Visualize Event & User-level data from Google Analytics (Firebase)

Overview

With this use case, you will learn how to utilize Google Analytics data synced through Firebase in a Google Data Studio dashboard.

This use case will give you a better understanding of how event data and user-level data can be visualized in Google Data studio and how different metrics can help in analyzing the performance of your app.

Introduction

If you have a website, or an app, chances are you are already familiar with Google Analytics. It is a free tool provided by Google to measure many different aspects of your online presence irrespective of whether you use a website or an application or not. It allows you to analyze the customer journey and ROI (return on investment) of your marketing efforts as well.
While Google Analytics has a data visualization suite which allows you to inspect your performance across major KPIs, a detailed analysis is only possible by slicing and dicing the raw data. However, accessing the raw data can be tedious if you are not tech savvy.

Growth Fullstack allows you to make better and faster decisions through no-code data pipelines and customized BI solutions so that you can worry less about technical issues regarding your data, and spend time on analysis and taking corrective or incremental actions.

Firebase (Google Analytics Data)

Firebase, another Google product, is an app development platform which allows you to measure multiple metrics and features in your app. One of the main Firebase features is that it allows you to seamlessly link your Google Analytics data—which can then be exported with a few clicks to BigQuery, Google’s Cloud database solution. The steps are described in an easy-to-follow video on Google’s documentation page [GA4] BigQuery Export.

The fields available in the export schema are covered in this documentation from Google.

By exporting the datasets to Bigquery, app publishers now have the option to analyze google analytics’ data to suit their own analytical needs and focus areas. It should be noted, though, that the data exported to BigQuery is not in a plain relational database format which can be easily queried and analyzed. Many nested fields include user-level and event-level information. Many app publishers struggle to utilize such datasets and this is where Growth Fullstack allows custom transformations of an app publisher’s data to ensure it can be easily queried and analyzed.

At Growth Fullstack we go the extra mile and help you transform the data according to your needs. An app publisher does not need to worry about connecting to data sources, or aggregating the individual datasets to the correct granularities. We also help you kick start your analysis by providing you with a ready-to-use Google DataStudio dashboard template.

Let’s explore the dashboard template with Google Analytics data below.

Google Data Studio dashboard example with Google Analytics data

The dashboard shown above allows you to utilize multiple filters such as date range, countries, platforms and bundle_id to dig deeper into the other charts and tables.

The major metrics shown here are as follows:

• Unique Users: The total distinct users on your app for the selected time period
• Opt In Ratio: The percentage of users who opted in to ad tracking on your app
• Engagement Time (mins): The average engagement time of users on your app
• *Matches/DAU: Custom metrics such as matches played by an average user on your app, divided by the total number of unique users
• *Paid Matches/DAU: Paid Matches played by an average user on your app, divided by the total number of unique users
• App Version: This field allows you to compare metrics across different app versions of the same app, and allows you to inspect the differences in performance

*(Please note that Matches/DAU and Paid Matches/DAU are custom metrics that are not available out-of-the-box with Google Analytics. Growth Fullstack can help you create and customize specific metrics for your app based on your needs)

The dashboard contains multiple views to improve the understanding of user behavior along with a perspective of the value of users from different ad networks. For example, the ‘App Engagement’ visual shows that bundle_id_1 seems to have more matches on average from its user base, compared to bundle_id_2, but bundle_id_2 has more paid matches on average. The table ‘App Version Metric Summary’ also shows that budle_id_1 with version 2.1 has the most users, amongst other relevant metrics.

How you can set up your own dashboard with Growth FullStack (step-by-step)

Growth FullStack customers who want to use our no-code data pipeline services can use this dashboard as a template. Follow the steps below to get started:

Step 1: Connect to your Google Data Studio account. If you don’t already have an account, you can create one here for free.

Step 2: Click on this link to view our anonymized template.

Step 3: Make a copy of the report in the template. This will show you a pop-up.

Step 4: Select a data source. You will need to replace the demo dataset with yours.

What you will need

• A Firebase account with Google Analytics data exported daily to BigQuery*
• A Growth Fullstack account (sign up for a 14-day free trial)

* Growth Fullstack can also help you push Google Analytics data into a different Data Warehouse than BigQuery.

Book a demo with us to assist you in the set up of your data and roll-out of the Data Studio dashboard or reach out to us directly at info@growthfullstack.com.

FAQ

Can this dashboard be personalized as per my requirements?

Yes. In the Calculated Fields section of Data Studio, you will be able to see the available fields, metrics and dimensions from Google Analytics synced to Firebase.

Your Growth FullStack Account Manager will be able to help you personalize this dashboard as needed as well.

Is this dashboard supported with other tools?

Yes, we can build something similar with Tableau, Looker, Mode and other BI Tools. Contact your Growth FullStack Account Manager for more details.

Feedback

Do you have any feedback for us?

We at Growth FullStack are always happy to receive your valuable feedback. Whether it’s about requesting additional support on optimizing your workflows, building a customized dashboard, or anything else, feel free to reach out to us and let us know how we can support you further.

Iterate and Maintain

Iterate

This dashboard can be edited to reflect the metrics that you think fit. Additionally, Google Analytics offers data at various levels of breakdown which allows for different kinds of analyses. You can find details of available breakdown and types of data in GA documentation here.

Maintain

Please be aware that Google updates its GA API regularly and this may break this template.