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      1 page.title=Measure What Matters
      2 page.metaDescription=Customize Analytics to meet your business needs and get meaningful data on your app's performance.
      3 page.tags="analytics, user behavior"
      4 
      5 @jd:body
      6 
      7 <p>
      8   Once you've implemented Google Analytics, the information you see &mdash;
      9   such as how much time users spend in your app and where they are in the world
     10   &mdash; will give you insights that let you improve your app experience.
     11   While this data gives you an idea of how users are interacting with your app,
     12   you will also want to measure the performance of your business more directly.
     13   For example, you might want to know how many times your users sign up for
     14   your newsletter or how much revenue your app is generating. To get the most
     15   out of your Analytics reporting you first need to define your business goals
     16   and ensure you've built an appropriate measurement plan.
     17 </p>
     18 
     19 <h2 id="metrics">Metrics & Dimensions</h2>
     20 
     21 <p>
     22   Google Analytics easy-to-use reporting puts hundreds of
     23   <strong>Metrics</strong> and <strong>Dimensions</strong> at your fingertips
     24   &mdash; automatically.
     25 </p>
     26 
     27 <table>
     28 <tr>
     29 <th>Metrics</th>
     30 <th>Dimensions</th>
     31 </tr>
     32 <tr>
     33 <td>Metrics are the way that Analytics counts data &mdash; the numbers behind
     34 the reports. There are over 300 Metrics measured to help you quantify things like:
     35 <ul>
     36 <li>Users</li>
     37 <li>Screen views</li>
     38 <li>Sessions</li>
     39 <li>Time in app</li>
     40 <li>Events</li>
     41 <li>Crashes</li>
     42 </ul></td>
     43 <td>Dimensions help you slice and dice the data so that you can see subsets. Many
     44 reports have pre-selected dimensions listed as rows in a table. With nearly 350
     45 dimensions you can break down your analysis by:
     46 <ul>
     47 <li>Geography</li>
     48 <li>Language</li>
     49 <li>App version</li>
     50 <li>Device information</li>
     51 <li>Install source</li>
     52 <li>Network Information</li>
     53 </ul></td>
     54 </tr>
     55 </table>
     56 
     57 
     58 <h2 id="iab">In-App Purchases</h2>
     59 
     60 <p>
     61   While Google Play provides reporting about purchases happening in your app,
     62   you can gain more insight by seeing how those actions link to other pieces of
     63   information. For example, you might want to know which acquisition channel
     64   led to the most in-app purchases. Google Analytics allows you to segment your
     65   audience to understand who your best customers are and what the levers are
     66   that you can use to maximize revenue and turn more people into paying users.
     67 </p>
     68 
     69 
     70 <h2 id="retail">Retail Sales and Ecommerce Transactions</h2>
     71 
     72 <p>
     73   When you're selling real products within your app, if you dont have robust
     74   analytics you won't be able to understand the specific purchase behavior of
     75   your users and you may draw the wrong conclusions about why some products are
     76   selling more than others. Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce offers deep
     77   insights into shopper behavior, so that you can make smarter decisions. You
     78   can:
     79 </p>
     80 
     81 <ul>
     82 <li>Analyze how far shoppers get in the shopping funnel and where they drop
     83 off</li>
     84 <li>Understand which products are viewed most, which are frequently abandoned
     85 in cart, and which ones convert well</li> 
     86 <li>Upload rich product metadata to slice and dice your data</li>
     87 <li>Create rich user segments to delve deeper into your users shopping
     88 behavior and the products they interact with</li>
     89 </ul>
     90 
     91 <div>
     92 <img src="{@docRoot}distribute/analyze/images/ecommerce.png">
     93 </div>
     94 
     95 <h2 id="activity-iab">Activity-Based and In-App Conversions</h2>
     96 
     97 <p>
     98   Tracking downloads and purchases is an important first step to understanding
     99   your app performance, but those data points may not provide the full picture
    100   you expect for your business. You may want to track other important goals
    101   like signups for a newsletter or achievements unlocked in your game. With
    102   Google Analytics you can focus on what matters the most for your business by
    103   setting specific actions in your app as goals. You can even understand how
    104   these goals are related to key conversion metrics, tying it back to install
    105   sources in order to have a comprehensive view of your marketing efforts.
    106 </p>
    107 
    108 <h2 id="customdata">Custom Data</h2>
    109 
    110 <p>
    111   Activating the Google Analytics library makes many metrics available to you
    112   without additional work. Included among these are global metrics and
    113   dimensions that apply to many businesses  the number of users, their
    114   breakdown by country, length of sessions, and more. However, you'll likely
    115   have specific parts of your app or experience that are unique to your
    116   business. To capture this type of information, Google Analytics has several
    117   ways to send custom data that you define and incorporate into your app. That
    118   way, you can really dig in and understand the specifics of how users interact
    119   with your app.
    120 </p>
    121 
    122 <h3>Events</h3>
    123 
    124 <p>
    125   One of the most common and easiest ways to track user behavior is with
    126   events. Events are powerful for capturing specific actions that are relevant
    127   to your business. They are often used to capture a specific moment in time;
    128   an example of an event might be a <em>Level Up</em>. In this example, you'd
    129   configure your code to send data to Google Analytics every time a user
    130   successfully passed a level. You can send multiple properties with an event
    131   so you can group your events based on the analysis you intend to do.
    132 </p>
    133 
    134 <div>
    135 <img src="{@docRoot}distribute/analyze/images/events.png">
    136 </div>
    137 
    138 <h3>Custom Dimensions</h3>
    139 
    140 <p>
    141   Custom dimensions are another way to send custom data that is specific to
    142   your business. Good for capturing a state of something in your app, custom
    143   dimensions can be scoped at a user, session, hit, or product level. A common
    144   use case might be using a user-scoped custom dimension to capture the
    145   furthest level that a player has achieved. Using this, you could do an
    146   analysis to understand what the breakdown was of users in different levels.
    147   An example of a hit-level custom dimension could be capturing landscape or
    148   portrait orientation with every hit, so that you can better understand the
    149   breakdown of orientation as users play your game. Custom dimensions can be
    150   used very creatively to get at how different types of users engage with
    151   your app.
    152 </p>
    153 
    154 <h3>User ID</h3>
    155 
    156 <p>
    157   A specific custom dimension that may be of interest to your business is the
    158   User ID override. Instead of using a randomly generated identifier, you may
    159   send Google Analytics an identifier for a given user if you use one in your
    160   own CRM systems. This enables cross-device reporting as you can track user
    161   behavior across platforms. Note that your custom identifier must be an identifier
    162   without any personally identifiable information; an account ID (not an email
    163   address) is a good example of a common use case here.
    164 </p>
    165 
    166 <h2 id="realtime">Real-Time Perspective</h2>
    167 
    168 <p>
    169   Google Analytics reporting is available in real-time. This powerful
    170   capability helps you understand app usage as it happens. Are users updating
    171   to your latest version? Is your new marketing campaign having the effect you
    172   expected? Is a scheduled in-app event driving up usage? You can answer all
    173   these questions and more while they're actually happening.
    174 </p>
    175 
    176 <div>
    177 <img itemprop="image" src="{@docRoot}distribute/analyze/images/realtime.png">
    178 </div>
    179 
    180   <div class="headerLine clearfloat">
    181   <h2 id="related-resources">
    182     Related Resources
    183   </h2>
    184 </div>
    185 
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