Beyond Pageviews: How We Use KissMetrics to Understand the Customer Journey

In the world of digital analytics, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of data. Pageviews, sessions, bounce rate—these metrics are interesting, but they don’t tell you the full story. They tell you *what* is happening on your website, but they don’t tell you *who* is doing it or *why*. In our work with clients, we often find that a shift from website-centric analytics to person-centric analytics is the key to unlocking real growth. This is where a tool like KissMetrics comes in. It’s a powerful analytics platform that is designed to help you understand the customer journey and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

What KissMetrics Actually Does (In Practical Terms)

KissMetrics is a person-centric analytics platform. In practical terms, this means it tracks the behaviour of individual users over time, across multiple devices and sessions. Instead of just showing you anonymous, aggregated data, it gives you a complete view of each user’s journey, from their first touchpoint with your brand to their most recent purchase. The commercial impact of this is a much deeper understanding of your customers, allowing you to identify your most valuable customer segments, optimize your conversion funnels, and increase your customer lifetime value.

Why This Matters for Revenue and Growth

By providing a person-centric view of your data, KissMetrics allows you to answer critical business questions that are impossible to answer with traditional analytics tools. For an eCommerce client in the apparel retail space, we used KissMetrics to discover that customers who watched a product video were 3x more likely to make a purchase. This insight led us to create more video content for their key products, which resulted in a 20% increase in their overall conversion rate. This works best when you use the platform to not only track what’s happening on your website, but also to connect that data to your email marketing, your advertising, and your customer support interactions.

Who This Is Actually For

KissMetrics is a powerful tool for any business that is serious about understanding its customers and optimizing its marketing funnel. This includes:

• SaaS Companies: Businesses that need to understand user onboarding, feature adoption, and churn.
• eCommerce Brands: Businesses that want to understand the customer journey, from first visit to repeat purchase.
• Marketers: Individuals and teams that need to understand which marketing channels are driving the most valuable customers.
• Product Managers: Individuals who need to understand how users are engaging with their product and where they are getting stuck.

Who Should Probably Avoid This

While KissMetrics is a powerful platform, it is also a more advanced tool that requires a certain level of technical expertise to set up and use effectively. This means it may not be the right fit for everyone. This includes:

• Small businesses with very limited resources: The cost and complexity of KissMetrics may be prohibitive for businesses that are just starting out.
• Companies that are not yet ready to move beyond basic website analytics: If you’re still struggling to make sense of your Google Analytics data, you may not be ready for a more advanced tool like KissMetrics.

How It Compares to Other Tools in This Category

The product analytics space includes other major players like Mixpanel and Amplitude. While all of these platforms offer similar person-centric analytics capabilities, we’ve been impressed with KissMetrics’s focus on the customer journey and its powerful funnel analysis features. Mixpanel is another strong contender with a focus on user engagement and retention, while Amplitude is a more enterprise-focused solution with a strong emphasis on data governance and security. For most small to medium-sized businesses, we’ve found KissMetrics to be the most accessible and user-friendly option.

How We Deploy This for Clients at SKOMA

When we deploy KissMetrics for clients, we start by identifying their key business questions and then we create a tracking plan to capture the data we need to answer those questions. For a B2B SaaS client, we set up funnels to track their user onboarding process, and we created reports to identify the key actions that were correlated with long-term retention. We also integrated KissMetrics with their email marketing platform to track the impact of their email campaigns on user engagement and conversion.

Where This Creates Leverage in Your Funnel

KissMetrics creates leverage throughout the entire funnel by giving you a deeper understanding of your customers and their behaviour. At the top of the funnel, it helps you to identify which marketing channels are driving the most valuable customers. In the middle of the funnel, it helps you to optimize your conversion funnels and identify where users are getting stuck. At the bottom of the funnel, it helps you to increase customer lifetime value by identifying your most valuable customer segments and understanding what keeps them coming back.

Common Mistakes We See

The most common mistake is not having a clear tracking plan. It’s important to be thoughtful and strategic about what you track, otherwise you’ll end up with a lot of data that you don’t know what to do with. Another mistake is not using the platform to answer specific business questions. It’s easy to get lost in the data, so it’s important to have a clear idea of what you’re trying to learn. Finally, many businesses fail to take action on the insights they uncover. The data is only valuable if you use it to make better decisions.

FAQ

Question: Is it difficult to set up?
Answer: KissMetrics requires a more advanced setup than a tool like Google Analytics. You’ll need to have a developer install a tracking code on your website and then set up your funnels and reports. However, their support team is very helpful and can guide you through the process.

Question: Can I use it to track mobile apps?
Answer: Yes, KissMetrics has SDKs for both iOS and Android, allowing you to track user behaviour in your mobile apps.

Question: How does it handle user privacy?
Answer: KissMetrics is a GDPR and CCPA compliant platform, and they provide a range of tools to help you manage user privacy and consent.

Question: Is there a free trial?
Answer: Yes, KissMetrics offers a free trial that allows you to test out the platform before you commit to a paid plan.

Synthesis: Is This Worth It?

For any business that is serious about understanding its customers and optimizing its marketing funnel, a platform like KissMetrics is a worthwhile investment. The ability to move beyond basic website analytics and get a person-centric view of your data can have a transformative impact on your business. It’s a powerful tool for any business that is serious about data-driven growth.

If you’re ready to go beyond pageviews and truly understand your customers, we highly recommend checking out KissMetrics.