The Effect of Analytics Implementation on Single Page Applications (SPAs)

Tracking analytics can be a tricky task, especially via your web application. So, what are the effects of analytics implementation with a single page application? Hopefully this blog post can shed some light on the pros and cons that analytics implementation may have within your SPA.

What is a Single Page Application (SPA)?

Let’s begin by defining just what a SPA is. You probably use them every day without knowing it (or maybe you do), web applications such as Facebook, Google Maps, and Gmail are all examples of SPAs. Instead of loading like a normal webpage, SPAs will load a whole application in the web browser so when the user is navigating between pages or routes there will not be a true page load between each of the screens the user is going to see. Instead there will be a change in the URL, a change in the route but no actual loading on the back end. SPA streamlines the process especially for longer flows such as a registration or log in flow. It loads all the information at once instead of using multiple pages to load different information. This allows the application to handle a lot more data at one time while not slowing down the load time.

The advantages of tracking analytics on Single Page Applications (SPA)

• Better Tracking: Close partnerships to explicitly define data to be tracked and the circumstances to track it. Which helps to get more requirements tracked in a better way, as opposed to relying on what may be on the page.
• Flexibility in Tracking: This provides more requirements and better requirements. This is because more data can be tracked, and it can be tracked more thoroughly. Whether the analytics are coming with the data-layer or are captured through cookies that are passed between pages SPA simplifies this process.
• Automated Triggers: You can use event based or direct call-based analytics. Meaning, when the analytics are sent into your reporting software applications, they will trigger these calls instead of having to rely directly on page loads or click interactions.

Disadvantages of tracking analytics on single page applications (SPAs)

• Complexity: SPAs are more complex from a tracking analytics standpoint. They act more like mobile applications rather than normal web pages. Therefore, they must be treated as such when it comes to tracking.
• Need for extra time: More time has to be spent with developers because they will have to provide a lot more data throughout the application. The developers will have to send the events or direct calls for analytics meaning more time spent having to ensure the requirements are implemented correctly. Which will also increase the time spent with developers when or if something goes wrong.
• Lengthy Implementation Cycle: The implementation time will be longer. Seeing as the requirements are a lot more complex to get tracked, it takes more time to get requirements mapped, and then implemented based off the development teams and their work cycles.

The bottom line with Single Page Applications is that they provide more data, that is more precise and allows you to track things easier than you could with a different type of web application.

With overall better data, SPAs allow you to gather more qualified information and analyze more analytics than you could with something else. Although there are some complications, once you learn and understand SPAs your analytics will reap the benefits of your choice to use a Single Page Application.