User behavior tracking can be difficult. If done properly, it can be invaluable in helping to shape the evolution of your product. Done poorly, and it can lead to expensive mistakes. Learn the tools and techniques that will help you make the right choices. If you'd like to do this, check out Legato: https://github.com/tpitale/legato

1. USER BEHAVIOR TRACKING
with Google Analytics, Garb, and
a
RailsConf 2010 | Baltimore, MD
Tony Pitale | @tpitale | Viget Labs

2. Google Analytics
Garb
Vanity

3. 1. Track!
2. Interpret and
Identify
3. Alternate and
Refactor

4. 1. Google Analytics
2. You w/ Garb
3. Vanity

5. QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:

6. WHICH LINKS ARE BEING

8. WHERE ARE USERS LANDING?

10. WHERE ARE USERS EXITING?

12. WHERE DO USERS SPEND TIME?

14. WHAT ARE LOGGED-IN USERS
DOING?

16. QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:

17. WHICH LINKS ARE BEING CLICKED?

18. GOOGLE ANALYTICS

20. ASYNC TRACKING

21. _gaq.push

22. var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-65432-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

23. (function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script');
var src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www');
src += '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
ga.type = 'text/javascript';
ga.async = true;
ga.src = src;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();

24. WHAT SHOULD WE TRACK?

25. TRACK EVERYTHING!

26. TRACK CLICKS AS VIRTUAL
PAGEVIEWS

28. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/signup/header']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/signup/call-to-action']);

29. Modal Windows

30. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/new-repo/add']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/new-repo/cancel']);

31. TRACK EVENTS

32. _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'signup-button', 'clicked']);

33. LIMITATIONS TO GA

34. A BETTER IDEA

35. def create
@thing = Thing.new(params[:thing])
if @thing.save
track_pageview("/things/create")
flash[:notice] = "Thanks for saving that thing."
redirect_to thing_path(@thing)
else
render :action => :new
end
end

36. def create
@thing = Thing.new(params[:thing])
if @thing.save
track_pageview("/things/create")
flash[:notice] = "Thanks for saving that thing."
redirect_to thing_path(@thing)
else
render :action => :new
end
end

37. def analytics_pusher_meta_tag
meta_tags = ""
if track_pageview?
content = Rack::Utils.escape_html(session.delete(:pageview_to_track))
meta_tags << %(<meta name="track-pageview" content="#{content}" />)
end
meta_tags.html_safe
end

38. var track_pageview = $('meta[name=track-pageview]').attr('content');
if(track_pageview !== undefined) {
_gaq.push('_trackPageview', track_pageview);
}

39. WHICH LINKS ARE BEING CLICKED?

40. WHERE ARE USERS LANDING?

41. LET’S EXPORT SOME DATA

43. GARB

44. LOGGING IN & SESSION

45. # access_token = Ruby OAuth Gem access token
# global, default
Garb::Session.access_token = access_token
# instance
session = Garb::Session.new
session.access_token = access_token

46. # global, default
Garb::Session.login('username', 'password')
# instance
session = Garb::Session.new
session.login('username', 'password')

47. ACCOUNTS & PROFILES

49. # global session
accounts = Garb::Account.all
# explicit session; better
accounts = Garb::Account.all(session)

50. account = accounts.first
puts account.id
puts account.name
profile = account.profiles.first
puts profile.web_property_id # UA-65432-1
puts profile.table_id # internal id for GA
puts profile.title
puts profile.account_name # matches account.name
puts profile.account_id # matches account.id
# Find the first profile with UA number, explicit session
profile = Profile.first('UA-65432-1', session)
# Find the first profile with this table id, global session
profile = Profile.first('1234567')

51. # Find the first profile with UA number, explicit session
profile = Profile.first('UA-65432-1', session)

52. REPORTS

53. class Landings
extend Garb::Resource
metrics :entrances
dimensions :landing_page_path
end

54. RESULTS

55. Landings.results(profile)
Landings.results(profile,
:limit => 20,
:offset => 99,
:start_date => (Date.today - 30),
:end_date => (Date.today))

56. #<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/", entrances="2529">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/team.html", entrances="26">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/features/control.html", entrances="14">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/contact.html", entrances="10">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/services.html", entrances="9">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/features/customer.html", entrances="5">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/features/complete.html", entrances="4">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/industry.html", entrances="4">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog.html", entrances="3">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/las_vegas_trade_show.html", entrances="3">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/features/location.html", entrances="2">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/imbibe-wine-and-spirits.html", entrances="1">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/nrf_trade_show_2009.html", entrances="1">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/retailer_incentive_program.html", entrances="1">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/home", entrances="1">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/support.html", entrances="1">

57. ADDING FILTERS & SORTING

58. class Landings
extend Garb::Resource
metrics :entrances
dimensions :landing_page_path
sort :entrances
filters :landing_page_path.contains => 'blog'
# OR
filters do
contains(:landing_page_path, 'blog')
end
end

59. #<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog.html", entrances="3">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/las_vegas_trade_show.html", entrances="3">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/imbibe-wine-and-spirits.html", entrances="1">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/nrf_trade_show_2009.html", entrances="1">
#<OpenStruct landing_page_path="/blog/retailer_incentive_program.html", entrances="1">

60. Operators on Metrics
eql => '==',
not_eql => '!=',
gt => '>',
gte => '>=',
lt => '<',
lte => '<='
Operators on Dimensions
matches => '==',
does_not_match => '!=',
contains => '=~',
does_not_contain => '!~',
substring => '=@',
not_substring => '!@'

61. REPORT ON-THE-FLY

62. report = Garb::Report.new(profile, :limit => 20, :offset => 99)
report.metrics :exits
report.dimensions :page_path
report.sort :exits
report.filters :page_path.contains => 'season'
# OR
report.filters do
contains(:page_path, 'season')
end

63. WHERE ARE USERS LANDING?

64. WHERE ARE USERS EXITING?

65. COMMON CALCULATIONS

66. class Exits
extend Garb::Resource
metrics :exits, :pageviews
dimensions :page_path
end

67. EXITS/PAGEVIEWS
Exit Rate per Page Path

68. ABANDONMENT

69. TRACK GOALS

72. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/contact/submit']);

74. WHERE ARE USERS EXITING?

75. WHERE DO USERS SPEND TIME?

76. COMMON CALCULATIONS

77. class PageviewExitsAndTime
extend Garb::Resource
metrics :pageviews, :exits, :time_on_page
dimensions :page_path
end

78. TIME/(PAGEVIEWS-EXITS)
Average Time on Page, Per Page

79. WHERE DO USERS SPEND TIME?

80. WHAT ARE LOGGED-IN USERS
DOING?

81. SETTING CUSTOM VARIABLES

82. _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'logged-in', 'member', 1]);
// or as an admin, to partition their data
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'logged-in', 'admin', 1]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

83. // track just this pageview to a custom variable
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'purchase', 'level-2', 3]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
// what do users do the rest of this session
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'purchase', 'level-2', 2]);
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 2, 'upgrade', '1', 2]); // use slot 2
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

84. GREAT FOR SEGMENTS

89. SEGMENT ID IN REPORTS

91. class Pageviews
extend Garb::Resource
set_segment_id 0
metrics :pageviews, :visits
end

92. WHAT ARE LOGGED-IN USERS
DOING?

93. HOW DO WE IMPROVE?

94. A/B TESTING

95. VANITY

96. METRICS

97. # in file experiments/metrics/signup.rb
metric "Signup (Activation)" do
description "Measures how many people signed up for our awesome service."
end

98. # looks for the metric in experiments/metrics/signup.rb
# done in UsersController#create, for example
track! :signup

100. A/B TEST

102. ab_test "Tagline" do
description "Testing to see if a different tag line increases number of signups."
metrics :signup
end

103. <% tagline = (ab_test(:tagline) ? "Buy Now!" : "Signup for Free!") %>
<h1><%= tagline %></h1>

104. ab_test "Tagline" do
description "Testing to see if a different tag line increases number of signups."
alternatives "Buy Now!", "Signup for Free!", "Always Free, Signup Now!"
metrics :signup
end

105. <h1><%= ab_test :tagline %></h1>

107. INTEGRATE VANITY W/GARB

108. metric "Acquisition: Visits" do
description "Visits"
google_analytics "UA-65432-1", :visits
end

110. CUSTOM VANITY/GARB

111. metric "Signups Welcomed" do
google_analytics "UA-65432-1"
# report is an instance of Garb::Report
report.metrics :visits
report.dimensions :page_path
report.filters do
eql(:page_path, 'welcome')
end
end

112. REALLY CUSTOM REPORTS

113. metric "Activation" do
description "Measure page views for /"
def values(from, to)
report = Garb::Report.new(ACTIVE_PROFILE, {:start_date => from, :end_date => to})
report.metrics :pageviews
report.dimensions :page_path, :date
report.sort :date
report.filters do
eql :page_path, '/'
end
# hack because data isn't returned if it's 0
data = report.results.inject({}) do |hash, result|
hash.merge(result.date => result.pageviews.to_i)
end
(from..to).map do |day|
key = day.strftime('%Y%m%d')
data[key] || 0
end
end
end

114. HOW DO WE IMPROVE?

115. COMMON USES

116. ENCOURAGE USERS

118. EASY ADMIN

120. FOR THE ROAD

121. FOLLOW THE MONEY

122. NOBODY IS PAID BY THE PAGEVIEW

123. USER TESTING STILL WINS

124. RESOURCES
‣ http://vanity.labnotes.org/
‣ http://github.com/assaf/vanity
‣ http://wiki.github.com/vigetlabs/garb/
‣ http://github.com/vigetlabs/garb
‣ http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/
‣ http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gaJS/gaJSApi_gaq.html
‣ http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gdata/
gdataReferenceDimensionsMetrics.html
‣ http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gdata/
gdataReferenceValidCombos.html
‣ http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gdata/
gdataReferenceCommonCalculations.html

125. THANKS!
http://speakerrate.com/talks/3455
Photo Credits
‣ Fi
‣ jstbtrflyz2
‣ RobertClavarro
‣ krm_gib
‣ talllguy
‣ fragglerawker
RailsConf 2010 | Baltimore, MD ‣ erica_marshall
Tony Pitale | @tpitale | Viget Labs

126. Q&A BONUS ROUND