Ultimate Kissmetrics Review 2023: Features, Prices, Pros & Cons

Kissmetrics is a customer journey analytics tool that always compares itself with big names such as Google Analytics. As the name implies, Kissmetrics is mostly used for tracking critical e-commerce metrics.

But as a tool for improving UX and conversion rates, how successful is Kissmetrics in delivering its promises? Is it compatible with Google Analytics? What are other UX or CRO tools to replace Kissmetrics?

In this comprehensive Kissmetrics review, we are going to provide you with detailed information about this user-tracking tool. Then, we’ll introduce you to other alternatives.

But to give you a quick getaway, we can offer a free CRO tool that is equipped with session recording, goal tracking, and different types of heatmaps to you.

WatchThemLive enables you to track visitors’ behavior and find and plug all the leaks in the sales funnel. This software is available for free and only takes 30 seconds to sign up on. So are you ready to skyrocket your conversion rates?

What Is Kissmetrics Used for

As a marketing analytics solution, Kissmetrics helps you identify, understand, and improve the significant elements that drive your online business. And it takes a different approach to generating analytics data.

Instead of tracking overall website performance, Kissmetrics tries to collect data for each individual. Therefore, it provides companies with better insights into customers’ behavior and gives them an opportunity to design more personalized campaigns.

Kissmetrics enables you to discover some crucial key performance metrics (KPIs) such as: 

• Sign-up or pricing page views and the number of sign-ups,
• Discovering ROI from organic traffic,
• Measuring ROI of Paid advertisement,
• Tracking ROI from social media.

Since Kissmetrics tracks the data related to user behavior and customer journey, it can be treated as a UX design tool and help strategists to increase customer satisfaction.

In addition, the information obtained from Kissmetric’s deep analytics can be used for planning CRO strategies. This website visitor tracking tool shows when and where customers abandoned the sales funnel so you can take immediate action and remove the barriers. 

Kissmetrics Features: What It Offers 

Unlike any other web analytics solution, Kissmetrics has a user-centric approach and it can collect data from each user separately. In other words, it creates a profile for each visitor and ties all the data about the user together to provide a holistic view. When a user accesses your site from multiple devices or browsers, instead of treating each session as a separate entity, Kissmetrics detects the user and adds the instances to the user’s profile.

This helps companies track each user’s behavior separately and have a clear picture of the user’s interactions on your site.

Main 6 Features of Kissmetrics

1. Business intelligence reporting: BI reporting provides you with deeper insight into your users and website’s performance. It combines data from both internal data of the organization and external data from the market to help you take the best course of action.

2. User profile: As we mentioned earlier, Kissmetrics gathers the information based on each user, not each session. In the most simple words, if a user visits your website through multiple devices, Kissmetrics tailors all those sessions to one user and creates a unified profile. It also records customers’ purchasing history to make the user profile more detailed.

3. A/B testing: As you already know, A/B testing or split testing helps you compare the performance of two versions of a variable in a randomized experimentation process. If you have a hypothesis, you can test it and track the outcome. For example, if you believe turning a button from blue to orange results in more conversion, with Kissmetrics you can run a test and measure the results.

4. Real-time user monitoring: Apparently, with this Kissmetrics feature, you can collect your website’s performance while visitors are using it. Therefore, you may be able to determine whether your website (or app) is performing as it should.

5. Visual representation of data: Kissmetrics uses different data visualization forms to make data readable and more interesting. By visually representing the data, you can communicate information more effectively. 

6. Funnel report. As a tool for tracking customers’ journeys, Kissmetrics funnel report tries to show you where and when customers abandoned their buying journey. This way, you can analyze your sales funnel and remove the barriers that are preventing or distracting customers from finishing their journeys.

Kissmetrics Vs. Google Analytics

It’s a bold move to compare yourself to a tool like Google Analytics, and Kissmetrics had the audacity to make this comparison. However, Kissmetrics’ review on Google Analytics seems a bit biased.

Kissmetrics says that there are narrow types of reports available on Google Analytics. However, Google Analytics comes with ‘78 standard reports that each fall into five categories’.

So, forget about everything you read about GA on Kissmetrics’ website and keep reading to find out about the similarities and differences between these two website analytics tools.

Google Analytics or Kissmetricks: Which One Is Better

GA is free. But Kissmetrics is not. This element single-handedly is enough for lots of webmasters to choose GA over other eCommerce marketing tools. But let’s discuss other factors too. We will get back to Kissmetrics pricing soon.

Both of these tools are very similar in performance and the data they deliver. But, the generated data in Kissmetrics reports are tied to a specific user. You can see each session’s information (IP address, location, etc.) separated from other sessions. On the contrary, GA provides anonymous information. And its reports are less detailed and the data is generated according to sessions or cookies.

Kissmetrics claims to have an A/B testing tool. However, their tool doesn’t have a sufficient performance if it’s not integrated with other A/B testing tools such as Optimizely. On the other hand, Google Analytics doesn’t offer an A/B testing feature altogether.

Both of the platforms inform you about sales funnel performance and give you a clear insight into which part of the funnel isn’t performing as it should.

So, as you can see, there are not many differences between these two analytics solutions and it mostly depends on your needs to decide which one is a better option.

Kissmetrics Vs. Google Analytics: Wrap Up

Generally, if you want to have a clear insight into the overall performance of your website and measure the success of your marketing efforts, Google Analytics can be a good option for you.

But if you want to analyze users’ behavior separately in more detail and understand why some of the users lost interest in your website, maybe Kissmetrics is a better choice.

However, you MUST NOT limit your option to these two analytics services. There is another website analytics tool that not only provides you with the same features but also gives you some additional tools for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO).

WatchThemLive is an all-in-one behavioral analytics tool that helps you track every movement users make on your site. It offers a variety of features such as heat maps, session replays, goal tracking, and video surveys. And the good news is that WhatchThemLive is also free. So, give it a shot and see everything for yourself.

Kissmetrics Review of Pricing & Plans

The platform has two separate sets of plans for eCommerce and SaaS marketers with three different tiers each. We’ll elaborate on them separately here.

Kissmetrics for ECommerce

Kissmetrics is priced per month and billed annually. That is, the user is committed for a whole year but pays the bills on a monthly basis. There are three plans available:

• Silver: $299/mo,
• Gold:$499/mo,
• Platinum: According to your package.

In the platinum plan, everything is customizable. Cosequately, the prices and features are going to be different according to your requirements. But let’s discuss their smaller package to have a better understanding of what Kissmetrics is going to offer.

Silver Plan

Kissmetrcs silver plan has some basic features and is suitable for small companies with limited traffic.

However, there is no trace of A/B testing reports, revenue reports, cohort reports, or SQL reports in Kissmeetrics silver plan. and only email support is available if you encounter any problem.

Plus, contrary to their promises, the generated data can’t be exported and they aren’t going to keep your information forever. The data retention period is 12 months. And if you encounter any problems or demand technical implementation services, there are going to be additional charges.

Gold Plan

Kissmetrics’ gold plan equips users with more monthly tracked users, more user seats, and more reports including revenue reports, A/B testing reports, and cohort reports. Still, for power reports and SQL reports, you need to upgrade to other plans.

Kissmetrics for SaaS

The only difference between Kissmetrics for SaaS and e-commerce is the number of monthly tracked users. In the SaaS plans, the number of sessions is limited to 10K/month for the silver plan and 25k/month for the gold plan.

Other limitations and features along with prices are the same between Kissmetrics’s different plans.

Kissmetrics Review: Is Kissmetrics Right for You

If you are an eCommerce or a marketing team looking to improve your brand, Kissmetrics might be able to meet some of your needs. but is it the best tool to get the job done?

As a tool claiming to increase your conversion rates, Kissmetrics’ main focus is on analyzing users’ behavior and delivering a high-converting sales funnel. It’s obvious that any business can benefit from an effective customer journey, but is it a good idea to spend that much on analytic software when there are so many free and more affordable options available? If you’re looking for an alternative to Kissmetrics, just keep reading.

Here is a list of Kissmetrics’ advantages and disadvantages to help you make up your mind.

Kissmetrics Pros

• Kissmetrics allows measuring the effectiveness of your optimization efforts on each user.
• It allows you to export the generated data and use it to supply other platforms. 
• Kissmetrics’ data retention period is at least 12 months.
• This platform represents sales funnel reports in a visualized form. However, according to customer reviews, Kissmetrics infographics are basic and you shouldn’t expect much from them.

Kissmetrics Cons

• Due to its lower plan limitations, Kissmetrics users must sign up for its larger plans to get the desired reports.
• It takes a lot of time for their email support to respond.
• Kissmetrics setup is not a walk in the park. You might need to hire a new employee with IT skills to run the tool for you.
• This platform claims to offer many features, but lots of its features are not available on the silver plan.
• Although they allow data exportation, you have to pay an extra fee to unlock this feature.
• The Kissmetrics integration system is priced per integration and requires an extra payment.

⚡Verdict:  Kissmetrics can be a good option for keeping your visitors under your surveillance. But be aware that they are going to charge extra for simple services. And according to lots of Kissmetrics reviews on G2, it’s not user-friendly at all and has a confusing UX design.

So, maybe it’s not a bad idea to search for other behavior analytics tools as a replacement for Kissmetrics. Here, we’ll represent our number one choice.

Best Kissmetrics Alternative: WatchThemLive

WatchThemLive is a behavior analytics service and a CRO tool both at the same time. It can analyze customers’ behavior and help you replace guesswork with data-driven decisions.

Optimizing your conversion rates through improving user experience and smoothening your sales funnel is the main objective of WatchThemLive. And it offers advanced features to deliver its promise.

WatchThemLive features

• Analytics dashboard,
• User profile,
• Page tracking,
• Session recording.
• Heatmaps, 
• Goal tracking.

We are not going to ramble about how good this service is. Instead, you can read WatchThemLive’s real user reviews on different websites such as Trustpilot. Plus, since this tool is free and requires no credit card, you can try everything for yourself. It only takes one minute to sign up for WatchThemLive Free plan.

And if your website has high traffic, you can sign up for WatchThemlive’s larger plans. Despite all its amazing features, WatchThemLive is still much more affordable compared to Kissmetrics.

WatchThemLive Pricing 

• Free Plan: ✅
• Individual Silver: $29/mo,
• Individual Gold: $49/mo,
• Team Silver: $69/mo,
• Team Gold: $99/mo.

So, what are you waiting for? You can also sign up for WatchThemLive through Shopify.

People Also Ask about Kissmetrics

Since we intend to give you a comprehensive Kissmetrics review, let’s answer some of the frequently asked questions regarding this matter.

1. What Are Kissmetrics Integrations?

In order to ease the workflow, Kissmetrics is integrable with many digital marketing tools including:

• VWO,
• Live Chat,
• Shopify,
• Mailchimp,
• Zapier.

2. Who Uses Kissmetrics?

According to the reports, more than 6,000 companies use Kissmetrics and most of its customers are e-commerce websites, SaaS companies, and digital marketing teams.

3. Can You Replace Google Analytics with Kissmetrics?

Both of these services track users’ behavior and analyze website performance. And their features overlap a lot. But still, they are not 100% compatible and choose different approaches to get the job done. Therefore,  you can either use them simultaneously or go for another website analytics tool that is equipped with everything you want in one location.

We suggest WatchThemLive as the best option for eCommerce website owners because, in addition to tracking website visitors, it helps business owners to boost conversions. 

Kissmetrics Review: Final Words

In this blog, we tried to explain everything you need to know about Kissmetrics including its features, plans, pricing, and pros & cons. And since people also asked about Kissmetrics and Google Analytics, we tried to compare these two solutions briefly.

But, you should remember that digital marketing is a broad subject and there are lots of great tools that can even challenge big names such as GA. One of these lesser-known tools is WatchThemLive. If you want to learn more about this tool click here and start your journey.