Taking something from start to finish is always a great feeling, and building an app is no exception. But when you build and deploy an app, is there ever really a finish line?
Whether web, mobile, desktop, or progressive, successfully building an app is an iterative process of releases. Good apps use this approach to put out new features for improved user experiences and bug fixes. However, great apps do this, and more. Great apps combine this approach with analytical data gathered from actual users, while they use their apps!
That’s why I curated this list of options to present to you. Each option has different positives, negatives, and price points. They do have one thing in common though, they all can give great analytical insight into your apps!
Google Analytics/Firebase
While a free option traditionally known for websites, Google Analytics has grown well beyond its initial intended platform. Since Google Analytics is a viable option to use across web and mobile platforms in its own right. To add to that, Google’s purchase and integration of Firebase with Google Analytics, make it that much more of an easy choice to go with.
Google Analytics, in conjunction with Firebase, offers great features for whatever platform your app is built for. It is the perfect all-around tool for gaining insight into your users needed to build a great app.
I can personally attest to the features and use cases offered by Google Analytics/Firebase. In my app LastCheck, I use this tool to track events and report errors. As an app developer and business owner, it’s important to release products that can continue to grow as the market shifts. And by using this analytical tool, I can do that in more of a proactive, as apposed to reactive, fashion.
Key Features
- Live Reporting
- Audience Segmentation
- Geographic Location Identification
- Crash Reporting(mobile)
- Event Tracking
- Time Spent on View Tracking
FullStory
Looking at numbers is always great, but getting an actual video of user interactions is always better! FullStory is an Atlanta, Ga based analytics company offering full session replay of a user’s time spent in your app. This is great because it shows what users gravitate to around your app, and what areas tend to gain the majority of user’s attention.
On the downside, you must take the extra step while using FullStory, or any session replay service, to protect the user data being input into your app FullStory tracks. Outside of that, FullStory is a great tool to gain stronger user insights.
I recently integrated FullStory into LastCheck, and the insight I’ve been able to gather along with what I was previously doing has been transformative. In its basic level, simply having a quick insight into the users that have signed up for accounts vs those just using the app is great. It also gives weekly reports based on new users, avg time spent inside the app, and so much more.
Key Features
- Session Replay
- Rage Clicking Analytics
- Event Funneling
- Error Click insights
Segment
Segment is a more than just a great option for collecting user data. It also does a great job of integrating with some of the tools your team already uses and loves. These including Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Salesforce, Optimizely, and many more.
For integration, Segment offers API, web client, server modules, and SDK options for developers to choose from.
Key Features
- Integrates with 200+ tools for collecting and sending data
- Easy to use API and SDK
- Secure and privacy-focused
Kissmetrics
If behavior-based analytics are what you are after, then Kissmetrics is the product for you! Kissmetrics is a great product whose aim is to help teams grow their products with behavioral analytics in three key areas. These being: increasing conversions, driving engagement, and growing retentions.
Kissmetrics is able to provide its customers these improvements by relying on what they define as Populations or behavioral segments. Populations are defined by customer behaviors and use monitoring abilities to watch and grow these segments over time.
Key Features
- Monitor growth segments
- Insight into which user groups need attention
- Behavior reports
- Identifies user roadblocks
Woopra
Woopra may not be as well known as the other tools that have been introduced on this list, but that doesn’t make it any lesser. Woopra is unique because while the other entries focus more on grouping larger segments, Woopra focuses on individualization. Woopra uses real-time analytics to build user profiles to enhance the customer experience.
Woopra works by creating customer profiles from behavior analytics in real time. Woopra looks at every engagement as an opportunity to improve customer experience and define journey points for getting users to the conversion finish line.
Key Features
- Customer profiles from user behaviors
- Task Automation
- Dynamically track and segment user groups
- Journey reports
- User retention analytics