Google Analytics – Screwing the Power User
I’ll be the first to admit that the prior Google Analytics user interface left a lot to be desired. It was unintuitive and took a while to find information. The new interface is much improved and certainly prettier.
However, pretty isn’t always powerful. Among the power-user features that Google excluded, I was disappointed to find that Google took away their most powerful feature: export to csv.
It is actually a little worse. They didn’t take away the feature entirely - they actually changed how the feature performs, making it close to useless for large sites. You can now export 100 rows (as opposed to full reports). This is certainly the feature I use most - I routinely use it to understand how users are getting to our site (what page classes, from what sources), as well as troubleshoot site-wide issues…
The functionality is still available in the old interface, but Google states that interface will be going away in 2 months. My inquiry to customer support resulted in a claim that Google is working to add the feature back in:
Unfortunately, it is not possible to export the entire data tableWe’ve invested heavily in Google Analytics: tracking URLs and tracking codes are scattered throughout the site and our marketing campaigns. I guess I’ll wait 2 months to see if Google makes good on its promise, but I’m not looking forward to implementing a new solution.
in the new version of Google Analytics. We understand that this is an
important feature and are working hard to add it back into the product.
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I feel exactly as you do though I actually do not find the UI easy to use and it is missing key data as well as is difficult to read – graphs that read across then down and you cannot see on one screen, excessively large text that does not read easily, 4 clicks to get to many things that were available on one… etc I read someone calling it paint on the proverbial pig and that is pretty much my feeling on it.. cool and unnecessary does not make me feel good when the basics are missing. I may love a car that does 0 – 100 in 2 secs but am not going to be so happy when the ignition is missing, the gas gauge non-existent and I have to sit on the right to drive from the left.. Yes they are screwing the power user – they used measure maps as their guide which was a product for bloggers.. and most of the people who love this are bloggers.. but bloggers don’t need this and they are not spending 7 figures in ad money a year.. so I think they made a huge mistake making a metrics product for bloggers and others who have no real need for deep site metrics.. while they did add some cool things they are only that cool – and of no use to me.. everything they took away along with the unreadable interface makes this product a D in my book..
So, basically adding the feature back is change a line from
int iMaxExports = 100;
to
int iMaxExports = 2147483648;
It definitely takes a few months for them to do it. :)