Once upon a time, web analytics was a field led by subscription-based offerings from companies like Coremetrics and Omniture. In 2005, web analytics substantially democratized when Google took an interest in and started offering the free version of Google Analytics.
At the time, the end goal of the zero dollar price tag for this version of Google Analytics was simple: gain market share.
Through gained market share, Google Analytics collected a potent stream of user generated real time data, which they then leveraged for revenue generation, and subsidized the Google Analytics overhead. As a result, consumers received insights, unmatched for no cost: It was a win/win for all.
We’ve come a long way since 2005. These days, it goes beyond question that every business needs an analytics tool for analytics reporting that delivers insights from their digital marketing campaigns. Instead of wondering if they need an analytics solution, businesses evaluate how extensive they need their analytics solution to be and choose a platform based on that.
Google Analytics 360 (GA360) is the enterprise level response to the growing complexity of the digital media landscape. With consumer engagement more mobile than ever, and with the heightening efficiency of digital channel offerings, the ability to cohesively track full the Customer Journey cross-channel is paramount to a robust digital strategy. Just as important, is the ability to seamlessly buy media against insights gained from the full Customer Journey. In this post, we will cover majoir comparisons between the Google Analytics 360 Suite vs Google Analytics.
Functionality Breakdown – What Separates Google Analytics 360 from Google Analytics?
GA 360 offers many benefits, but the top three are higher hit limits, removal of data sampling, and a thorough SLA (Service Level Agreement). The SLA emphasizes 99% uptime and quick data processing (within four hours, though often faster).
But for many advertisers, those reasons alone are not enough to justify the cost of Google Analytics 360. Therefore, it’s essential to understand where deeper insights into the customer journey and media through Google Analytics 360, come into play.
Here are some of the top benefits of Google Analytics 360, all of which justify the price:
- Google Analytics 360 allows for roll-up reporting across multiple properties, which provides cohesive insight into the bottom line for multi-domain businesses.
- Google Analytics integrates with Google products like Search Ads 360, but Google Analytics 360 takes it a step further and natively integrates with Display and Video 360. This integration allows advertisers to build a two-way data pipeline between their media buying platforms and centralized analytics platform. This creates a closed-loop ecosystem where each product cooperates seamlessly with the others. You can track, measure, attribute, optimize, and buy under a single tech stack.
- Google Analytics 360 integrates directly with Google’s BigQuery, a fully managed, serverless, low-cost enterprise warehousing solution on Google Cloud Platform. With this integration, advertisers can manage large data sets (transactional, CRM, offline, email, etc.) in the cloud, and plug them directly into Google Analytics 360. They can also bolster digital insights with external metrics and metadata.
- Google Analytics 360 provides up to 200 custom dimensions and metrics, or 10x the amount available in Google Analytics, which is a necessity for advertisers with complex taxonomy and nuanced measurement requirements.
- Google Analytics 360 provides data-driven attribution, and the ability to analyze against the full customer journey per integration with Display and Video 360. This integration means advertisers can apply cutting-edge attribution modeling against the entirety of their media & site touchpoints: landing, media click, and media impressions.
- Google Analytics 360 provides enhanced custom funnel reporting to better understand the on-site conversion paths consumers prefer. Google Analytics 360 also allows for in-depth insight into the elements that drive consumers through to conversion; the elements that cause higher than average drop off, and the complexity with which consumers browse and convert on your site(s).
With Google Analytics 360, you can utilize a mature tracking and measurement solution offered by a thorough technology stack that provides solutions against your enterprise’s full data needs. Pair that with the expertise of our award-winning team of data scientists and experts in the Google Marketing Platform and Google Cloud Platform, and take your digital marketing to the next level.
Learn more about our Google Partner status here.
Ready to take your ads, and your business, to the next level? Get in touch with the DELVE team today.