The Daily Dilly – New Features in Google Analytics

Fans, active users, and those who aspire to use Google Analytics should be very excited about some new features that will be made available over the next several weeks as revealed on the Official Google Analytics Blog.

For a while I had checked out the desktop-based analytics machine, Tableau, which is very capable, highly technical, and most likely overkill for my needs and the needs of most marketing managers who are interested in new views of their Google Analytics data. Google is now releasing customized report making and custom segmenation capabilities that are very similar to what Tableau provides but now you don’t have to export your data to Tableau and massage it there. I’m not saying that GA is now as powerful as Tableau, I’m saying that GA has dumbed-down enough reports that are available in Tableau so that I don’t have to purchase and learn how to use that system (yet).

Let’s be clear though and remember that other than some online tutorials, your experience with GA is essentially on-your-own whereas Tableau has entire support teams, guided coursework, and other resources available to you. If you have questions, you can actually call someone up and get help – this is a huge advantage and it very much keeps Tableau in the game and at the top of my list if/when I can get the budget and time to invest in that system. In the meantime, I very excited to try out what Google has to offer in this latest round of upgrades.