Helio Analytics
A B2B SaaS first release scoped to one workflow, instrumented from day one so the roadmap follows evidence.
Shipped narrow, then extended on evidence
04 · Grow
Analytics and measurement
Almost every organisation has analytics installed. Far fewer have analytics they trust enough to make a decision with. The usual state is a default installation, some events added over the years by different people, and a number in a report that nobody can fully explain.
Measurement is the foundation the rest of growth work sits on. If the numbers are wrong, every optimisation decision is a guess with a chart attached.
How measurement usually breaks
- The same tag is deployed twice, inflating every metric.
- Conversions are counted on page load rather than on a real outcome.
- Traffic from your own team and suppliers is counted as customer traffic.
- Campaign tagging is inconsistent, so paid traffic appears as direct.
- Cross-domain tracking is broken between the site and a booking or checkout system.
- GA4 was migrated by accepting defaults, so the events do not describe your business.
- Reports exist but nobody reads them, because they answer questions nobody asked.
What we do
Measurement strategy
Start from the business questions, then define the metrics that answer them, then the events that produce those metrics. Almost all bad analytics comes from doing this in reverse.
Analytics audits
Review of existing implementation: duplicate tags, misconfigured conversions, filter and exclusion problems, campaign tagging consistency, cross-domain and consent handling, and data retention settings.
GA4 implementation
Google Analytics 4 configured around your business: a documented event taxonomy, key events with values, correct attribution settings, internal traffic exclusion, and a data model that will still make sense in two years.
Google Tag Manager
A governed container: naming conventions, a documented data layer, versioning discipline, and performance-conscious tag loading. Tag managers become a performance liability when nobody owns them.
Conversion and funnel tracking
Tracking that reflects real outcomes – qualified enquiries, purchases, sign-ups, calls, downloads – with the step-level funnel data needed to find where people leave.
Attribution and reporting
Practical attribution: understanding which channels contribute at which stage, with honesty about what modelled data can and cannot tell you. Dashboards built around decisions rather than available metrics.
Diagram
How we approach measurement
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Questions first, tools second We write down the decisions you need to make and work backwards to the data. That single step removes most of the metrics nobody uses.
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Document the taxonomy A written specification of every event and parameter, what triggers it, and what it means. Undocumented tracking degrades within a year as different people add things.
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Validate against reality Test transactions and known-good comparisons against back-office numbers. Analytics rarely matches finance exactly, but you should know the size and cause of the gap.
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Respect privacy and consent Consent handling implemented properly, only the data you have a reason to collect, and no personal data pushed into analytics. Compliance obligations are yours to determine with legal advice; we implement to the requirements you set.
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Watch the performance cost Tags are third-party JavaScript and they cost real milliseconds. We measure that cost and give you the trade-off explicitly rather than quietly degrading the site.
What you receive
- Measurement plan tied to business questions
- Analytics audit with prioritised findings
- Documented event and parameter taxonomy
- GA4 and Tag Manager configuration
- Conversion and funnel tracking, validated
- Cross-domain and consent configuration
- Dashboards for the decisions you actually make
- Documentation and team training
How this runs
Every engagement follows the same sequence, with a defined output at each stage and nothing proceeding on an assumption that has not been written down. Grow work sits inside that process rather than alongside it.
Work involving analytics and measurement
Common questions
Why does analytics disagree with our back-office numbers?
Consent choices, ad and tracking blockers, cross-device journeys, and different definitions of a transaction all create gaps. A stable, understood gap is workable; an unexplained one is not, and quantifying it is part of the audit.
Do we need a tag manager?
It depends on how often tags change and who changes them. Where marketing needs to deploy tracking without a release cycle, yes. Where the site is stable and developer-owned, direct implementation is often faster and lighter.
Can you help with consent and privacy compliance?
We implement consent mechanics – consent mode, tag gating, data minimisation – to the policy your legal advisers define. We do not give legal advice, and any agency that does should be treated with caution.
Related services
Not confident in your numbers?
That is worth fixing before anything else. An audit usually takes a week and often changes what you thought was working.
Or email hello@applystudio.com – we reply within one business day.