Consider load time and performance when selecting a Web Analytics package.

Is your analytics package driving potential customers away before they even see the entire homepage? Internet users are not patient people. If a page takes more than a second or two to load, they move on to the next site. Everything added to a page in the site will increase the load time of the page. This is also true for any web analytics package based on page tagging. If loading the analytics code is slowing down the page too much, it may be driving away customers.

All JavaScript based analytics packages must load a JavaScript file containing their source code into the page at some point. This is another file that the browser must download before finishing the page. If these files are being served slowly, it will impact the perceived load time of the pages in the site.

Also, as the analytics package tracks more things in the page, it must run more JavaScript code to do so. Be aware of load times and responsiveness, especially when rolling out a new type of tracking. If the browser starts to consume excessive processor cycles or RAM during testing, check to make sure that the problem is not caused by the tracking code. Most users won’t return to a site that locked up their computer or crashed their browser.

Google Analytics uses a short JavaScript file that is common to every site using Google Analytics. Not only does it download quickly, it is likely to already be in the user’s cache. This means that Google Analytics has a low impact on perceived load times. It also uses efficient, fast code, preventing script-based delays in page execution. This allows sites using Google Analytics to present a better experience to their web customers.