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• Tracking User Acquisition and Social Media Activity with Piwik

  25 avril 2017, par Florian Hieß — Community

  Being able to monitor user acquisition and social media activity is essential for determining whether the outcome of your campaigns is in line with the business objectives. Determining the source of each website visit that gets you closer to your business goals enables you to focus your efforts in the directions that are worth it. In this article you will learn why it is important to identify your traffic sources and how you can track user acquisition with Piwik Analytics.

  Why Is It Important to Identify Traffic Sources on Your Website ?

  Since brands nowadays use multiple channels for promotion and advertising, identifying the touch points and traffic sources of a lead or customer seems to become more and more difficult. And yet, this channel multiplication is what makes the source of a purchase more important. Once you identify the traffic origin and how each source is performing you are able to increase your efforts on the best performers, both in terms of human resources and monetary investments, to attract more leads or customers in these marketing channels.

  The default referrer types are defined by :

  • Search engine
  • Direct traffic
  • Websites and
  • Campaigns

  But consider that within the “Campaigns” type, each of the following referrers is a possible traffic source for your website and can be tracked with the Piwik URL builder :

  • Google AdWords
  • Display Ads, Banners
  • Links in Newsletters, Emailing
  • Affiliate links
  • Tweets
  • Facebook Ads

  Measure your performance and conversion

  With so many options, wouldn’t you like to know which one of them worked best ? To rate channels based on their performance, you first need to establish conversion goals and attribution.

  A conversion can be anything from sign-ups or downloads to leads, registered users and even paying customers. Define conversions based on what you want people to do once they’ve landed on your website.

  

  You need to define each conversion type in the Piwik dashboard, so that the analytics platform knows what to track. As far as attribution goes, Piwik by default links the conversion and attributes to the last seen (non-direct) referrer. You are able to change that to the first referrer in the attribution line by following the instructions in this conversion attribution FAQ.

  Track Your User Acquisition Right with Piwik

  Using the Piwik URL Builder tool, you can tag each URL you promote in your campaigns using relevant keywords. Provided that your URLs are tagged, whenever someone clicks on them, the campaign will be listed as the referrer in the Piwik dashboard. Once you’ve generated trackable URLs, you can include them in your social media posts which could be planned and scheduled using a social media management tool such as Swat.io.

  

  Campaign URLs work wonders for telling which campaign helped you reach your goals faster, more efficiently and so on but they do have a downside. They only work for URLs that you’ve shared. If someone decides to share a link of yours on social media they won’t be tagged beforehands. This is where the Referrers section of Piwik comes in handy, as it acts as a backup for tracking traffic sources. The overview tab features a graph that can help you identify when spikes occurred.

  

  As well as a numerical representation of the main referrer categories for the selected time period.

  

  Switching from Overview to Websites & Social, you can see a graphical representation of the social networks acting as referrers. The visualization can be changed to bar graphs or table, and can be easily exported in various formats for reports.

  

  The websites list features not only the social referrers, but all of the websites generating visits to your website. With Piwik you should not have issues with referrer spam, as the Piwik core team has tackled this problem early on, as detailed in how to stop referrer spam. Our analytics spam blacklist is a public project on GitHub.

  

  Assuming that you’re relying only on Facebook and VK.com for your campaigns, as the above screenshot would suggest, you might want to give paid advertising a try on these two social networks. Paid ads can increase reach and engagement, can get more relevant visitors to your website and can have a snowball effect in a short period of time.

  What Social Networks Can Piwik Track ?

  Piwik’s built-in social network list is quite extensive, as it currently features 70 platforms. The entries range from popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to more obscure ones such as Renren. However, this list is not available by default, and to see it or alter it, you would need a third-party plugin.

  How Does the Referrers Manager Plugin for Piwik Work ?

  The Referrers Manager plugin for Piwik provides access to the list of search engines and social networks that this analytics platform can handle by default. The simple plugin can come in handy when sorting out referrers. First of all, it displays a list of all search engines and social networks that Piwik can handle by default. Secondly, it enables users to disable/enable the platform’s default social network list. And using Referrers Manager, you can add custom engines or social networks to the referrers list in case they’re not already available.

  

  Conclusions

  Piwik is a very capable analytics platform as it is, but combined with third-party plugins such as Referrers Manager, it can provide even better insights on where your visitors are coming from. Remember to correlate the referrers with goals in order to determine which website or social network performs best in your context. And don’t forget to assign a monetary revenue value to each goal, in order to determine your social media ROI with greater accuracy.

• Why Matomo is a serious alternative to Google Analytics 360

  12 décembre 2018, par Jake Thornton — Marketing
  There’s no doubt about it, the free version of Google Analytics offers great value when it comes to making data-driven decisions for your business. But as your business starts to grow, so does the need for a more powerful web analytics tool.

  Why would I need to use a different web analytics tool ? It’s because Google Analytics (free version) is very limited when it comes to meeting the needs of a fast growing business whose website plays a pivotal role in converting its customers.

  This is where the Google Analytics 360 suite comes in, which is designed to meet the needs of businesses looking to get more accurate and insightful metrics.

  So what’s holding a growing business back from using Google Analytics 360 ?

  While GA360 sounds like a great option when upgrading your web analytics platform, we have found there are three core reasons holding businesses back from taking the leap :

  • Businesses can’t bear to swallow the US$150,000+ price tag (per year !) that comes with upgrading
  • Businesses can’t rely on GA360 to give them all the insights they need
  • Businesses want more control and ownership of their data

  Thankfully there are (only a few) alternatives and as the leading open-source alternative to Google Analytics, we hope to share insights on why Matomo Analytics can be the perfect solution for anyone at this crossroads in their web analytics journey.

  First, what does Google Analytics 360 offer that Google Analytics (free) doesn’t ?

  There’s no doubt about it, the GA360 suite is designed for larger sized businesses with demanding data limits, big budgets to use across the Google Marketing Platform (Google Adwords, DoubleClick etc.) and to get more advanced reporting visualisations and options.
  

  Data Sampling

  Data sampling is the elephant in the room when it comes to comparing GA360 with the freemium version. This is an entire article in its own right but at a basic level, Google Analytics samples your data (makes assumptions based on patterns) once the number of traffic visiting your website reaches a certain limit.

  Google Analytics provides the following information :

  Ad-hoc queries of your data are subject to the following general thresholds for sampling :

  Analytics Standard : 500k sessions at the property level for the date range you are using

  Analytics 360 : 100M sessions at the view level for the date range you are using

  In short, sampled data means inaccurate data. This is why as businesses grow, GA360 becomes a more attractive prospect because there’s no point making data-driven business decisions based on inaccurate data. This is a key weapon Google uses when selling to large businesses, however, this may not seem as concerning if you’re a small business within the sampled data range. For small businesses though, make sure you know the full extent of how this can affect your metrics, for example, your ecommerce data could be sampled, hence your GA reporting not matching your CRM/Ecommerce store data.

  Benefit of using Matomo : There is no data sampling anywhere in Matomo Analytics, that’s why we say 100% Accurate Data reporting across all plans.

  

  Integration with the Google Marketing Platform

  Yes ok, we’ll admit it, GA does a great job at integrating seamlessly with its own products like Google Ads, Google Optimize etc. with a touch of Salesforce integration ; while GA360 takes this to another level compared to it’s freemium version (integration with Google Search 360, Google Display & Video 360 etc.)

  But… what about non-Google advertising platforms ? Well with Google being a dominant leader as a search engine, web browser, email provider, social media channel ; sometimes Google needs to keep its best interests at heart.

  Google is an online advertising giant and a bonus of Google Search 360 is that you can integrate your Bing Ads, Baidu and Yahoo Japan Search campaigns but that’s about it when it comes to integrations from its direct competitors. 

  Benefit of using Matomo : No biased treatment. You can integrate your Google, Yahoo and Bing search consoles for accurate search engine reporting, and in early 2019, Matomo will be releasing a Google Ads, Bing Ads and Facebook Ads Manager integration feature.

  Roll-Up Reporting
  

  Roll-up reporting lets you combine multiple accounts and properties into one view. This is a great benefit when upgrading from GA freemium to GA360. For example, if you’re a digital agency with multiple clients or you manage multiple websites under the one account, the roll-up reporting feature is wonderful when you need to combine data and reporting, instantly.

  Benefit of using Matomo : Matomo’s got this covered ! Roll-up reporting is available in the Matomo Business package (starting at $29 per month) for cloud hosting or you can purchase as a Premium Feature for On-Premise starting at $99 per year.

  Staying in full control of your data

  Who would have thought that one of biggest reasons people choose Matomo isn’t because of anything that leads to a higher ROI, but for the fact that users want more control of their data.
  

  Matomo’s philosophy around data ownership is simple, you own your data, no one else. If you choose to host Matomo Analytics On-Premise then you are in complete control because your data is stored on your own servers where no one can gain access to it in whichever country you choose.

  So what about when you cloud host Matomo ? For users who don’t have the technical knowledge to host Matomo On-Premise, you can still have 100% data ownership and fully respect your user’s privacy when choosing to host Matomo Analytics through our cloud service.

  The difference between cloud hosting Matomo Analytics vs Google Analytics is that when you choose Matomo, we acknowledge you own the data and we have no right to access it. This means we can’t on-sell it to third-parties, we can’t claim ownership of it, you can export your data at anytime (how awesome is that !) and you can migrate between cloud hosting and hosting on-premise for ultimate flexibility whenever you want.

  Matomo also prides itself in allowing its users to be GDPR compliant with ease with a powerful GDPR Manager.

  Businesses can’t rely on Google Analytics 360 to give them all the insights they need

  Unlike Google Analytics 360, Matomo blends its Premium Web Analytics platform with Conversion Optimization features to allow its users to fully evaluate the user-experience on your website.

  Matomo is designed to be a complete analytics platform, meaning you have everything you need all in the one place which gives you greater insights and better business outcomes.

  
  These features include :

  Premium Web Analytics – You can still (accurately) measure all the basic metrics you love and are familiar with in Google Analytics like Location, Referrer traffic, Multi Attribution, Campaign Tracking and Ecommerce etc.

  Conversion Optimization – Eliminate the need for multiple analytics tools to get what Google Analytics doesn’t offer. These features include Heatmaps, Session Recordings, Form Analytics and more – giving you the best chance possible to convert more traffic by evaluating the user-experience.

  By having one tool for all your features you can integrate metrics, have one single view for all your data and it’s easy to use.

  Enhanced SEO – Get more insights into the performance of your search campaigns with unbiased search engine reporting, keyword ranking positions, integration with multiple search consoles and crawling stats. Google Analytics offers limited features to help with your SEO campaigns and only integrates with Google products.

  Visitor Profiles – Get a detailed life-time evaluation of every user who visits your website.

  Tag Manager – A powerful open-source Tag Manager tool to embed your third-party marketing tags. By being open-source and with our commitment to giving you 100% data ownership, you can always ensure you are in full control.

  Full Matomo vs Google Analytics 360 Comparison Table

  Just putting it out there ...

  Google leads the market with its freemium tool which offers great insights for businesses (fyi – Matomo has a forever free analytics tool too !), but when it comes to upgrading to get accurate reporting (kind of a big deal), owning your own data (a huge deal !) and having a complete range of features to excel ROI for your business, Matomo Analytics is often a preferred option to the Google Analytics 360 suite.

  Matomo is designed to be easy to use, is fully flexible and gives users full peace of mind by respecting user privacy. Want to learn more about the benefits of Matomo ?

• Q&A : An interview with Matomo founder, Matthieu Aubry

  20 novembre 2018, par Joselyn Khor — About, Community

  Hey everyone ! Joselyn here. As always the views of our community remain top of mind. So to make sure you guys know the thinking behind these new projects, we reached out to Matomo’s founder, Matthieu, to ask questions you might want answered. Please check it out below !

  Hi guys, it’s Matthieu ! Here to answer some questions about the rebrand and the future of Matomo and Innocraft.

  What’s upcoming ?

  We’ve been busy implementing our rebrand into all aspects of Matomo and there’s also our new website, which is launching today ! The new website will help people better understand what Matomo is and how they can benefit from using modern web analytics.

  Why was Matomo and Innocraft brought onto one website ?

  In the past the separation caused a bit of confusion so we’re taking this as a chance to unite both the business brand, Innocraft and community brand, Matomo, on one website. Putting our focus on one brand, Matomo, makes it easier for people to see us with fresh eyes. We have a community side as well as a business side and while the community is still incredibly important to us, we find we have a powerful analytics tool that is capable of helping businesses too.

  Is Matomo becoming commercial or turning corporate ?

  No. nothing is changing. Matomo is still an open-source project and community. Although we’ll have a pricing page and “start free trial” on the new website brought over from Innocraft.cloud, the Matomo community will still play the biggest part on the Matomo website. We have dedicated sections focused on Community and On-Premise.

  The rebrand exercise helped us gain a refreshed perspective. After reflecting on how far we’ve come, we can feel more confident about Matomo Analytics itself as a platform. We believe it’s a great chance to bring that confidence into the brand and vision. We are proud that it’s an awesome open-source platform and at the same time it’s also powerful as a tool for businesses.

  Why is there no ‘download for free’ button on the homepage ?

   

  
  We feel many users coming to the site will get confused about our hosting options (Cloud and On-Premise) which is something you don’t usually consider when choosing an analytics tool.

  The reason for us to not have that button is when people see a “download for free” button on the homepage next to a “try it for free” button, it creates confusion. For those who do choose to download Matomo often become confused when they are left with a .zip file unaware how to install it and the technical requirements of self-hosting. We feel presenting our users with the simplest installation option first will give them the best chance possible to try Matomo to its full potential, without cost.

  And you can still find the link to Download Matomo in the footer of each page.
  

   

  Is Matomo still free to download and have forever ?

  Absolutely. The free open-source download can be found on the On-Premise section of the website, or download Matomo here.

  Why is it important to have a business behind the project ?

  There’s the reality that we have to make money in order for the Matomo project to survive … and thrive. The reason we still need a business side (Innocraft) is to fund and sustain the Matomo project. Whenever people purchase premium features, this helps finance the development of Matomo for our community.

  Because of the business we’re able to continually maintain and develop Matomo for you guys as well as future users. For example, the next release Matomo 3.8.0 is already mostly developed and will bring lots of interesting features too, like the two-factor authentication, Brute Force Protection, failed tracking requests reporting, lots of JavaScript tracker improvements, a new total summary row below reports, and many more security fixes, bug fixes, and other new features.

  So we see a business being very helpful in supporting our open-source community. Without a business side, our free, open-source project would not be able to survive.

  How will you protect the Matomo project ?

  We’ve ensured the Matomo project will be protected for the future as we wish to turn it into a not-for-profit foundation.

  We’ve also got a safeguard where the open-source code will stay under a GPL license forever. This is so we can guarantee, that no matter what happens, the Matomo project itself will stay completely free software.

  Is there a way for people to help ?

  There are heaps of ways to help ! You can help other Matomo users in the forums, contribute to fixes on GitHub, leave a great review (e.g. alternativeTo), help look for bugs with our Security Bounty Programme or participate and spread the word about Matomo in our community social media pages – Mastodon, Facebook, Twitter. Telling your friends about us would be very helpful too !

  What’s planned for the future ?
  We’ve worked hard to become the #1 open-source analytics platform (1.4 million websites use Matomo today), but now we need to empower even more individuals and businesses to take back control of their own data.

  Showing our community that we have a powerful platform is crucial, but alongside that our values are what define us. User privacy is still of utmost importance and we’re here to make it known that power needs to rest in the hands of people and not large corporations.

  You can rest easy knowing you’re doing your part in using trustworthy and dependable tools. By joining many other companies who are growing this movement to decentralise the Internet, we can build a safer, online world together.

  Join this analytics revolution and let us know what you think about Matomo !