Poll: Are You Using Universal Analytics and Google Tag Manager?

posted by Becky Vardaman on August 12, 2014 in Converge Blog

I am frequently asked at Google Analytics workshops or presentations, “What percent of colleges and universities have moved to Universal Analytics?” We love a good higher education benchmark, and I recently saw a great post from Loves Data (based out of Australia) answering just this question!

They surveyed the top 20 universities in Australia and found that while nearly all (95%) were using Google Analytics, only 35% were using Universal Analytics.

Universal Analytics allows you to do some pretty amazing things and is worth the time and effort to upgrade. As I wrote in a previous post, Can We Just Hit the Upgrade Button for Universal Analytics?, here is a summary of why you should upgrade:

There’s a new Measurement Protocol. Changes to the way the tracking code works now allow for a much more user-focused tool. For the data-driven among us, this is a very good thing!
It allows you to do some pretty amazing things. Want to segment using your (anonymous) CRM id? You can do it. Want to get a better picture of users across multiple devices? You bet. Want to import conversions from point-of-sale systems? Yep, you can do that, too.
You’re going to have to upgrade. Google has been working on rolling out the new tool over the past several years. It is currently out of beta and in Phase 3 (of four phases). The next phase starts a clock on the old asynchronous tool – you’ve got about two years. Now is the time to make a plan to upgrade.

Another great tool for a modern, strategic analytics implementation is Google Tag Manager. I talk about it in this post: Google Tag Manager: Tracking at Warp Speed. Google Tag Manager is worth using because:

It gives you direct access to the page. Through the container code, you (the marketer) are able to directly interact with putting code (or tags) onto your website. This helps you jump the IT que and get tracking placed quickly.
All of your tags are organized. Tag management is a great idea because, as we all know, things are always changing. You update code, change a remarketing campaign or need to place new AdWords conversion code. GTM allows you to organize these things in one place where they can be easily edited.
Auto-Event Tagging. From a Google Analytics perspective, this is a real game changer. Want to know what elements of your homepage users are using? How about navigation? Videos? Offsite links? All of these things can be dynamically captured using GTM without having to hand-code lots of snippets into your site.

Seeing the great numbers on Universal Analytics and Google Tag Manger from Australia, I was jealous! I wondered what the numbers look like within our community. That’s where you come in!