Tuesday, Jul 3, 2012    Text size: 

LOS ANGELES — Among the most popular tools for measuring and marketing adult websites, Google Analytics is bringing its data crunching prowess to the mobile arena.

According to Google, mobile is changing the way that people communicate, work and play; and much of the growing adoption and innovation the company is seeing within the industry is driven by mobile apps.

“There are already more than 600,000 mobile apps on Google Play alone, and we expect to see continued momentum throughout the industry,” blogged JiaJing Wang of the Google Analytics Team. “Mobile is also becoming front and center for marketers and businesses. As more of them understand the value of mobile apps, sophisticated measurement tools are becoming core to how marketers and app developers invest, analyze and market their apps.”

In response to this situation, Google has released a new set of Mobile App Analytics reports to help better measure mobile app marketing performance.

“The reports are tailored for mobile app developers and marketers, speaking the language that matters to them,” Wang added. “They are designed to measure the entire mobile customer journey — from discovery to download to engagement.”

Wang explains that this enables more useful and engaging app experiences through data-driven decisions at each stage of the app’s lifecycle: including acquisition and user metrics, such as downloads and new users; engagement metrics such as retention, crashes and conversions; and outcome metrics such as app sales and in-app purchases.

Google says that the new tools allow site owners to discover their best sources of new users, measuring the number of new and active users who launch a specific app everyday and analyzing the most valuable segments. Tightly integrated with Google Play metrics, Analytics helps users fine-tune marketing initiatives while keeping track of distribution, versions in the wild that need support, the level of in-application sales, and more.

Of course, the top mobile devices and OS versions, user interaction, loyalty reports and engagement level analysis, combined with the ability to “visually see the screens, actions and paths users take to move throughout your application,” complete with where any crashes occurred, helps troubleshooting and experience optimization.

Finally, outcome reports reveal whether or not users are accomplishing the goals you specify, such as “spending 10 minutes in the app,” or “clicking on ads” to gauge success.

“The new reports are part of a holistic experience tailored for mobile app measurement,” Wang concluded, noting that a new and lightweight SDK v2.0 that’s easier to implement and is opt-out ready, with a streamlined back-end infrastructure and a revamped sign-up process, rounds out the offer.

The new service is now rolling out to whitelisted beta users, with the reports expected to be available to all Google Analytics users this summer.

For adult mobile marketers and app developers seeking a competitive edge, this is it.