analytics-concepts

Analytics Concepts

Core Concepts

Event Tracking

Events are discrete user actions:
- page_view, button_click, form_submit
- purchase, signup, login
- custom business events

Structure: { "event": "purchase_completed", "userId": "user-123", "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z", "properties": { "amount": 99.99, "currency": "USD", "items": ["product-1", "product-2"] } }

### User Identification

Identify: Link anonymous → authenticated user Alias: Merge multiple identities

Flow:

1. Anonymous visitor (device_id: abc123)
2. User signs up (user_id: user-456)
3. Identify call links abc123 → user-456
4. Historical events attributed to user-456

### Funnels

Conversion funnels track multi-step processes:

Signup Funnel: Landing Page (1000 visitors) ↓ 60% conversion Signup Form (600 started) ↓ 75% conversion Email Verification (450 sent) ↓ 80% conversion Profile Complete (360 completed)

Overall: 36% conversion rate

### Cohorts

Group users by shared characteristics:

Time-based:

• "January 2024 signups"
• "Users active in last 7 days"

Behavior-based:

• "Users who completed onboarding"
• "Power users (>10 sessions/week)"

Attribute-based:

• "Enterprise plan users"
• "Mobile-only users"

### User Journeys

Session-based path analysis:

Typical Journey: Homepage → Product List → Product Detail → Cart → Checkout → Confirmation

Touchpoints to track:

• Entry point (referrer, campaign)
• Pages visited (sequence, duration)
• Actions taken (clicks, scrolls)
• Exit point (conversion or drop-off)

## Analytics Providers

### Provider Comparison
| Provider | Best For | Pricing |
|----------|----------|---------|
| Google Analytics | Free tier, SEO | Free / 360 |
| Mixpanel | Product analytics | Event-based |
| Amplitude | Behavioral analytics | MTU-based |
| Segment | CDP + routing | MTU-based |

### Provider Abstraction

// Provider-agnostic interface interface AnalyticsProvider { trackEvent(event, properties) identifyUser(userId, traits) aliasUser(previousId, newId) setUserProperties(userId, properties) flush() // Force send buffered events }

// Multi-provider routing analytics.track("purchase", {amount: 99}) → Sends to GA4, Mixpanel, Amplitude simultaneously

## Metrics Framework

### AARRR Pirate Metrics

Acquisition: How do users find us?

• Traffic sources, campaign performance

Activation: Do users have a good first experience?

• Signup rate, onboarding completion

Retention: Do users come back?

• DAU/MAU, retention curves

Referral: Do users tell others?

• NPS, viral coefficient

Revenue: Do we make money?

• ARPU, LTV, conversion rate

### Event Naming Conventions

Format: object_action (snake_case)

Good:

• user_signed_up
• product_viewed
• order_completed
• subscription_cancelled

Bad:

• SignUp (inconsistent)
• click (too generic)
• userDidSomething (unclear)

## Implementation Patterns

### Event Schema

Standard properties (always include):

• timestamp: ISO 8601
• userId or anonymousId
• sessionId
• platform (web, ios, android)
• version (app version)

Event-specific properties:

• Relevant to the action
• No PII in event names
• Use IDs, not names for entities

### Privacy Considerations

GDPR/CCPA compliance:

1. User consent before tracking
2. Right to deletion (purge user data)
3. Data minimization (track only needed)
4. Anonymization options
5. Data retention policies

## Related Skills

- `analytics-spring`: Spring Boot analytics implementation
- `apigen-architecture`: Overall system architecture