Snowplow is used for all of our data collection on our digital services. We have a streaming service that has several different applications including TV applications, mobile applications, and a browser, from which we collect data. We collect both media consumption and more generic basic web analytics data such as page views. Basically, we collect all of our digital data with Snowplow.
Snowplow
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Unified tracking has enabled accurate media analytics and flexible schemas across all apps
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Snowplow has been a game-changer for us because it handles the basics like sessionization and user IDs perfectly while giving us the freedom to build custom schemas. Our business is pretty complex, and previous tools always forced us into rigid event structures that just didn't fit. Now, we can model our data to actually match how our business works, which saves us from having to do a ton of messy cleanup on the back end.
One of the biggest shifts has been in how we handle data quality. Tools like Snowplow Mini let our developers and analysts debug in real-time without needing to mess around with proxy tools or catch traffic manually. Because the developers have direct visibility during implementation, the data is much cleaner from the start. Our data engineers also have way better oversight of the entire pipeline than they ever did before.
The documentation is also genuinely impressive. It’s actually useful for both the people implementing the code and the analysts using the data, which is a rare find compared to a lot of the big players in the space. By moving everything into a single, enriched Snowplow pipeline, we’ve finally gotten rid of the "multiple sources of truth" headache. We’re now capturing parts of the business that were too complex for our old tools, giving us a much more accurate and trustworthy view of what's actually happening.
What needs improvement?
Honestly, I don’t have any real complaints. Snowplow has been great, especially the support they gave us during the initial implementation. They had a few "old school" approaches to data schemas early on, but they’ve already deprecated those and moved in the right direction. It feels like a truly state-of-the-art setup now. It’s actually pretty tough to come up with constructive feedback because I’ve been so happy with how everything works.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working as a web analyst for around nine years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Snowplow is very stable.
How are customer service and support?
Lately, we have not needed that much customer support, but in the beginning of our implementation project, we had people from Snowplow working directly with us, and it was really helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used several tools, and we switched because it got too expensive for us and also it was not as flexible as we wanted our data collection to be.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at standard analytics suites and CDPs, but they were too rigid. Standard tools forced us into "one-size-fits-all" models that required constant cleaning, while CDPs acted as expensive middlemen with limited customization. We ultimately chose this approach because total data ownership and the ability to model our specific business logic were more important than out-of-the-box reports.
What other advice do I have?
Snowplow actually does exactly what it promises. We’ve piloted several other tools in the past, but this was the only one that fit our use case perfectly. It’s ideal if you have complex data needs and want total control over your structures, especially when it comes to enriching data with CRM or operational sources.
I wasn’t involved in the procurement side, so I’m not sure about the specific licensing, but I know we chose it because it was the most cost-effective option for handling billions of events. It’s a 10/10 for us.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
We love SnowPlow
What do you like best about the product?
We've been using SnowPlow here at General Assembly for almost 7 years. We started with the opensource version and decided to move to Enterprise so we didn't have to use data engineering resources to maintain and upgrade the pipeline, which has saved us a ton of time to work on other things. Our account manager and support at SnowPlow have been amazing and we've had no issues. Just sit back and let them administer the pipeline and has been up 100%. Having access to raw data in snow plow is key to creating your own data models. Having access to almost real time data is crucial as well.
What do you dislike about the product?
Would LOVE to see some cookie cutter reporting templates like Google Analytics gives you. I understand SnowPlow is not designed for that but would save our analysts a ton of time if SnowPlow provided some built in reporting as well. SnowPlow does have some templates for Looker and other visual tools, would love to use this in Tableau at some point.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Having access to almost real time raw data is crucial at our company, which gives us the ability to create custom data models and also QA easily and quickly. Having SnowPlow enterprise team handle all the maintenance and uptime is key as well.
Snowplow was a game changer in our understanding of our customer behaviour
What do you like best about the product?
I like the availability of granular data and the autonomy to be able to use the data easily in whichever way you choose. It gives complete freedom to build downstream products tailored to the business needs. I also think their customer services level is extremely high, they are always available to suggest best approaches to problems and work with you on solving your own challenges.
What do you dislike about the product?
It does have a bit of a knowledge learning curve, traditional users of behavioural data have only experienced data through a familiar UI and so some of the bits of knowledge behind how certain areas of data are populated requires a fair amount of reading and playing with the data.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Precise understanding of user experience of new features. Identity stitching. Consolidated metrics across different Web platforms (app, Web, third party affiliates, acquisition companies). Removed areas of doubt of the data from issues such as ad blockers and transmission issues when implementing server side tracking.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Learn about how tracking actually works and how the raw data is presented. Understand what the business needs to report on from tracking and make sure tracking is in place in those scenarios. Spend time really thinking about a scalable way to track new features.
Powerful tracking that you can adapt to your needs
What do you like best about the product?
- You can track everything you need: browser-side, server-side, custom events
- You can customize the tracking to your needs
- You can prevent any compliance or security headache by hosting the processing and storage on your own infrastructure
- Snowplow's support is first-class
- You can customize the tracking to your needs
- You can prevent any compliance or security headache by hosting the processing and storage on your own infrastructure
- Snowplow's support is first-class
What do you dislike about the product?
- Any powerful tool comes with some complexity to handle on your end. You will have to spend some time understanding Snowplow's data structure, but once you have done it, it's ready for the long term.
- The tracking of user interactions with UI elements could be more intuitive
- The tracking of user interactions with UI elements could be more intuitive
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
- Providing comprehensive analytics on user activity and interactions across websites, web apps, and mobile apps, no matter where it's running.
- Tracking custom events based on product teams needs.
- Tracking custom events based on product teams needs.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
If you need a customizable and powerful product analytics solution, Snowplow Analytics should be at the top of your list.
Great tracking tool to own your own data at a granular level with less cost
What do you like best about the product?
Snowplow lets us store very granular data about customer interactions with our site. It's great to have full access to the data and it's open source, so the cost is MUCH lower than comparable products like GA 360 and Adobe.
What do you dislike about the product?
The data still needs a front-end. Snowplow is just a collection tool. Also, this is pretty difficult to self manage without a dedicated person. We talked to some implementation partners, and the costs can be quite high just for the management. Also, there's quite a bit of integration with Engineering required to get events fully logged. Therefore, getting buy-in and time in the Eng roadmap is key to getting the most out of the tool.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Allows us to debug tracking issues with GA or look at very specific situations to understand bugs that customers are encountering.
Amazing tool to tracking all events you want!
What do you like best about the product?
All infrastructure is already done and the strategy to use de Kineses for bad data queue is amazing.
What do you dislike about the product?
I would like to have more flexibility in the tools. (maybe use Kafka instead of Kineses)
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Now we can tracking all events of our clients with a simple changes in the frontend
Recommendations to others considering the product:
The Snowplow team is amazing and always available.
Flexibility, quality, support
What do you like best about the product?
Tacking configuration is simple and clear
Enrichments are useful
Pipeline just works
Support is really-really helpful
Enrichments are useful
Pipeline just works
Support is really-really helpful
What do you dislike about the product?
There is now URL shortener solution ingrained. We use redirect links for tracking, they are really long and could be shortened and resolved on the collector. It would require some integration of course. But it's better than using two redirects and external service.
There is no way to interact with the collector. For example, send id of a client to a collector, so that collector returns executable js code to a tracker which is fired instead of a placed once and forever one.
There is no way to interact with the collector. For example, send id of a client to a collector, so that collector returns executable js code to a tracker which is fired instead of a placed once and forever one.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We put tracking code on career websites of our clients to show them insights on how their candidates behave.
We could implement and support it ourselves, but instead, Snowplow does it for us. It's a huge win and saves us a lot of tie and money.
We could implement and support it ourselves, but instead, Snowplow does it for us. It's a huge win and saves us a lot of tie and money.
Extremely Customizable Event Driven Analytics
What do you like best about the product?
Before deciding on Snowplow we looked at many event driven analytic platforms and hands-down Snowplow was the most customizable. We were able to tailor the pipeline to our business needs and didn't need to change how we operate in order to fit into strictly defined concepts that other packages required. In addition, the team at Snowplow are top-notch and provide excellent support and advisory services when needed.
What do you dislike about the product?
With great power comes great responsibility... There is a learning curve to get up and running and ongoing maintenance. Much of the setup is manual text-file driven configuration, although I understand this is changing.On the flip side there is a great community supporting the product so most answers are dealt with quickly.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We have much deeper insight into our users behaviors and are abel to turn this around and provide data driven solutions across our customer base.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
I attribute a lot of our success to our working with the Snowplow team in a rollout engagement. I would recommend you include at least some of the support services as part of your project.
Great analytics at a great price
What do you like best about the product?
having clickstream data without paying for GA360
What do you dislike about the product?
There is a lack of set up documentation which makes it difficult for our team to set up
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
lots of questions about website behavior, effectivenss of freetrials for SAAS companies, etc
Granular web data for your own data warehouse made easy
What do you like best about the product?
We transitioned to Snowplow in 2014 when we were looking for a way to control all of our own web data. We made the move from Google Analytics and never looked back. Snowplow gives us total control of what we can and can't track. It also has a great standard set of tracking for example, everything you'd want to know about a page view. The team at Snowplow is great to work with, professional, attentive, and flexible.
What do you dislike about the product?
Setting up a thoughtful structure for your data, web events, and then making it usable to your organization with analytics tools takes time. Snowplow makes it easier, but there's no getting around that you need someone internally to take responsibility for the initiative. Great analytics isn't plug and play - but once you get it set up properly with snowplow, it just works!!
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We have fully integrated data analytics the cover everything from a user coming to our website to the messages they send in our system to sales to profits, etc. It's all integrated in our Redshift warehouse so that we can do analytics we need to in Looker. Before snowplow we had to hace out parts of the data we needed from Google Analytics, export from SQL and then put everything together in a spreadsheet. Those days are over - and are replaced by self-updating dashboards, etc. in Looker.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Their support and pipeline management is awesome - I'd recommend having them manage that for you. It keeps everything running smoothly.
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