What I learned about firebase analytics
- 1. What I learned about Firebase Analytics By Nick Guebhard, 23 November 2016
- 2. Ground work
- 3. Find a willing client Client: “I want to track my App. Can you do the GA?” Nick: “Yes, but Google have released this new thing called Firefly or something.” Client: “Great. Our developers love new shinies.” Nick: “But I haven’t done it before”. Client: “Grow some huevos, Nick!”.
- 4. Firebase Analytics vs. Google Analytics 500 Events Unlimited Events and unlimited Screen views 25 parameters per event 25 user properties 20 custom dimensions (user, session, hit, product) + Enhanced Ecom dimensions 1 “value” parameter per event (i.e. 500 custom metrics) Many pageview, event, social, ecom metrics (+ 20 custom metrics) Audiences + user level filters Report filters, Segments BigQuery export No BigQuery (free version) GTM compatible GTM compatible No API API
- 6. Events ★ Up to 500 events (event names) ★ 32 character limit for event names ★ Automatically collected events - ○ first_open, in_app_purchase, etc. ★ Predefined events ○ General - select_content, search, etc. ○ Retail/Ecommerce - view_item, add_to_cart, etc. ○ Lead gen - generate_lead, view_item ○ Games - Level_up, post_score, etc ★ Custom events ○ click_to_call, customer_service_submit ○ bank_robbery, train_robbery, poker_game, gun_fight, hanging
- 7. Parameters ★ Up to 25 parameters per event ★ 40 character limit for parameter names, 100 for parameter values ★ Some automatically collected events have associated automatic params ★ Predefined parameters ○ view_item - item_id ○ add_to_cart - quantity, item_id, item_category ○ generate_lead - value, currency ○ level_up - level ★ Custom parameters ○ click_to_call - 0800_number, click_to_call_screen ○ edit_photo_save - filter_style, horizon_adjustment, crop_dimensions
- 8. User properties ★ Automatically collected ○ Age, Gender, Interests ○ Device category, brand and model (+ID) ○ Country, language ○ Operating system version ○ App version, App store ○ First open time, new/established ★ Custom (up to 25) ○ Login ID ○ Purchase history ○ User type
- 9. Scoping
- 10. Get to know everything about the app
- 11. Tracking spec Event Name Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Parameter 3 Parameter 4 Parameter 5 item_view item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_category <when prod is viewed> {{product sku}} {{prod name}} {{prod size}} {{prod colour}} {{prod category} SD1234 10 Gallon hat Big White Hats Bigger Black Ridiculous Brown add_to_wishlist item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_category <product save> (as above)
- 12. Build
- 13. Steps I. Create a Firebase Project II. Install the Firebase SDK in the app III. Add the app to the Firebase Project IV. Add 3 lines of code in your App to enable Firebase Analytics V. Add GTM to your App (optional) VI. Add code to Log Events, eg: Bundle bundle = new Bundle(); bundle.putString(FirebaseAnalytics.Param.ITEM_ID, id); bundle.putString(FirebaseAnalytics.Param.ITEM_NAME, name); bundle.putString(FirebaseAnalytics.Param.CONTENT_TYPE, "image"); mFirebaseAnalytics.logEvent(FirebaseAnalytics.Event.SELECT_CONTENT, bundle);
- 15. Testing (Android Debug Bridge) 1. Install Android Debug Bridge (ADB) from Android SDK 2. Add test app to your phone/emulator 3. Connect phone/emulator to ADB 4. Run command line/terminal commands to filter to Firebase Analytics data in log data: adb shell setprop log.tag.FA VERBOSE adb shell setprop log.tag.FA-SVC VERBOSE adb logcat -v time -s FA FA-SVC (For iOS use Xcode Debug Console)
- 16. Note results of QA Event Name Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Parameter 3 Parameter 4 Parameter 5 P item_view item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_catego ry <when prod is viewed> {{product sku}} {{prod name}} {{prod size}} {{prod colour}} {{prod category} SD1234 10 Gallon hat Big White Hats Bigger Black Ridiculous Brown F add_to_wishlist item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_catego ry <product save> (as above)
- 18. Manually Add all user properties
- 19. Configure links and postbacks
- 21. Add Goals
- 22. Add funnels
- 24. Configure GTM
- 25. Firebase Tracking acts as a Data Layer
- 26. Add GA tags (optional)
- 27. Add any other tracking tags
- 29. Connect to BigQuery ★ Do this through Firebase. It will automatically create Project & Tables ★ A link then appears in your events tab
- 30. Run JavaScript or SQL queries
- 31. The End