KISSmetrics

(COURTESY: KISSmetrics)

Learning about KISSmetrics

Web analytics provides information not only website traffic but as a tool for market research. Marketers can use the collected data to assess and improve a website and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Web analytics also are ideal for gauging traffic and trends of familiar elements, making it a useful market research tool.

Arguably the most known web analytics tool is Google Analytics, the service offered by the technology company Google that tracks and reports website traffic. As a freemium service, Google Analytics provides a free platform but also a fee-based platform for enterprise users called Google Analytics 360. An estimated 10 million to 25 million websites use Google Analytics, suggesting that roughly 50 percent of business websites use the tool (Garberson, para. 15).

When I was an affiliate marketing manager for a vegan manufacturing company, the company had a subscription with the web analytics company KISSmetrics. The San Francisco-based customer analytics platform that provides visualization tools on how users interact with their website, web applications and mobile products. The company started using the platform when KISSmetrics had a promotion where new users could test new experimental features and help decide whether they would become permanent parts of the product (Emerson, para. 2).

KISSmetrics allowed the company to track the movements of visitors throughout the website. KISSmetrics followed visitor patterns that allowed the marketing department to see visitors in a timeline view. We were able to see how customers made certain actions on the website, such as whether they signed up for an e-mail newsletter, purchased a new product or entered a discount promotional code. The platform allowed the marketers to track customers whether they accessed the website by the device. I found the data presentation to be visually intuitive, where each circle corresponded with how many times the customer took action:

(SOURCE: KISSmetrics)

In this diagram, the corresponding lines showed a step-by-step funnel how the customer went through a particular action. What I liked about the platform is that the data was easy to understand and useful in determining marketing actions. I also found the platform to be comprehensive because it tracked all customer interactions, regardless of the platform. 

 KISSmetrics has several features:

• Funnel report: The conversion tool that tracks how people convert from prospects to customers. Our company also used conversion funnels to record actions such as filling out a form, watch a video or to print out an electronic coupon. More importantly, the report allowed the marketing department to identify where web traffic had a bottleneck where customers would stop on the website.

                                                                                                                                                               (SOURCE: KISSmetrics)

• Cohort report: This report allows business to see how like-minded consumer groups behave over time for a customer interaction. For instance, the report does not focus on a particular transaction at a visit but how that particular group makes decisions for a prolonged period. The report shows groups change their consumer interaction as markets change. The reports allow marketers to group people by marketing channel to see which campaigns bring in the highest conversions.

(SOURCE: KISSmetrics)

• Path report: This report shows which channels take to become a conversion. This report allows marketers track a visitor’s actions and the in-between activities or events that lead to a conversion. This report lets marketers know where to focus their efforts and resources. This report also reveals the best channels for acquiring leads and conversion; seeing how long viewers convert to making transactions; and analyzing the events that move a person toward an action.

(SOURCE: KISSmetrics)

• A/B testing: Our marketing department used this report the most. We could test for any outcome, such as if the homepage headline impacted our newsletter signup lists. We regularly set up our testing for customer retention as a conversion action or event by seeing whether the choices for a new landing page or a Black Friday promotion made the right impression on customers. The A/B testing period must run a minimum of seven days to gauge metric effectiveness. KISSmetrics also allowed for integration with outside A/B test platforms, which KISSmetrics could interpret the views results.

                                                                                                                                                      (SOURCE: KISSmetrics)

• Revenue Report: This report allowed the marketing department to determine which channels produced what revenue with a clear visual picture. We were able to see what segments were bringing in the most revenue, the highest lifetime value and the highest cost-per-click. The report allows marketers to determine churn rate by a period from a minimum 30-day period to a customized term of two years. As an e-commerce business, we set our customized time for a rolling six-month setting to see whether the results were consistent. The revenue report also can evaluate paying customer information, such as active customers, paying customers gained and paying customers lost.

                                                                                                                                                     (SOURCE: KISSmetrics)

                KISSmetrics vs. Google Analytics

KISSmetrics’ primary strength is that it identifies analytics down to the individual level. At the former company where I worked, we tagged each sales training graduate by a unique ID referral code. This capability made it preferable for use measure a variety of metrics, such as purchases, marketing campaign goals and channel funnels. Google Analytics can track people, but the limitation is that the visit and registration must take place in the same visiting session (“What is the difference between Google Analytics and KISSmetrics?” para. 15).

Google Analytics can provide insight into how visitors interact with a website. Google Analytics’ advantages are getting session data, viewing a general engagement and check referral data. Conversely, KISSmetrics’ strengths are showing how customers come to websites, track an acquisition funnel and documenting A/B testing. Conversely, KISSmetrics required a developer to integrate into our company’s website particularly when the company customized its features. KISSmetrics also needed some events to have separate javascript, which again called for a developer. Google Analytics’ free platform.

In summation, KISSmetrics is a web analytics platform that provides a unique perspective on tracking individual visitors. KISSmetrics can track which channels work best to bring in customers, when people leave the sales funnel and whether customers are successful at using the website. While it is natural to compare KISSmetrics with Google Analytics, both platforms can work together to provide detailed marketing data.

REFERENCES:

Emerson, R. (2012, March 19). “KISSmetrics looks to turn your customer data into an interactive infographic.” Tech Crunch. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://techcrunch.com/2012/03/19/kissmetrics-experiments/

Garberson, A. (2014, August 5). “20 Google facts & stats that every marketer should know.” Lunametrics. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2014/08/05/20-google-facts-stats-marketer/

“What is the difference between Google Analytics and KISSmetrics?” (n.d.) KISSmetrics. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-analytics-and-kissmetrics/