Iterate AI
Sep 13, 2024
Right now most, or I say all, businesses are powered by user interaction data from websites, web applications, and mobile apps. With this, event tracking has become the backbone of product analytics.
By monitoring these small interactions, businesses gain insights into user behavior, which is essential for driving growth and improving user experiences.
So, this article is a brief yet simple guide where we will introduce Avo Codegen, a tool that implements event tracking consistently across multiple platforms and analytics destinations. With this, we will also be looking at its alternatives.
But before that,
Why is event tracking important for your business?
1. Event Tracking for Product Analytics
Event tracking allows businesses to gather data on user interactions, which is important in product analytics.
By identifying frequently used features and areas of neglect, companies can make informed product improvements, enhancing user satisfaction and loyalty.
2. Using Event Tracking for User Engagement
With event tracking, businesses can create targeted engagement campaigns based on user behavior, such as push notifications and emails.
This communication improves the user experience and boosts engagement rates.
3. Understanding Individual User Actions
Understanding individual user actions is also important before sales or customer service interactions. Event tracking reveals users' journeys and interests, helping the sales teams approach conversations with personalized strategies that address specific needs. For more insights, check out Shubhram's LinkedIn post on how not tracking events can hurt growth.
With that being said, and knowing how event tracking is crucial for your businesses, let’s move next.
What is Avo Codegen? Why is it popular?
Avo Codegen is a tool designed to simplify the implementation of event tracking across various platforms and analytics tools. Avo Codegen helps businesses remove the hassle of manual coding to track user interactions.
Avo Codegen Role in Event Tracking
Avo Codegen provides a structured approach to defining and implementing events. The process begins with:
Tracking Plan: Teams outline the events they want to monitor, including their properties and data types.
As the events are defined, Avo generates the necessary code that developers can easily integrate in their applications.
This streamlines the implementation process and minimizes the errors that can be made from manual coding.
For example, if you want to track the user when they start the game, you can define an event called gameStarted in the tracking plan, and as you do this, Avo then generates a function that developers can call in their code, ensuring that the event is consistently logged across all platforms.
Main Features
Type-Safe Code Generation: Avo Codegen generates type-safe functions for each defined event, meaning that developers can validate event properties before sending them to analytics platforms. This increases the reliability of the data collected.
Integration with Multiple Analytics Tools: Avo has integration with multiple analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Heap SnowPlow, mParticle, and Segment. This allows businesses to route event data to multiple destinations without adding extra codes.
Cross-Platform Consistency: Avo ensures that event names and properties remain consistent across different platforms. Instead of having a different naming convention for iOS and Android, both platforms can use the same function call. This reduces confusion and simplifies the code.
Device-Mode Data Flow: Avo Codegen operates in a device-mode architecture, meaning that event data flows directly from user devices to analytics destinations without passing through Avo's servers. This builds up data privacy and reduces the latency in event reporting.
How Avo Codegen Works: A Quick Tutorial
As we saw, Avo Codegen simplifies the implementation of event tracking by automating the generation of code for analytics events.
Let me share a simple step-by-step guide to set up Avo Codegen.
First, we will sign up for an Avo account if you don’t have one. Head to avo.app to do the same.
In the Avo workspace, navigate to the Tracking Plan tab. Here, you can import an existing tracking plan or define new events.
Ensure that you attach the source (e.g., web, iOS, Android) to the events you want to implement.
Install the Avo Command Line Interface (CLI) in your project.
You can use npm or Yarn:
npm install --save-dev avo
4. Run the `avo login` command to log into your Avo account
5. Use the CLI to pull the generated code from your Avo workspace.
This command will create a file that will have functions for each event defined in your tracking plan.
avo pull [SourceName]
6. Now let's import the generated code and initialize Avo in our application. This is typically done in the same location where you initialize other analytics SDKs.
import Avo from './Avo'; Avo.init();
7. You can now send events using the generated functions. For example, if you have defined an event called “Mobile App Opened” you can log it as follows:
Avo.appOpened({ client: 'Mobile', screenName: 'Main Screen' });
8. Avo will automatically validate the event properties and will make sure they match the specifications defined in the tracking plan.
For more detailed instructions, you can refer to these tutorials:
Getting Started with Avo Codegen: A comprehensive guide to setting up Avo Codegen.
Avo Codegen Overview: An overview of Avo Codegen's features.
Avo Codegen on GitHub
Avo CLI is open source on GitHub, developers can engage with the project. As we saw Avo CLI in action above, let’s see some more open-source resources Avo shares.
Destination interface code snippets repository is a collection of ready-to-use code examples for different programming languages, software platforms, and analytics tools. These prewritten code samples can be easily copy pasted to projects to help the devs work faster.
Avo provides SDKs for various programming languages, so developers can easily integrate event tracking and analytics into their applications.
Visit Avo Codegen’s GitHub to look at other resources.
Limitations or Gaps in Avo Codegen.
Like everything else, Avo Codegen is not without its gaps. Businesses need to consider these limitations before fully committing to its use.
Steep Learning Curve for Beginners
For teams new to Avo or event tracking, setting up and using Avo Codegen can be challenging.
We saw the process above using the CLI, but it doesn't stop there; you need to integrate the generated code into applications. Startups with limited technical resources may struggle with this initial setup, requiring time and effort to train team members.
This can be a barrier for organizations that need to quickly implement analytics solutions.
Cost Implications
Avo’s pricing can be steep, especially for startups or smaller companies with limited budgets. Their plans start from $250/mo but offer you more than double what you get from the Free Plan with some extra features such as access to more events observed, plug-ins, etc.
Even though Avo Codegen can save costs by avoiding tracking errors, not every startup will be able to afford the platform's upfront costs, particularly for the premium plans.
If you only need basic tracking, then you may need something else.
Customization Limitations
Avo Codegen follows a strict event schema, which ensures data consistency but may not offer the flexibility needed for more complex or custom event tracking needs.
If your business requires highly specialized events that don’t fit neatly into Avo’s structure, then this may not be the right solution.
Some examples of highly specialized events:
- Financial platforms, where you need to track "trade execution timing," "market volatility tracking," or "fraud detection flags.”.
- In gaming, "in-game currency redemption", and "multiplayer session creation".
These events are detailed, and monitoring them requires feature-rich tools.
Why Iterate AI is the Smarter Choice Over Avo Codegen
Every tool has its alternatives, and the same goes for Avo Codegen, presenting Iterate AI as a better alternative if considering Avo Codegen. Here is why:
Integration and Flexibility
Iterate AI automatically inserts tracking code into your codebase, eliminating the need for developers to manually place the code in the right locations (even creating pull requests).
This not only saves time but also reduces the risk of errors during implementation.
In contrast, Avo Codegen requires developers to handle the insertion of generated code, which can be time-consuming and prone to mistakes.
With this, Iterate AI integrates seamlessly with existing tools like Mixpanel and Amplitude, providing a more flexible solution for teams.
Usability and Learning Curve
The user-friendly interface of iterate-ai.com simplifies the onboarding process for teams.
Check out this demo for a sneak peek (or schedule a call for better views 😉).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ida1ovF9U
With its AI agent handling routine tasks, product and engineering teams can focus on more complex challenges instead of getting bogged down in manually coding the event tracking snippets.
This ease of use is particularly beneficial for startups and small teams with limited resources.
Avo Codegen, while powerful, has a steeper learning curve that may require more time and technical expertise to navigate effectively.
Data Handling and Privacy
Data privacy is a critical concern for businesses, especially those handling sensitive customer information. Iterate AI prioritizes data handling and privacy by ensuring that tracking and analytics processes comply with industry standards.
Since Iterate AI does not maintain a presence in end-user client instances, it minimizes the risk of unauthorized data collection.
In contrast, in the case of Avo Codegen, Avo’s code snippets are present in the client instances of the end users. Thus, it can raise concerns about potential data access, making Iterate AI a more secure choice for businesses focused on protecting user data.
What Next?
Let's be back with that political answer; it depends on you and your use case, what exactly you truly want.
If you want a simpler way to generate tracking code, get Avo Codegen.
If you want AI-driven automation, no developer involvement, and seamless code generation, get -> Iterate AI
Iterate AI offers AI-driven automation and seamless integration, only requires PMs to define events and mark where those events should be triggered. Iterate then writes the tracking code snippets (of the destination tools like Mixpanel, Amplitude, etc.), inserts them into the codebase, and creates a pull request automatically (no need for developers). This makes it an excellent choice for startups and small teams.
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