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Analytics data is only useful if you intend on reacting to it. The same goes for real time Analytics. Its only useful if you intend on reacting to it in real time.

The usage scenario most people fall back on when I have asked them about it is a blog post or something going viral. They don't want to wait the couple hours that Google Analytics sometimes takes to update. Great, you know something is getting a lot of traction with social media or maybe gathering some links... what do you do with that?

If you don't have a plan for how to react in real time, there's no sense knowing your Analytics real time.

(The other usage case often brought up is knowing when there is an issue with your website. In my opinion, this isn't the job of an Analytics package to detect.)




It's often tough to justify from a ROI perspective, but it turns out that there is quite a bit of emotional reaction to real time analytics.

Sort of like fear of flying vs. fear of driving, people like to feel in control.




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