I am a nerd. Rob Stokes says I am not cool enough to be a geek. So, I am never sure if my excitement about new reports in Google Analytics is decidedly nerdy, or kinda cool in a geeky way. Well, I think that the new Flow Visualisation reports in Google Analytics are definitely in the cool / geek category (and I have taken a quick check with the cool QuirkStars, and they’re mostly with me on this one).
If you are into data visualisation (as opposed to linkbait “infographics”) you’ll no doubt know that Edward Tufte said that Charles Minard's flow map of Napoleon's March "may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn" and you’ll also no doubt know that sankey diagrams are super sexy.
There is a point.
Flow Visualisation in Google Analytics was announced at the Web 2.0 Summit, and is being rolled out to all users over the coming few weeks. Yay! The Google Analytics Blogpost goes in depth on the reports that are available.
This is really exciting. These reports are great visualisations that let the analyst dive into, and visualise, how visitors are moving through the website. It’s more than the funnel visualisations that have been available for years: you can segment traffic through the flow, and you can dive deeper and view up to eleven steps before any node in your funnel.
The interface is slick and responsive. With just a few clicks, you are able to dive in and out of the data, getting a true appreciation for how visitors are navigating through the site. I’ve been looking at the reports for a few clients, and am quite excited by the visual nature of the information. As Craig Raw says, it’s “impressive, usable conversion analysis”.
Being able to manipulate data dynamically is amazingly powerful. Funnel visualisations in Google Analytics could not be segmented, but the Flow Visualisation can be segmented on the fly.
If you’d like some help analysing this information, get in touch with us! And it might also be a good time to mention some upcoming workshops and courses from Quirk Educations: a one day Web Analytics Workshop in Joburg on November 2 and an online Web Analytics Course starting November 21.
