Omniture vs Google Analytics

Choosing the right analytics solution for your organisation is an important task. Get it right and you could be driving more conversions, sales and profits through your website. Get it wrong and your boss could be asking why you’ve spent a small fortune on a piece of software that isn’t producing any uplift in sales or impacting your bottom line.

In the midst of a recession the decision becomes even more crucial and time dependant. The clock is ticking and there is a real need to start delivering results. This problem is compounded by the reality of finite budgets and the need to demonstrate a near immediate return-on-investment.

Starting with the right objective
Before you even start looking at software functionality or suppliers you need to define your business objective. Why are you taking the time and effort to choose and deploy a new piece of analytics software in the first place?

Here is a pretty good place to start:
To deliver an analytics tool that can give me real insight into my business and allow me to make actionable recommendations that increase conversions and profit. All within a 3 month timeframe.

Going head-to-head
Both Google Analytics and Omniture SiteCatalyst are capable of delivering real results. If you were to put Omniture head-to-head in with Google Analytics – based solely on the available functionality and number of modules Omniture would probably come out on top.

Over the years Ominture have developed a dizzyingly long list of modules, widgets and functionality all of which helps them win customers based on the mantra of ‘ah but does Google Analytics have executable web snippet refactoring technology?’

The problem with this approach is much of this functionality never actually gets used and probably isn’t even relevant to your business model or website. You’re paying for software that is unlikely to ever actually deliver any tangible results.

Insight not reports
The single most important piece of functionality that Google Analytics offers is the price tag. It’s £0.00.

Google don’t charge for the software, instead it’s offered for free and what’s more everything is included. All of the analytics technology that Google have to offer is included as standard without the need for expensive upgrades or add-ons.

If your objective is to gain real insight into your website in order to make actionable recommendations for improvement this is a REALLY IMPORTANT POINT. With the money saved on license fees and upgrade costs you can invest in human analysis.

The human brain is the best analytics tool on the planet.

Why is free important, I’m willing to pay for the right software?

I can’t stress the importance of human analysis enough. The objective of deploying analytics software is not to create meaningless reports it’s to deliver meaningful insight and actionable recommendations.

Instead of paying for software, you can use the budget you’ve saved to get the training, support and brainpower you need.

But is Google Analytics up-to the job?
Yes it is. Firstly don’t confuse the free price tag with cheap, Google Analytics offers enterprise level reporting functionality. Over the past few years Google have invested millions of dollars into improving the software.

Like any web analytics software Google Analytics has to be properly installed and configured. Without expert installation from a qualified consultant you won’t get the best out of the software. Google now offers a global network of accredited consultants (like us) who specialise in best practice GA installs.

A quick search online shows loads of old (and now outdated) posts and reports listing important functionality that Omniture offers but Google Analytics doesn’t. With the latest releases of GA those days are now over. Google Analytics now includes all of the following (and lots, lots more):

• Advanced segmentation and drill down
• Customised reporting
• Advanced filtering
• Custom dashboard
• Comprehensive API for custom tracking
• Motion charts
• Full e-commerce tracking
• Adwords integration
• API integration

Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM
This is a great saying and one which probably applies to Omniture in the case of web analytics. The problem however is that people do get fired for spending huge sums of money and failing to deliver results.

This problem applies to all analytics software providers including Omniture, Google Analytics, Core Metrics, Webtrends etc the list goes on. Put quite simply – if you are paying for any analytics solution and not paying for people to use it properly then YOU ARE WAISTING YOUR MONEY.

Cost savings of £100,000’s made on licensing costs can buy you a sizeable amount of brainpower. That’s one piece of functionality you can’t do without.