What I learned about Firebase Analytics

By Nick Guebhard, 23 November 2016

Ground work

Find a willing client Client: “I want to track my

App. Can you do the GA?”

Nick: “Yes, but Google have released this new thing called Firefly or something.”

Client: “Great. Our developers love new shinies.”

Nick: “But I haven’t done it before”.

Client: “Grow some huevos, Nick!”.

Firebase Analytics vs. Google Analytics

500 Events Unlimited Events and unlimited Screen views

25 parameters per event 25 user properties

20 custom dimensions (user, session, hit, product) +

Enhanced Ecom dimensions

1 “value” parameter per event(i.e. 500 custom metrics)

Many pageview, event, social, ecom metrics (+ 20 custom

metrics)

Audiences + user level filters Report filters, Segments

BigQuery export No BigQuery (free version)

GTM compatible GTM compatible

No API API

Just very close platonic friends

Events★ Up to 500 events (event names)★ 32 character limit for event names ★ Automatically collected events -

○ first_open, in_app_purchase, etc.

★ Predefined events○ General - select_content, search, etc.

○ Retail/Ecommerce - view_item,

add_to_cart, etc.○ Lead gen - generate_lead, view_item○ Games - Level_up, post_score, etc

★ Custom events○ click_to_call, customer_service_submit

○ bank_robbery, train_robbery, poker_game,

gun_fight, hanging

Parameters★ Up to 25 parameters per event★ 40 character limit for parameter names, 100 for parameter values★ Some automatically collected events have associated automatic params★ Predefined parameters

○ view_item - item_id○ add_to_cart - quantity, item_id, item_category○ generate_lead - value, currency○ level_up - level

★ Custom parameters○ click_to_call - 0800_number, click_to_call_screen○ edit_photo_save - filter_style, horizon_adjustment, crop_dimensions

User properties★ Automatically collected

○ Age, Gender, Interests○ Device category, brand and model (+ID)○ Country, language○ Operating system version○ App version, App store○ First open time, new/established

★ Custom (up to 25)○ Login ID○ Purchase history○ User type

Scoping

Get to know everything about the app

Tracking specEvent Name Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Parameter 3 Parameter 4 Parameter 5

item_view item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_category

<when prod is viewed>

{{product sku}} {{prod name}} {{prod size}} {{prod colour}} {{prod category}

SD1234 10 Gallon hat Big White Hats

Bigger Black

Ridiculous Brown

add_to_wishlist item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_category

<product save> (as above)

Build

StepsI. Create a Firebase ProjectII. Install the Firebase SDK in the appIII. Add the app to the Firebase ProjectIV. Add 3 lines of code in your App to enable Firebase AnalyticsV. Add GTM to your App (optional)VI. Add code to Log Events, eg:

Bundle bundle = new Bundle();

bundle.putString(FirebaseAnalytics.Param.ITEM_ID, id);

bundle.putString(FirebaseAnalytics.Param.ITEM_NAME, name);

bundle.putString(FirebaseAnalytics.Param.CONTENT_TYPE, "image");

mFirebaseAnalytics.logEvent(FirebaseAnalytics.Event.SELECT_CONTENT, bundle);

Quality Assurance

Testing (Android Debug Bridge)1. Install Android Debug Bridge (ADB) from Android SDK2. Add test app to your phone/emulator3. Connect phone/emulator to ADB4. Run command line/terminal commands to filter to Firebase Analytics data in log

data:

adb shell setprop log.tag.FA VERBOSE

adb shell setprop log.tag.FA-SVC VERBOSE

adb logcat -v time -s FA FA-SVC

(For iOS use Xcode Debug Console)

Note results of QAEvent Name Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Parameter

3Parameter 4

Parameter 5

P item_view item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_category

<when prod is viewed>

{{product sku}}

{{prod name}} {{prod size}}

{{prod colour}}

{{prod category}

SD1234 10 Gallon hat Big White Hats

Bigger Black

Ridiculous Brown

F add_to_wishlist item_id item_name item_size item_colour item_category

<product save> (as above)

Firebase analytics configuration

Manually Add all user properties

Configure links and postbacks

Configure audiences

Add Goals

Add funnels

Live reporting demo

Configure GTM

Firebase Tracking acts as a Data Layer

Add GA tags (optional)

Add any other tracking tags

Connect to BigQuery

Connect to BigQuery

★ Do this through Firebase. It will automatically create Project & Tables

★ A link then appears in your events tab

Run JavaScript or SQL queries

The End