Dropping paid analytics tools for Google Analytics

As internet marketers, we need to measure the stickiness value and engagmenet level of visitors to a site. Thus, many companies have used Google Analytics in the past few years since it is FREE. But there were other companies who preferred to still use paid tools like WebTrends, Omniture, and Coremetrics to mention a few. Thus, I found it interested that on the Forrester blog it mentioned:

"The merits of free are compelling.Web analytics tools, 66% would consider displacing them with a free alternative. While the primary driver for this consideration is cost, 60% of enterprises are more likely to consider a free tool now because of recent improvements in free solutions. Additionally, 52% are enticed by free tools because they allow enterprises to invest more in the people necessary to drive insight rather than the technology used to collect and analyze data."

So what do you think? I personally liked Visual Science before it got gobbled by Omniture.

I think the analysis is spot on, especially in terms of greater acceptance of the free tools because of improvements and I would add innovation. While Google does some questionable things (Google Dance, anyone?) their Analytics tools are top notch and the fact that they are free is a credit to the powers that be at Google knowing that free is better public relations wise.

Why do not use anything free like Gtrend? Try searching on the net.

Why do not use anything free like Gtrend? Try searching on the net.

For myself and the needs of my clients, Google Analytics serves our purposes but I will check out GTrend. Thanks for the heads up.

I have used both Google Trend and Google Analytics. Google Trends helps the researcher understand from a macro perspective - what are the global trends but nothing specific. Think of it as your free version of HitWise. Meanwhile Google Analytics is a robust tool to tell you about your site's visitor behavior. Think of it as an amp up verion of AWStats.

I have used both Google Trend and Google Analytics. Google Trends helps the researcher understand from a macro perspective - what are the global trends but nothing specific. Think of it as your free version of HitWise. Meanwhile Google Analytics is a robust tool to tell you about your site's visitor behavior. Think of it as an amp up verion of AWStats.

Did not realize Gtrends was Google Trends, so thank you for pointing out my dopey miss. Also, thanks for clarifying the difference between the two. I was never certain if Google Trends was a value to my clients as they are small companies and in the grand scheme of things Analytics provides much of what I need.

Well, Google Analytics serves greatly for most of the needs, especially after improvements. Others are pretty limited and costs much, so why to pay for worse tools? Custom reporting opens much more opportunities to analyze websites. Now, also use chrome exntesion to make in-page reports analysis much easier and faster.

It is important to get return on investment, but this isn't always achievable using free software. We use A1WebStats as it provides us with huge insights into how well our website is doing and it's obvious when a page isn't converting visitors as it should do.