn]

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions and commentary.

-nancy

[jmhonline]

Hi Nancy-


If on the other hand, you are using an off the shelf e-commerce system (Miva for example,) you will be limited by what the system can give you. In the logs, it will be just as you describe- like the user stepped into a black hole. Unless the e-comm sys is designed specifically to work with a stats package, or vice versa, you're going to be out of luck.

Just FYI, Miva Merchant has an urchin stats module for ecommerce tracking. Works great.

Jason (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

[carrick]

I'm not sure if your looking to check which part of the purchasing proceedure people are abandoning or if you are looking for an idea of how many start the process compared to the numbers that finish it?

About the booking being on another server, there is a simple solution. At the end of the process you can do a number of things:

ask it to redirect customer to a thank-you page on your site which will be picked up by your log files

or

have a unique picture (gif) on the booking process which will also be recorded in your log files.

A tool for tracking conversion rates, ROI, etc check out 'Adept' on www.netphysic.com

[rustybrick]

If its any help, I wrote a huge review on Urchin 5.5 at http://www.rustybrick.com/seo_articles_8.php

Took me a long time to write, so I hope it is helpful.

[prophecy]

One thing to note about the stand alone programs that can pull log files from multiple servers like ClickTracks is that most people using third party carts and checkout services will most likely not have direct access to the raw logs. So you would need a hosted analytics service that can support the tracking across different domains / servers.

Ecommstats has full support for cross site tracking for this reason specifically. We have a bunch of customers that use third party carts and checkout services with no problems and the stats are tracked seamlessly as if it were not on a different domain.

[Pauline]

Hi Matt,

You made a comment:
[Also, you can set up the reporting to find where people are dropping out through the "holes" in your shopping process. Identify the "holes" and come up with a strategy to streamline the process or keep people in the cart, and your conversion rate should improve. ]

I have clicktracks (not the professional or server version) and wonder how to go about identifying the holes that you're talking about. What section of Clicktracks allows me to set that up?

Thanks