Google Analytics vs Microsoft Clarity

June 12, 2023 | Author: Sandeep Sharma
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Google Analytics
Google Analytics lets you measure your advertising ROI as well as track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications. Google Analytics shows you the full customer picture across ads and videos, websites and social tools, tablets and smartphones. That makes it easier to serve your current customers and win new ones.
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Microsoft Clarity
Clarity is a free, easy-to-use tool that captures how real people actually use your site. Setup is easy and you'll start getting data in minutes.
Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity are both web analytics tools that provide insights into website visitor behavior and help website owners optimize their digital presence, but they differ in certain aspects.

Google Analytics, a widely used and established analytics platform, offers a comprehensive set of features and integrations. It provides in-depth data on website traffic, user engagement, conversions, and e-commerce performance. Google Analytics also offers advanced features like segmentation, goal tracking, custom reports, and integration with other Google products like Google Ads.

Microsoft Clarity, on the other hand, is a newer entrant in the web analytics space. It focuses on providing detailed session replay, heatmaps, and click tracking, offering visual insights into user interactions and behavior on a website. Clarity's session replay feature allows website owners to see exactly how users navigate through their site, helping identify usability issues and areas for improvement.

See also: Top 10 Web Analytics software
Google Analytics vs Microsoft Clarity in our news:

2020. Microsoft launched website analytics platform Clarity



Microsoft has launched Clarity, an innovative dashboard that assesses website engagement and provides insights for enhancing the user interface (UI) and overall online customer experience. Clarity's user interface is designed with a simplicity similar to existing social media dashboards, resembling Google Analytics with its division into four key segments. However, Clarity distinguishes itself by placing greater emphasis on heatmap analysis. The two primary analysis panels in Clarity are Heatmap and Recording, offering comprehensive insights into user interactions. The Heatmap panel presents two views: click maps, which visualize the general areas where page visitors tend to click, and scroll maps, which illustrate how users navigate up and down a given page. The Dashboard panel summarizes UI and page performance metrics, while the Settings panel enables users to make further adjustments to their accounts. Clarity's focus on heatmap analysis sets it apart as a valuable tool for website optimization and enhancing the user experience.


2020. Google Analytics 4 allows to combine website and mobile app statistics



Google has introduced a major update to its website analytics platform, Google Analytics 4. The key highlight of this update is the inclusion of a new resource type called App + Web. This feature allows users to combine data from both websites and mobile applications, enabling the creation of unified reports for comprehensive analysis. The functionality of analytics tools has been significantly revamped, with improved visualization of user behavior and the adoption of a new model called "Event + Parameter." Notably, the updated platform now offers enhanced capabilities for online stores. Users can create user groups based on the likelihood of placing an order or leaving the website within the next seven days. It is important to note that the option to continue using the previous version, Universal Analytics (UA), is still available. Users have the flexibility to work with both Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 simultaneously by creating new resources with dual analytics capabilities (UA + GA4). This dual approach is designed to accommodate users who may find exclusive use of the new tool less convenient in certain scenarios.


2016. Google Analytics adds automated insights



Google Analytics has introduced enhanced functionality on iOS and Android platforms, allowing users to easily identify crucial trends within their data. On the Assistant screen, users will now have access to automatically generated insights. For instance, if there is a sudden surge in new users on your website or app, Google Analytics will prominently highlight this information and provide details regarding the source of these new users. Likewise, for e-commerce companies, it can pinpoint the products experiencing the most significant increase in sales. Although Google Analytics was already tracking this information, it is now presented in a concise and easily digestible card format. This enhancement enables businesses to swiftly access the relevant information without the need to navigate through multiple pages, reducing the chances of overlooking important data changes.


2016. New Google Analytics app improves user experience


The most recent update of the Google Analytics app (version 3.0) introduces several features inspired by chat platforms. Google has streamlined the app's navigation, resulting in a cleaner interface that enhances the visibility of reports. Metrics and dimensions are now displayed within scorecards, which bear a resemblance to the widgets found in Google Analytics dashboards. These scorecards present a concise overview of the top dimensions within a specific report. By utilizing familiar tablet and smartphone user behaviors, such as swiping, users can easily navigate to their desired dimensions. The condensed listing of scorecards also facilitates the effortless discovery and bookmarking of reports.


2015. Google Analytics adds Calculated Metrics



Google has introduced a new feature in Google Analytics called Calculated Metrics. This feature enables users to create custom metrics based on existing metrics within Google Analytics. It eliminates the need to navigate away from the report, streamlining the process of performing calculations. Essentially, Calculated Metrics serves as a convenient tool for adding compound metrics that frequently arise in business intelligence discussions. For instance, an e-commerce retailer could generate a currency conversion metric by multiplying the Revenue metric from Google Analytics reports with the current conversion rate. To access Calculated Metrics, users can find it in the admin panel under the view column.


2014. Google Analytics is available on iPhone



After more than two years of launching Google Analytics for Android, Google has now introduced a version of Google Analytics specifically designed for the iPhone. This app enables users to conveniently monitor their website analytics, including real-time visitor reports, directly from their smartphones. In addition to providing real-time and time-based reports, the app offers insights into user behaviors, conversions, and more. The user interface (UI) of the app aligns with the aesthetic of other Google apps available for iOS. Moreover, the app leverages the sign-in capabilities of Gmail, Google+, and the standard Google app for iOS. It's important to note that Google Analytics for iPhone is currently not optimized for iPad, but there is hope that future updates will include support for iPads.


2014. Google Analytics gets brand new E-Commerce section



Google is introducing a comprehensive overhaul of its Google Analytics E-commerce, focusing on delivering insights throughout the entire customer journey, going beyond just the purchase stage. The updated version includes new metrics such as product detail views, 'add to cart' actions, clicks on internal campaigns, the effectiveness of internal merchandising tools, the checkout process, and the final purchase. Additionally, users can now create audience segments directly from funnel reports to analyze user actions, including cart and product page abandons. Funnels are accessible at the device category level, as depicted in the screenshot below.

Author: Sandeep Sharma
Sandeep is a marketing expert with a wealth of knowledge in various domains: customer relationship management, social media management, advertising, search engine optimization, website building, Sandeep has established himself as a multifaceted professional. He honed his skills while working at Salesforce and Hubspot, where he gained invaluable insights into the industry. Now, as the proud owner of a small advertising consulting agency, Sandeep continues to provide innovative and effective strategies to businesses, helping them thrive in the competitive landscape of digital marketing. You can contact Sandeep via email sandeep@liventerprise.com