Way back in November 2011, Google came out and told users of its analytics that it would be adding email scheduling and PDF reports to the new version of Google Analytics. As you may recall, these were features of the old version of Google Analytics, and their abscence in the new version irked quite a few users. In fact, the company call them “two of the most requested features from the old version of Google Analytics that have been absent in the new interface.”
At the time, they claimed both emails scheduling and PDF exporting would be available in a few weeks and started soliciting feedback from users. And then…nothing. At least until now. Google has very quietly rolled out both features, with something of a staggered release at the end of last week (users were progressively given access). Both features, which are in BETA, are now open to all.
A Google Analytics Help thread was the first to pick up on this, with one user stating: “Good news!!!! Pdf and email functions are now available. I saw them this morning. How crazy of them to leave them out for so long.”
Email scheduling, in particular, can be very helpful for college marketing departments, as the feature allows users to schedule a regular report from Analytics. This report can then emailed to relevant stakeholders (you may also export a snapshot of data in PDF format) across a number of different departments, ensuring that everyone is on the same page when it comes to data and the performance of your program pages. Clearly, the easier you can share this information, the easier marketing decisions (and budgets) can be.
What do you think about these additions to Google Analytics?
