My Crazy “Cracked” Egg Review
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I usually like to try new things on the Blog to improve the navigation and usefulness of the blog. Today I read on two different blogs about this new tracking system Crazy Egg. (notice there is no link yet)
On Ben Yoskovitz’s new site Instigator Blog, he has good things to say about it.
Over at Smiley Cat, Christian Watson speaks of the usefulness in his review.
I trust both of these guys, so I thought I would try it out. It’s supposed to track actual clicks on the page so you can see where people are going (or not going) on your site. Sounds good, huh?
It Might Be, but when I signed up to get it, I just keep getting errors. “Looks like an egg got cracked...” with sound effects that could be from a Game Show when a contestant falls off the stage.
Signing up was easy enough, just use your E-mail address and create a password. Ok, done step one.
Create a Test Page… Uh, oh here comes that sound again telling me I cracked an egg. So, I go back to the Dashboard and try again to create a page. Same sound, but NOW I have two Test Pages that are exactly the same!?! I can’t delete one, it won’t let me. The option is there, but now I’m on the Game Show again.
Ignore the error and click to get the Code I need to put in the Template. Install said Code in said Template.
Ok, I’m getting “some” stats, clicks and visits on the second test page. (still have the sound effects on the first)
Now, I go into the View Results, Overlay comes up just fine. It even shows the link where the click occured. Next step was to check the List, that shows some results.
Fine, next comes the most useful stat, the Heat Map, it’s supposed to show where people click even if it’s not a link. Something like a pic you have or something else where you might want to put a link. BUT, I’m on the Game Show again.
I really have no idea what the problem is. I followed instructions, I put the code where it’s supposed to go. I am Not Stupid, and this ain’t my first dance. They seem to be having some problems on their end.
I will continue to play with this to see if they fix whatever the problem is, but right now, I don’t really think it is as useful as others have found it to be. Maybe, if it starts working it may be a good thing, I’ll withhold judgement for a little while yet.
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Update: Please read My New Review of Crazy Egg after resolving some important issues.
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Joe - this is strange. It could be that Crazy Egg is having technical problems. Let’s see how quickly they find your post and respond — if they’re on the ball it should be quick…if they’re like Technorati, you’re doomed.
I haven’t viewed my reports in a few days but I’m going to spend some more time with Crazy Egg this week; maybe I’ll have to amend my reasonably kind words…
Input by Ben Yoskovitz | September 26, 2006 @ 2:29 pm
Hey Ben,
I just went back in after 4 hours. Now, it seems to be working OK. I was able to delete the errant test.
Now, it looks like I am getting stats, at least on the home page.
Maybe they did read my post, or at least got the email I sent them.
If it works out ok, I’ll either do an update or a new post on how it’s works.
We shall see, but first impressions are what count the most… It takes a lot to bring someone back to the point of trust.
Joe
Input by Joe | September 26, 2006 @ 4:02 pm
Joe - I agree. First impressions is what it’s all about.
The one thing I didn’t like was that you can’t quickly run it for every page, I think each page has to be its own test, which means more data entry/management on the user’s part. Of course, the home page of a blog is the most important page, but still…it’d be nicer if you could track every page instantly.
If they could make a WordPress plugin like the one for Google Analytics…
Input by Ben Yoskovitz | September 26, 2006 @ 4:14 pm
Yeah, Ben.
I do want to track my Home page, but I also want to track the sidebar, contact, forum (from here) and Webpage, Header, footer et al. on one test.
I don’t think they show up on just the home page test!?!
I think you’re 100% right about having a plugin to track the whole site. That would be Nice…
Here’s hoping…
Input by Joe | September 26, 2006 @ 4:44 pm
Hi, I apologize for all the issues you were having with setting Crazy Egg up, we are still dealing with a few issues related to Ruby On Rails and all the servers we have to maintain for the project. Beyond that, we are thinking of some of the stuff people have mentioned in the comments, etc. We have some improvements coming soon, and hope to take care of our stability issues soon.
Input by Hiten Shah | September 26, 2006 @ 4:59 pm
Hi Hiten — kudos for getting to Joe quickly, I love it! Proof that blogging works!
Joe — I put the Crazy Egg snippet into the FOOTER and it worked on the sidebar, header, etc.
Then when you add tests into Crazy Egg, since all pages use the footer (on a WordPress blog anyway) they should immediately work without having to make any additional changes to the theme/blog.
Input by Ben Yoskovitz | September 26, 2006 @ 5:15 pm
Hey Hiten,
Thanks for coming by and letting me know what’s happening. I really do appreciate it and I guarantee that I am not the only one who will notice.
As I said, I am not sure why I had problems, I was getting errors even with following instructions.
The good news is that the test site is working for me know in the limited way I am using it (my own test, so to speak).
I think it could be a very useful tool, and I plan on using it on all of my blogs, and if it works on my website and forum.
Again Hiten, I thank you for taking such a hands on approach, I think your service could be one of the best out there.
I haven’t given up hope yet
Joe
Input by Joe | September 26, 2006 @ 6:14 pm
Ben,
I think I’ll try that instead of what I was going to do. I was going to put the code on each individual page with different project names, but I found out you can only use one url.
I’ll try your way a little later, either tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks if you had a hand in this, and thanks if you didn’t.
Joe
Input by Joe | September 26, 2006 @ 6:18 pm
Hi Guys,
We always appreciate any input about our service, and are very happy that people think it is worth using even while we are going through our growing pains and initial issues. I assure you guys that we are constantly working to make things right. That being said, we are always looking to improve things, so please let us know of any feedback you might have, as well as any issues, it’s the only way we can make Crazy Egg better for everyone
Input by Hiten Shah | September 27, 2006 @ 2:37 am
Joe - it wasn’t my doing. Hiten found your blog first, not mine!
I didn’t get any comments on mine, but your complaint was responded too quickly. I’d say that’s a GOOD MARK for Crazy Egg. They’re obviously watching the blogosphere and responding. That’s what ALL companies have to do.
Input by Ben Yoskovitz | September 27, 2006 @ 9:00 am
Hey Hiten,
Thanks, I did try what Ben said, I put the code in the Footer of the Blog, and checked the stats.
It looks like it’s working for the whole page that way.
You may want to be a little more explicit in explaining how to get different results, ie whole page, sidebar, content etc.
You could possibly allow more than one test for a URL also, I don’t know if that is possible or not, but it would be nice.
Thanks again,
Joe
Input by Joe | September 27, 2006 @ 9:04 am
Hiten — if I may ask, is Ruby on Rails not scaling well for you? (Side question, and I don’t want to hijack Joe’s blog or comments, but I’m curious.)
Input by Ben Yoskovitz | September 27, 2006 @ 9:09 am
Hey Ben,
Read the previous comment, I tried your suggestion and it works fine.
I am really supprised that a company is actually following up on what is happening with their service. It’s rare these days.
I’m going to give it a couple more days of trial and do another review. I will definately include how well Hiten responded to my prelimiary review.
Joe
Input by Joe | September 27, 2006 @ 9:12 am
Joe - it may be rare but it shouldn’t be.
Crazy Egg is VERY SMART for tracking what’s being said. And it’s not hard, just takes a bit of will and interest on the company’s part.
So kudos for Crazy Egg at this point.
And look at the discussion we’re creating! Even if it’s just you, me and Hiten…come on Hiten…don’t fail us now!
Input by Ben Yoskovitz | September 27, 2006 @ 9:16 am
Yeah Ben,
I’m actually pretty happy that this conversation is happening. When something like this happens, it Really Adds to the whole post.
I hope that if anyone reads the post, the follow through and read the comments. This is where the real story gets written.
Input by Joe | September 27, 2006 @ 9:25 am
Hey Guys!
Ben, Ruby On Rails is scaling, there are a few software issues related to the complexity of Crazy Egg, in terms of all the different moving parts as well as the fact that we get a tremendous amount of hits every second. There is just not enough documentation and support when it comes to scaling Rails, but hopefully this will change over time as more and more people create applications using Rails.
On the note of tracking the blogosphere, we will be responding to everyone that has made a blog entry, many times I add their post to the blog roll on our blog. But, we make it a priority to answer to any complaints and also any support emails that we get first. We are going to be looking for testimonials and case studies in the near future, so I will be also responding to anyone that has posted about what they learned by using Crazy Egg, as well as anyone that has raved about our service / idea.
I went off on a bit of a tangent, but I also wanted to let you guys know of something else we are developing, called Serph, http://www.serph.com - it is actually what I use to find these types of blog posts about Crazy Egg. If anyone wants in on it, just shoot me an email at info(at)crazyegg.com and I’ll let you in.
Input by Hiten Shah | September 27, 2006 @ 12:17 pm
Thanks for the feedback Hiten. I had heard Ruby was a bit troublesome in terms of scaling, mostly because the apps currently developed for it are fairly simple (although they might get lots of traffic like Basecamp.) It’s interesting to see people moving into more complex apps with Ruby and what they’re dealing with because of that.
I’ve emailed you about Serph, sounds interesting, and thanks for continuing the discussion here.
Input by Ben Yoskovitz | September 27, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
Hey guys,
I don’t know that much about Rails, but from what I hear any problems would be more about the actual volume, not the program itself?
Hiten, I have been checking stats off and on and everything looks good at this point. If you need a testimonial about your customer service, count me in.
Ben, keep this conversation going on as long as you like. If this is becomes a contact point, fine with me.
Joe
Input by Joe | September 27, 2006 @ 1:30 pm