Switching analytics tools without starting over
Whatever kind of tool you use today, the path is much the same: run both, rebuild the reports people actually use, then switch. Here is the concept mapping, the steps, and an honest answer about historical data.
- Run old and new together
- Keep your event names
- CSV and log import
Common terms, and what PathClue calls them
Tools use different words, but most ideas map directly. The left column uses the terms you will see most often.
| Common term | PathClue | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Property / site / app | Project, with data sources inside | One project can hold websites, apps and mini programs; reports add them up. |
| Events and parameters | Events and properties | Keep your event names; parameters become properties, up to 20 per event. |
| Conversions / key events | Goals | A goal can be an event or a page, and can be marked as a key event for engagement rate. |
| Audiences | Segments | Dynamic segments update themselves and work as a filter in every report. |
| Explorations / custom reports | Funnels, paths, retention, distributions | Built-in analysis types; save them and put them on dashboards. |
| Default channel grouping | Channels and channel rules | AI assistants become their own channel automatically; your rules come before the defaults. |
| Enhanced measurement / auto-tracking | Enhanced collection and autocapture | Outbound links, downloads and performance are on by default; autocaptured clicks go to the inbox before becoming events. |
| User ID | Sign-in linking (identity mode) | Link your own user ID at sign-in and devices merge into one person. |
| Heatmaps / recordings (separate tool) | Heatmaps and session replay | In the same project — every funnel step opens straight into replays. |
Four steps, no gap in your data
For a typical website the first two steps take about an afternoon.
- 1
Add the PathClue snippet
Alongside your current tag; they don’t interfere. Single-page apps are followed automatically.
- 2
Send your key events
Sign-ups and purchases, with the event names you use today, from the front end or the server.
- 3
Let both run for a few weeks
Expect fewer visitors in PathClue — bots are counted separately. Compare session and pageview trends.
- 4
Switch over
Remove the old tag once the team is comfortable; keep the old reports read-only.
Move only what people use
A migration is a good moment to tidy up. Many teams have dozens of reports in their old tool and look at five or six.
- 1
List the reports people really open each week
Ask the team which reports they opened in the last month. Nobody looks at the rest; leave them behind.
- 2
Rebuild your goals
Sign-up, purchase, demo request — set the core goals first. They give channel and landing-page reports their value.
- 3
Rebuild two or three core funnels
Sign-up and checkout. Start with three to five steps; leaner than the old ones is fine.
- 4
Settle your UTM naming
Use the move to make channel spellings consistent; channel rules can merge old inconsistent ones.
- 5
Add a "collection stopped" monitor
Once the snippet is in, add the monitor so you hear immediately if a future redesign drops it.
- 6
Or install an industry template
E-commerce, SaaS, content and other templates set up goals, funnels and dashboards in one go; adjust from there.
What happens to past data
There is no one-click import from other tools, but there are three ways to handle history.
Keep the old tool for a while
Historical reports stay where they are. Most teams run both for two to four weeks, then keep read-only access to the old tool for looking things up.
Import raw events from CSV
If you can export raw events (time, event name, user, page, UTM), import them as CSV, up to 100,000 rows per file. Aggregated reports can’t be imported.
Rebuild visits from access logs
Import Nginx or Apache access logs to recreate pageviews for past months; static files and known bots are skipped.
Migration questions
Anything else — open the chat in the corner and ask.