Google Analytics vs. Adobe Site Catalyst: Which is Best for Your Business?

There are so many options for Web analytics tools that it can be overwhelming for businesses that may not understand how to use them. Two of the most commonly used Web analytics software programs are Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst. Each has its pros and cons, so it’s important to understand the differences between the two. Here is an overview of each program.

Overview of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a popular choice for many businesses today. According to the site’s usage statistics, this tool is currently used by over 50% of the top 10,000 websites in the world, largely due to the fact that it is a free service (Dubois). Google Analytics “can show you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their visitor experience. With this information, you can improve your website return on investment, increase conversions, and make more money on the Web” (P.I. Reed School of Journalism, 2013).

Google describes its analytics software by saying:

“Google Analytics shows you the full customer picture across ads and videos, websites and social tools, tablets and smartphones. That makes it easier to serve your current customers and win new ones” (Google.com/Analytics). Google Analytics can also help you find out where your visitors are coming from, what kind of activities they are doing on your site and how often they come back and more (Dubois).

Google Analytics is a free service and can process up to 10 million hits per month. If your website receives more traffic than 10 million hits per month, Google also offers another tool known as Google Analytics Premium, which includes more customization, strong technical support, and the ability to process up to 1 billion hits per month. The premium service, however, comes at a hefty price of $150,000 annually (Channis, 2013).

Google Analytics is a great choice for small businesses since it offers a lot of robust services for free. Many small businesses do not have over $100,000 a year to budget for a Web analytics software program, which is required by many paid services such as SiteCatalyst. Web analytics expert Christopher Penn says Google Analytics is “so incredibly robust in terms of what it offers and if someone tells you that Google Analytics isn't enough for a small business, then frankly they have no idea how to use it properly” (Dubois).

Overview of Adobe SiteCatalyst

According to Adobe.com, SiteCatalyst allows you to “create customized dashboards and reports and share them in a variety of formats and channels. Using Adobe Analytics, you’ll quickly identify the most profitable paths through digital assets, determine where visitors are navigating away, and identify critical success metrics for online marketing campaigns” (Adobe.com).

Adobe SiteCatalyst will cost well over $100,000 per year. The cost, however, varies according to traffic volume and service level, and depends on the needs of your company. Unlike Google Analytics, there is no monthly hit limit (Chianis, 2013). This makes SiteCatalyst a better option for businesses with websites that receive more than 10 million page views per month. It can also be a cheaper option than Google Analytics Premium. The cost, however, will vary depending on the type of your business and your goals. You will need to contact Adobe for a quote to get a more accurate estimation on costs.

Key Differences of Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst

Now that we have discussed a general overview of each tool, it is important to understand the key differences between Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst. These differences include site implementation, custom variables, and the way each tool reports Web analytics.

Site Implementation

Google Analytics can be easily implemented on your website by copying and pasting the Java Script code provided by the service on all pages of your website (Chianis, 2013). This implementation is easy and requires no IT skills.

SiteCatalyst demands the skills of a trained professional and requires a significant amount of upfront work to implement. Even though it is not as easy to implement as Google Analytics, SiteCatalyst is highly customizable, meaning that the data the software collects is tailored to your business’ specific metric needs (Chianis, 2013). Because it is so customizable, this information may even be more valuable than what you would receive from Google Analytics.

Custom Variables

Custom variables allow you to see specific information about your visitors rather than looking at all visitors in aggregate. Google Analytics allows you to set custom variables, but only lets you have up to five per page. “SiteCatalyst allows up to 75 traffic variables, 100 event variables, and 75 conversion variables, all of which can capture whatever data you would like” (Ingle, 2013).

Reporting Web Analytics

Google Analytics and SiteCatalyst each have very different approaches to reporting Web analytics.

Google Analytics allows for the creation of different data profiles, which are versions of your data with permanent filters applied. The program also allows a user to look at data in sections with segmentation. “A user can apply up to four segments and make comparisons across each of these segments. SiteCatalyst does not allow for the comparison of segments. In order for a comparison to occur in SiteCatalyst, a user must export the data from different segments and compare outside of SiteCatalyst” (Ingle, 2013).

Instead of data profiles and segments, SiteCatalyst displays distinctive reporting suites of various data sets. “If your company’s website has several sub-sites, SiteCatalyst allows the different sub-sites to have their own suite for data, which can then get rolled-up into one large suite. This allows seeing metrics broken down for each sub-site. Report suites allow you to see the different paths a visitor may take between sub-sites. These reports also allow the creation of one dashboard that can be applied with different report suites” (Ingle, 2013).

Which Tool is Better for Your Company?

Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst are two of the most popular choices for Web analytics software and each has a robust offering of services. Google Analytics is free, easier to implement, less customizable, and generates reports using data profiles and segmentation. SiteCatalyst is expensive, more difficult to implement, more customizable, and generates reports using suites of various data sets.

The tool that is best for your company really depends on your goals and resources. If you own a small business and have a small budget, then Google Analytics will likely be the best option. If you have a large company with a website that generates millions of page views a month and need more customization with your reports, then Adobe SiteCatalyst will likely be the preferred choice.

Using multiple Web analytics tools can also be more beneficial for your business. According to Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0, “the quest for a single tool/source to answer all your questions will ensure that your business will end up in a ditch, and additionally ensure that your career (from the Analyst to the web CMO) will be short-lived” (Dubois).

Which Web analytics tool do you use and how has it helped your business?

References:

Adobe.com. Adobe Analytics/Marketing reports and analytics. Retrieved February 9, 2014 from http://www.adobe.com/solutions/digital-analytics/marketing-reports-analytics.html

Chianis, A. Google Analytics vs. Adobe SiteCatalyst – Which data analysis is better for your business? Retrieved February 9, 2014 from http://www.businessbee.com/resources/news/operations-buzz/google-analytics-vs-adobe-sitecatalyst-data-analysis-platform-better-business/

Dubois, L. 11 best web analytics tools. Retrieved February 9, 2013 from http://www.inc.com/guides/12/2010/11-best-web-analytics-tools.html

Google.com/Analytics. Why Google Analytics. Retrieved February 9, 2014 from http://www.google.com/analytics/why/

Ingle, S. (2013, May 15). What’s the difference? Comparing Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst. Retrieved February 9, 2014 from http://www.paceco.com/google-analytics-adobe-sitecatalyst-comparison/

P.I. Reed School of Journalism. (2013, October 21). Lesson 5: Google Analytics. Retrieved February 9, 2014 from ecampus.wvu.edu.