How well do you know your customer analytics?

The largest provider of user insights for e-commerce has been and still is Google Analytics. But there is a growing industry of companies promising even greater insight into what customers are doing online. Today, we look at the private companies coming after Google's Google Analytics business.

What can user analytics be used for?

User analytics is the online equivalent of a shop owner watching a customer browse the store's wares, recording where the customer stops and looks longer, indicating what signs attracted the customer into the store or a particular section, and tracking other customer shopping and purchase behavior. These analytics are meant to help a business understand what is helping the business reach its goals, be it more sales, more email signups, or more time spent in store (ie, online). 

• Google Analytics tops every list of analytics software tools because of its market share, estimated to be about 50%. The tool is free to most businesses and enjoys industry-standard benefits like a wealth of tutorials and programs devoted to helping people use it.

• Heap promises its 6000+ customers greater detail than Google Analytics by tracking “events,” such as page scrolls, video clicks, and more to see exactly what captivates and what bores users on a site. The company raised a $55MM Series C in 2019, led by NewView Capital.

• MixPanel is taking a chunk out of analytics customers, capturing 30% of Fortune 100 SaaS companies. The platform allows companies to assign unique user numbers to track them across multiple websites and platforms, a feature that potentially might be copied by Google and others. a16z wrote the entire check for MixPanel's $65MM Round B.

• Amplitude is the second-largest analytics platform, with 40,000+ customers. The company boasts the highest CAGR of all the analytics companies and reached unicorn status with its $50MM Round E in 2020.