Ask any successful marketer or business owner how to improve your website performance and conversions, and you will get one resounding answer: use data.

Data-driven marketing is the best way for you to keep track of what’s working on your website, and what’s not. 

And this job is made even easier with the dozens of marketing analytics tools that help you track and make sense of all the data. 

And to help you get started, we’ve listed the top 6 best web analytics tools that are recommended (and used) by some of the most successful marketers across the globe. 

Best web analytics tools: Quantitative or Traditional tools

Google Analytics

No list of best marketing analytics tools would be complete without Google Analytics. 

It is the most fundamental of all web analytics tools and is actively used by over 30 million websites worldwide. 

Google Analytics allows you to track and monitor your website traffic stats, with full performance insights. 

Its usage is primarily focused on SEO optimization and tracking ad performance. 

You can also opt to receive stats on customer interaction on all levels. 

And get access to details like how your website is performing in different regions and markets.

HubSpot

HubSpot is Google Analytics’ easier-to-use, and ‘jack of all trades’ sibling. Google Analytics is best for granular data while HubSpot is great for clear picture analytics and marketing automation.

It comes with a simple interface and easy-to-understand dashboard, that can be understood by both marketers and non-marketers. 

It compiles data into graphs, charts, and percentage points about website performance that can be easily processed to make informed decisions, faster.

With HubSpot, you can measure all the clicks and form fills. (But micro-conversions like how many times a video was played, can’t be tracked).

Aside from its web analytics capabilities, HubSpot also lets you:

  • create landing pages
  • track social media mentions
  • measure email campaign performance, and
  • nurture leads.

Matomo

Another popular web analytics platform is Matomo. 

Like Google Analytics it allows you to measure website traffic and end-to-end customer journey. It allows you to track the conversion rates, events, and even lets you run A/B tests. 

It is an open-source platform that you can host on your own server for maximum flexibility.

But what sets Matomo apart is that it doesn’t use data sampling (unlike Google). Because of this, you get higher data accuracy even with high-traffic websites. 

And finally, it gives the user 100% control over the data collected and ensures that it is never sold to any third party.

Chartbeat

This is essentially a published content analysis software tool and is used by over 60,000 media-focused businesses across the world. 

If you’re looking to increase readership and grow a dedicated audience for your website, then Chartbeat is for you. 

This web analytics tool helps you measure and improve customer engagement through features like:

  • Real-time dashboard: to see the user journey from a visit to reading content
  • Historical dashboard: to get a larger picture idea of your visitor activity, like page views, average engaged minutes, etc.
  • Automated reports: to get clear data understanding with easy-to-read visualizations for daily updates.
  • Heads-up display: to compare the site traffic data and more on the actual website home screen in real-time
  • Headline testing: to optimize user engagement and conversions through content headlines.

Now quantitative data and tracking are crucial to get a clear picture of your website performance. But just these tools aren’t enough for you to improve your marketing ROI. 

To do so, you also need to understand your visitor’s behavior for markers of micro conversions and “points-of-drop-off”. 

And for this, behavioral analytics tools rule supreme.

Best Web Analytics Tools: Qualitative or Behavioral Analytics

Webmaxy

When it comes to end-to-end behavioral analytics tool, you don’t need to look beyond Webmaxy

This tool helps you analyze user interaction with your web and mobile applications through behavior tracking and granular qualitative data.

This analytics tool offers you features like:

  • Session replay: Where you can watch real user journeys on your website
  • Heat maps: To understand exactly which parts of your website users are focusing on the most
  • Form analysis: To identify exactly which parts of a form have the most drop-offs.
  • Funnel analysis: To give you a larger picture view of website user behavior as they progress through the funnel
  • User insights: This gives you demographic information like location, gender, and age; as well as device and time details.

Mixpanel

Mixpanel is an analytics platform that measures the individual user experience and analyzes it to help you improve customer retention.

It comes with an ‘event-based model’, that allows you to track the interaction of each user and then target them with personalized messages to boost engagement.

It gives you detailed traffic reports, allows you to segment visitors, and even builds custom funnels.

Mixpanel’s expanded capabilities also allow you to:

  • Study behavior analytics to understand how users perceive your product
  • Use data science models to predict user actions
  • Create and A/B test targeted messages
  • Access real-time user data

Now with the best web analytics tools laid out for you, you can get started by incorporating the most relevant ones into your marketing activities.

And if you’re unsure about which tools to get started with…

Use these questions to guide you

  • What are you looking to optimize? What are your goals?
  • What are the number of features and the quality of reporting that the tool gives you?
  • Is the web analytics tools mobile-friendly?
  • Does the web analytics tool fit within your budget?

Finally, before you jump on board and get signed up, be sure to take a demo and trial run. 

The web analytics tool should also fit seamlessly into your daily workflow, tech stack, and decision-making process.