Google Analytics 360 Benefits | Benefits of Using GA 360

Chances are you are considering an enterprise analytics solution because you are experiencing limitations with your current solution or there is particular Google Analytics 360 (GA 360) feature that has caught your eye.

No matter what your data problem is, you’ve come to the right place.

Your biggest question is probably, what’s the difference between Google Analytics 360 vs Google Analytics? What are the benefits of using Google Analytics 360? This post will introduce you to the five key Google Analytics 360 benefits and point you in the right direction towards getting started with the GA 360 Suite.

1) Benefit of Using GA 360: No Data Sampling

Google Analytics Standard is subject to sampling when your Google Analytics property exceeds 500,000 sessions within the date range you are using. While default reports are not subject to sampling, true insights are derived from more purposeful, ad-hoc data querying using secondary dimensions, filtering, segmentation and custom reports.

Is your data being sampled?

1. Within Google Analytics, navigate to the admin panel to view property hits for the past 30 days.
2. Within the property column, select ‘property settings’.
3. Scroll to the bottom to see recorded sessions for the past 30 days within your Google Analytics property.

Sampled data in Google Analytics can be highly unreliable. It’s not an actual sample of all recorded data in a given date range. Rather, an algorithm randomly selects the sample; meaning it is not a true representation of your data and therefore cannot be relied on to make decisions.

One of the major benefits of using Google Analytics 360 is that reports can contain as many as 100 million sessions before sampling is reached, which for most customers, resolves any sampling in the interface. Should sessions exceed 100 million, Google Analytics 360 customers can create, manage, and export fully unsampled reports.

2) Benefit of Using GA 360: Big Data Queries

Google Analytics 360 + BigQuery

Google Analytics 360 customers benefit from a native integration with Google BigQuery – a service for interactive analysis of very large datasets.

Users can join multiple datasets and then query a single dataset from the user friendly Google BigQuery interface through an SQL-based syntax. There, users can preview resulting tables and then extract it through Tableau or another business intelligence tool for powerful visualization and insightful analysis.     

Use of BigQuery is not restricted for Google Analytics 360 customers alone. It is a paid tool that can be used for $5 per terabyte queried. However, Google Analytics 360 customers receive a $500 monthly credit towards querying data and also benefit from automatic access to Google Analytics data from the BigQuery interface, reducing expense and time to query data for analysis.

3) Benefit of Using GA 360: Roll-Up Reporting

It is common for organizations to have data split across multiple Google Analytics properties. This may have been the result of strategic setup to separate data for individual stakeholder groups or web properties or due to tracking setup without strategic consideration for comprehensive performance measurement.

Either way, another one of the Google Analytics 360 benefits is the option for customers to create a roll up reporting property where they may send data from multiple Google Analytics properties for a holistic view of performance.

Google Analytics 360 customers can essentially create a single source of truth for all of their Google Analytics data, which can be used for holistic reporting for marketing teams or perhaps executive leadership overseeing organizational performance vs. say, performance in the North Americas.

4) Benefit of Using GA 360: Sales and Marketing Data Integration

Google Analytics 360 + Salesforce Cloud

The November 2017 release of the integration between Google Analytics 360 and the Salesforce Sales and Marketing Clouds means that companies can now seamlessly use lead data and customer lifetime value stored in their Sales Cloud to segment users and focus on their most valuable customers for audience creation, intelligent targeting and personalization.

Data will also be shared between Google Analytics 360 and the Salesforce Marketing Cloud so marketers can glean greater insight into campaign performance by accessing Google Analytics engagement metrics in the Marketing Cloud and vice versa.

This opens up opportunity for remarketing to users based on customer interactions stored in Salesforce throughout Google’s ad platforms. Google Analytics 360 and Salesforce customers will benefit from a holistic understanding of the customer lifecycle, from awareness to engagement, conversion and retention.

Marketers can take action by delivering timely, relevant messaging to high value customers with Google ad and marketing platforms.

5) Benefit of Using GA 360: Enhanced DoubleClick Reporting & Insights

Google Analytics 360 + DoubleClick

There is a native integration between GA 360 and Google’s programmatic display ad delivery and management platforms, Doubleclick Bid Manager (DBM) and DoubleClick Campaign Manager (DCM).

DCM is most frequently used by enterprise level organizations to serve display ads on Google and non-Google networks and on specific sites. It requires higher budget and is centered upon Real Time Bidding executed through DBM. Small organizations often manage display advertising through Google AdWords served on the Google Display Network.

With Google Analytics 360, DBM conversion and delivery data are accessible in the interface. This includes metrics such as View-through and Click-through conversions, as well ads specs and where ads were served. This means your company can now view not only click, but impression data from your display ads within the interface, and weight both interactions as touch points in the path to purchase or conversion on your website. So Doubleclick digital marketing platforms allow your data to be further used for audience creation and targeting. DCM (previously DoubleClick for Advertisers) is also where DoubleClick display campaigns are managed.

The integration with Google Analytics 360 allows campaign information to be available in Acquisition reporting so companies may easily report on performance comprehensively across all marketing channels.

Questions about the benefits of using Google Analytics 360 vs Google Analytics?

Seer is a Google Analytics 360 reseller and Google Analytics Certified Partner, our Analytics team would be happy to discuss how GA 360 can support your business and marketing goals.