docs/html/distribute/analyze/build-better-apps.jd

page.title=Build Better Apps
page.metaDescription=Get actionable insights to optimize your app and learn what works best for your business.
page.tags="analytics, user behavior"

@jd:body

<p>
  While looking at your data in beautiful reports can be fun, the real power of
  Google Analytics is uncovered when you derive insights from your data. Having
  Analytics in your app can help you identify where in your app users spend
  most time; it can also help you see where users are getting stuck. You may
  find that users who tend to take a specific action are more likely to
  convert, so see if drawing more users to that action has an impact on your
  conversion rate.
</p>

<h2 id="actions">What Actions Get People to Convert?</h2>

<p>
  Go beyond looking at the sheer number of actions people take in your app.
  Combine your custom event data with conversion metrics and see what actions
  tend to have the highest conversion rates. Build custom reports to identify
  which events or screens have the highest conversion rate or revenue. Once you
  know what’s successful at getting users to convert, derive a hypothesis as to
  why an event or screen might have good results. Then, if appropriate, drive
  more users there to see if it has an impact on conversion metrics.
</p>
<p>
  In the example below, <em>Shopping in Star Shop</em> has a high conversion;
  this result isn't surprising since users are indicating that they're
  interested in buying by being in the shop. More interesting is seeing that if
  someone Lost More than 10 Times, the conversion rate is low and those users
  didn’t generate much money. It might be worth offering a promotion after 8 or
  9 losses to keep the user interested. Also notice that users who started a
  <em>New Game after Gameover</em> generated lots of revenue. You might
  hypothesize that those users are determined to take another chance, so more
  inclined to convert. Lastly, the <em>Discovered Secret Stairwell</em> is
  particularly interesting &mdash; the conversion rate is fairly low, but it
  generated lots of revenue, indicating that it was potentially difficult to
  find, but those that discovered it purchased a lot. It may be worth seeing if
  driving users to find the staircase could increase conversion.
</p>

<div>
<img src="{@docRoot}distribute/analyze/images/event-actions.png">
</div>

<h2 id="flows">Know Your Flows</h2>
<p>
  Your home screen is probably the most visited screen in your app. But do you
  know what happens after that? What percentage of users navigate through which
  flows, and where do they drop off the most? In a gaming app, it may be useful
  to investigate which levels have the highest percentage of users leaving your
  app, in order to see where users find it difficult to proceed. You can then
  take action by modifying sections of your app that might need improvement.
</p>

<p>
  Similarly if you've an e-commerce app, the behavior flow report will show you
  at which stages of the purchase flow the highest percentage of users abandon
  their purchase. By taking these data and improving your purchase flows, you
  may be able to reduce your drop-off rates.
</p>

<p>
  In the example below, users tend to click the Level Up action after they
  consult the Sorcerer. If users tend to get stuck on a level, then you might
  want to guide them to see the sorcerer before completing a task.
</p>

<div>
<img itemprop="image" src="{@docRoot}distribute/analyze/images/flows.png">
</div>


<h2 id="test">Not Sure of the Right Approach? Test it</h2>

<p>
  Stop guessing when it comes to finding the right features for your audience.
  Use Content Experiments in your app to run A/B tests &mdash; without needing
  to update your app. Think a stronger call to action like “Buy Now!” will
  drive more purchases than the more common phrase “Checkout”? Test it! Content
  Experiments uses Google Analytics data to optimize towards your objectives
  and Google Tag Manager to control the test from the server &mdash; so you can
  test multiple variations of the same app at the same time. And since this is
  a standard feature of Google Analytics, you don’t have to set up additional
  tagging for your KPIs; you simply focus on building your variations.
</p>

<p>
  Experiment results are displayed in Google Analytics reports that summarize
  all of the key information about your experiment. Experiments and Variations
  are also available as user segments, which allow you to superimpose that
  information over all of your Google Analytics reports to gain even deeper
  insights. However, don’t worry about keeping an eye on your reports: you can
  set an experiment to lock-in the winning variation for all of your users
  automatically.
</p>

<div>
<img src="{@docRoot}distribute/analyze/images/a_b_testing.png">
</div>


  <div class="headerLine clearfloat">
  <h2 id="related-resources">
    Related Resources
  </h2>
</div>

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