TKG Web Analytics Blog

I’ve been waiting a long time for this day to arrive.  Back in October, I was asked to participate in ClickTracks’ Early Release Program.  I was an official ‘Bug Hunter’.  Aside from a few “hiccups” in the beta days of 6.5, I’ve been pleasantly blown away with the new features. 

ClickTracks unveils their latest entry into the Web analytics market today, ClickTracks 6.5.

There are several new features available in 6.5 which includes a supercharged data analysis engine, a new Data Dissection Report, API access and an enhanced Timeline featuring Key Performance Indicators (KPI-s)!

How did they super-charge their software?  According to ClickTracks, their engineers overhauled the ClickTracks processing engine to deliver 100x overnight processing speed improvements.  More speed is always good thing!

The Data Dissection Report is their newest report. They've made it possible to tabulate metrics like conversion, cost or ROI and correlate them to another data point such as visitor type, affiliate ID or product type.  It’s now possible to sort on columns by clicking a header button.  For example, it’s possible to sort columns so that you’ll reveal which pages lead to the most purchases.

The Timeline/KPI report provides dynamic date-range change with immediate updates to important KPIs.  Manipulating date ranges is as simple as clicking and dragging.  It’s easy and fast.   KPI timelines that span over a year are now possible with 6.5.

Do you have external applications that are dying to tap into ClickTracks’ powerful analytics data?  6.5 now offers API access to processed (aggregate) data. Your external applications can now query the ClickTracks Pro Processor through SOAP/XML.
 
I highly suggest buying or upgrading ClickTracks 6.5…I promise that you won’t regret it.

For more information on ClickTracks 6.5, visit http://www.clicktracks.com/6/

Since ClickTracks is my favorite web analytics tool to use and the preferred web analytics tool at The Karcher Group, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get certified. 

It was worth it in my opinion.  The eight module course covered most of the basics and also covered some of the deeper functions of ClickTracks.  Even after using CT for three years, I was able to glean a few gold nuggets from the course.

The test consisted of 100 multiple choice questions.  They did a good job at making them tricky!

The modules we covered included:

ClickTracks Architecture - Understanding all of the components of ClickTracks and how they fit together; the ClickTracks software components, and datasets.

Web Analytics Basics - Server, web site, and visitor behavior concepts. Log file formats, URL structure and parameters, setting and using cookies.

Navigation Report - Understanding the Navigation View, the Page Analysis Frame, and the Path View. JavaScript and external links. Creating instant labels.

Data Mining with Labels - Isolating visitor groups, label shortcuts, advanced labeling (including combined labels), and statistical significance.

Campaign Tracking - Tracking parameters, Pay-Per-Click tracking, importing campaign data from Google, YSM, and other PPC providers.

Revenue Tracking - Lead generation ROI, tracking unique visitors, third-party ecommerce systems. Viewing sales in the Search Report.

Search Engine Report - PPC vs. organic search, time on site, short term visitors, campaign results, revenue results. Comparing PPC and organic statistics.

Funnel Report - Defining the stage by stage flow through the process, understanding how pages can be grouped together.

Thanks ClickTracks!