Website Visitor Tracking

[renewablespro]

I was wondering if anyone has experience with website visitor tracking - a software that provides details of visitors that have been on your website? I've been approached by a company and it looks interesting but not sure if it will be a good investment.

 

[Jason L]

You mean something other than what Google Analytics https://www.google.com/analytics can provide?

 

[fisicx]

I prefer https://clicky.com. Far better tracking and it means you aren't beholden to Google.

 

[renewablespro]

No its different to google analytics the visitor tracking gathers information from the IP address to get infrmation on the actual visitor. I've been approache by Lead Forensics which seam to be the biggest but they are asking for a 24 month contract and I don't know if I would actually get much from it with only having details of the company the IP address is registered to. I have researched a few and Imperial Media Solutions seam to offer one that tracks the individual computer from cookies so provides more details. Anyone have any experience with Imperial Media Solutions?

 

[Jason L]

Not had direct experience of Lead Forensics Or Imperial Media Solutions software, but Lead Forensics had a big stand at the Business Show yesterday. I had a chat with one of their reps who seemed quite knowledgeable - basically B2B IP tracking so if the user doesn't engage with you on your site, you still have their details to potentially reach out to them in some way. They were keen to stress this was only for B2B, not B2C marketing!

 

[fisicx]

IP tracking isn't as reliable as it once was. Companies using serviced offices can share an IP which means you can't always be sure who it was visited your site.

 

[liams7]

it doesnt work. I have had about 10 clients who have been sold it, It costs about £800 and they have all signed up for 12 months and all after 3 months have tried to get out of it.

 

[renewablespro]

I've been quoted £300/mnth as a starter package from Lead Forensics! Which did seem very high for only getting the IP address. I think I'll be better trying one that tracks the indiviual computer not just IP.

What was the trade show, it sounds like I should have been there?

 

[fisicx]

If you just want an IP address clicky.com does that for you.

You won't get the details of the computer as but you will know their location, OS, browser, pages they visited what they did and so on.

 

[Jason L]

What was the trade show, it sounds like I should have been there?

http://www.greatbritishbusinessshow.co.uk/ - would definitely recommend for next time. Lots of good speakers and companies exhibiting

Also got to meet with @Tin (Ray & Kerry) and @consultant (Paul Kelly) which was great!

 

[renewablespro]

Thanks, I'm going to book a demo with Imperial Media Solutions it looks good and they are a local company. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Ian J]

I use eXTReMe Tracking which provides similar data for me but for about £15 per quarter and I don't actually find it a great deal of use

 

[NickGrogan]

Using Lead Forensics, works well for me, as many people using my site are big corporates. If your market is SME, it won't tell you much.

PM me if you want a trail/discount...

 

[Simon.P]

I have been doing some reading up on IP address location and the conclusion i have come to is that its not useful for local services because its never that granular and also there are so many instances where the location is not where the end user is from, but their ISP.
This is also relevant for anyone running adwords as you may be showing ads to locations you dont really want to be!

 

[Ian J]

I have been doing some reading up on IP address location and the conclusion i have come to is that its not useful for local services because its never that granular and also there are so many instances where the location is not where the end user is from, but their ISP.

Especially with the increasing number of people accessing the internet from their smart phones

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Basic problem is Fred from company A looks at your site and goes away, you contact company A and nobody knows who or why someone looked at your site

Others are very wary of Big brother and hate the idea you have found them just by them visiting your site

Doubt its any better than cold calling unless you are a specialist service company like a van hire company where you can ask for the fleet manager as a guess

 

[renewablespro]

Thanks for the advice, I do agree myself I don't thin IP look up like Lead Forensics will really offer much at all. I had a demo from Imperial Media Solutions today which was very impressive. Theirs isn't IP tracking but tracks the individual computer from following links from emails, mailshots or filling in forms. So its not really for random visitors but for understanding your customers better and being alerted when a customer is back on your site so you know the best time to call them. I can see this being really beneficial to my business because I supply the trade and is always a nightmare getting hold of people or knowing the best time to call.

 

[terry54661]

You mean something other than what Google Analytics https://www.google.com/analytics can provide?

As above.

 

[renewablespro]

No its far more than what you get from Google Analytics, Google analytics is fine for data but Imperial Media Solutions actually shows who is visiting, what pages they have gone to, how long they have spent on each page and you get alerted when they return. It does look like a great way to get the most from other marketing. I spend quite a lot of money on marketing to drive traffic to my website so this can help make sure I get value for the money I spend.

 

[NickGrogan]

Thanks for the advice, I do agree myself I don't thin IP look up like Lead Forensics will really offer much at all. I had a demo from Imperial Media Solutions today which was very impressive. Theirs isn't IP tracking but tracks the individual computer from following links from emails, mailshots or filling in forms. So its not really for random visitors but for understanding your customers better and being alerted when a customer is back on your site so you know the best time to call them. I can see this being really beneficial to my business because I supply the trade and is always a nightmare getting hold of people or knowing the best time to call.

Lead Forensics can do all of the above too, but don't forget "tracking the individual computer from following links from emails, mailshots or filling in forms", limits you to people you've already been in touch with.

If I haven't click on your email or other link, you can't track at a user level, and most potential leads/customers won't have clicked on your link.

 

[renewablespro]

Lead Forenscs is only tracking the IP which provides very limited information and is also often mis leading. Imperial Media Solutions does track the IP as welll but you get a lot more whith it as well.

 

[Paul Featherstone]

I still love google analytics.

 

[NickGrogan]

Lead Forenscs is only tracking the IP which provides very limited information and is also often mis leading. Imperial Media Solutions does track the IP as welll but you get a lot more whith it as well.

I took a look at their offering, it doesn't offer anything more than Lead Forensics, and it appears to offer less, they're also more expensive.

But if you are getting the results you want, that's great.

I'd be a bit worried about using an SEO company that recommends link wheels, bulk social links, etc.

 

[More]

DO NOT enter into a long contract without a successful trial first. Many of these companies have a very low retention rate after 1 month which speaks volumes. Ask them their retention rate if unsure

 

[Matteld80]

Hi - I can't recommend Crazy Egg enough. Gives you visual insights into where your users are clicking and then focusing their time on your site pages using heatmaps.
By adding better call to actions in these areas can achieve great boosts in your users engagement and most importantly conversion rates

 

[fisicx]

Agree with that, I use crazyegg all the time and if you combine with a decent analytics package (not GA) you get a huge amount of high quality data.

 

[PIers Ede]

I've tried many of these over the years. And I always come back to the point: why do you need something beyond Google Analytics? In hundreds of cases, I've never found anyone that really does. Certainly there may be a case to have a second tool in place, for a huge site. But otherwise, can you be more specific about why you are looking beyond GA in the first place?

 

[fisicx]

If you try some of the other tools available you will realise how poor GA really is.

 

[Patrick @ BIG in the UK]

Definitely use Google Analytics's.

 

[HandSon]

In Russia we use very good free solution from Yandex, our largest searchengine - Yandex.Metrika (metrica.yandex.com). In addition to Google Analytics opportunities Yandex.Metrika has a Vebvisor, the instrument which allows to record and analyze users' actions at the website. Very-very useful instrument to fix usability problems and rise conversion.

 

[Ruler Analytics]

Please excuse the self promotion but Ruler Analytics (www.ruleranalytics.com) offers the functionality to identify companies looking at your site as well as more detailed visitor analytics if you are seeking to learn more about your website visitors and customers.