Google Analytics 360 (discontinued) vs. Heap

I think this is a great platform as long as there is a dedicated team which is going to spend reviewing the data and also taking out insights from it, making it beneficial. It was well suited for me when working with a client that had a very large amount of traffic, with a large range of complex products on offer. This tool allowed us to be able to do more with the data and segmenting it more which ultimately drove our relationship forward, but also the results that we saw

Heap is well suited for 1. Capture customer journey with session replay 2. Identify customer behaviour and improve overall customer experience 3. Frequent and quick implementations and modifications 4. Comparative analysis for historical marketing insights Heap is not so well suited, if the aim is to capture only analytics data without any goals to improve upon customer experience / targeting appropriate users based on data tracking.

Incentivized

• It is an excellent cloud analytics platform that is easy to install and configure and easy to deploy and use, allowing us to measure web traffic and other tools.
• It is an entirely online tool; it does not take up hard disk space like other desktop tools.
• Since this tool is draggable, Google is constantly adding more features.
• Even beginners who do not have a custom dashboard can get information. If there is a problem somewhere on the site that needs to be investigated, Google Analytics 360 will notify you.

Incentivized

• The Auto Capture function does indeed save quite a bit of time, and being able to build new reports off historical data is really valuable.
• Interface is really intuitive and user-friendly. Much easier to pick up and use than GA.
• Building reports out on the fly is really quick and easy, allowing you to give right into all kinds of analyses.
• The Event Definition screen is really useful, giving a quick glance at the most used events, which you then decide to turn into conversions or goals if you want.

Incentivized

• As far as I can tell, this is the ultimate large scale analytics platform. It does so much and can be a very powerful tool. Maybe it's overwhelming for newbies, but that's kinda what the pro Google consultations are for.
• Although I've never been personally responsible for paying the GA 360 bills, I know it's very pricey ($150K/year last I checked). If your business is managing a lot of high-traffic sites, and maybe you resell other Google services, then it's probably worth it for the dashboard and integration. So... it's expensive, and by definition, not for everyone.

Incentivized

• I think Heap can improve its onboarding; I would love to see some info that is helpful for someone who isn't in Heap every single day.
• Sharing dashboards can be tricky, it feels like a huge learning curve that I already have forgotten how to do.

Incentivized

I believe that once Google Analytics Premium releases some additional eCommerce capabilities, it will be the best tool on the market for multi-site customers. Google does an amazing job of fully vetting out new features and functionality before releasing them publicly, so I have found very few issues with the functionality and usability of the tool. Some of the other big players in the industry are too quick to release new features, and they are often riddled with bugs and defects. I know that when I set something up with Google Analytics Premium, I'm getting a reliable, strong product that will deliver what it promises.

Heap helps me understand key data points without fussing with the formatting of a dashboard. It gives me the benefit of data analyzation without the fuss of the formatting - as well as the ease of sharing data collected with my colleagues

Incentivized

Google Analytics Premium has a very easy to use and intuitive User Interface. It's easy to find anything you are looking for and apply different segments to reports on the fly. This is very important especially if you are doing report comparisons. It's also an aesthetically pleasing design, making the general experience pleasant.

Sometimes, Heap has issues reconciling similar selectors, and I have not found the manual tagging system to be the most intuitive, especially when best practices are not used when designing the front-end infrastructure. Even so, it helps that the data is unmodified, and all analytics are done through an interfaced layer, so damage and confusion [are] not permanent.

Incentivized

I've never run into any issues with Heap's availability, Heap is always there when I need it. I haven't run into any issues like application errors or unplanned outages during my 2+ years of using Heap. Each and every time I log in to Heap I have a completely functional experience

Incentivized

On a scale from 1-10, Heap loads pages fairly quickly. The only time I experience delays is when I am loading a graph with perhaps too many events or filters on the page. But in terms of creating or searching for events or viewing reports, I don't ever experience a lag.

Incentivized

• Everyday support is primarily through chat and email with the centralized, general team. Its as you would envision with an anonymous individual attempting to figure from "page one." Often responses are later in the day or next day.
• At first signing, one account person is assigned along with an initial individual to assist in onboarding. There's an interview of the goals with GA360, but the provided deliverable document is limited in the review of one site. Also, after delivery of the onboarding document, you are left with an account individual who is looking for expanded vertical integration with other Google products.

Incentivized

Heap support has allowed us to troubleshoot and test a lot of different items. Their support team is always helpful and friendly, even when we come to them with the most complicated questions. I think this greatly improves the value proposition of the product because their support team is knowledgable and friendly.

Incentivized

There is a ton of information online about Google Analytics, but Google Analytics Premium users will have dedicated support and training from Google or an Authorized Reseller.

If you already have the basic version of GA installed, "getting" GA Premium happens immediately through a virtual flipping of the switch - no need to re-implement. You'll want to expand your use of custom dimensions and metrics (you get 10x the amount with Premium). Ideally, you'll be using a tag management solution to talk with GA Premium, in concert with implementing a dataLayer (to note, Google's Tag Manager platform is covered under the same GA Premium SLA, and it's free). There are some welcomed "configurations" with GA Premium, such as integrating with DoubleClick products, activating data driven attribution models, and building roll-up executive reports - but all of these are easy point and click solutions. In comparison with any other enterprise analytics solution, implementing GA and GA Premium is traditionally easier and more flexible. And if you have any trouble or need an extra set of hands for implementation, GA Certified Partners like LunaMetrics can help

The implementation was smooth and easy. The Heap team helped us with implementation and it went great! Within a few weeks, we were fully up and running and utilizing the platform to its full capability. This is an additional thing that has made this platform so great and we couldn't recommend it enough.

Incentivized

Since our data is on Bigquery it is very easy for us to connect our database to this platform which is very challenging for us to connect the data integration part to other platforms so this is the primary reason for us to choose this platform. The second reason to choose this is that this platform will solve our problems of multiple departments of product, marketing, business, and analytics rather than choosing separate platforms for different departments

Heap is better because its easy to use, easy to install. With Heap you just add a snippet of tracking code to your header, instead of having to instrument each event like you do with other tools.

Incentivized

The most challenging part of using Heap in a growing organization is the naming and structure in which reports and dashboards are organized. I work within the marketing department and our Heap leader internally works within the IT/Product department, which makes it challenging because we often don't speak the same language, so the learning curve has been steep without any specific use-case examples to leverage online.

Incentivized

• It helps me understand which social media platforms are most successful for me - which I should focus on and which I might want to focus less on.
• I can also see which blog posts people are reading - so I know which topics resonate most. I can write more of those, hopefully gaining more visitors.

Incentivized

• It has helped us make decisions on what products to scope for our MVP based on the usage data.
• It's allowed us to measure success with our beta product.
• It's helped us view our conversion rates in an easy and usable manner.

Incentivized