The eve of October 2024

🔥 What's New ?

👉 Pipe Syntax: A new SQL syntax for BigQuery

BigQuery has introduced an extension to GoogleSQL, the standard SQL syntax used in BigQuery. This extension, called pipe syntax, supports a linear query structure designed to make your queries easier to read, write and maintain.

You can use pipe syntax wherever you write GoogleSQL. It supports the same operations as existing GoogleSQL syntax (or standard syntax) - such as selection, aggregation, grouping, joins and filtering - making queries smoother and more readable.

Pipe queries begin with a standard SQL query or a FROM. For example: a simple FROM as FROM mondataset.matable is a valid pipe syntax. The result of the standard SQL query or the table resulting from the FROM can then be transmitted via a pipe symbol |>followed by the name of a pipe operator and any arguments. The pipe operator transforms the table in a certain way, and the result of this transformation can be passed on to another pipe operator.

To display the elements of a table, simply execute the following query:

-- View the table
FROM mondataset.produits;
/*---------+-------+-----------+
| item | category | sales |
+---------+-------+-----------+
| apples | fruit | 7 |
| apples | fruit | 2 |
| carrots | vegetable | 0 |
| bananas | fruit | 15 |
+---------+-------+------------+

FROM mondataset.products
|> WHERE sales > 0
|> AGGREGATE SUM(sales) AS total_sales, COUNT(*) AS num_sales
   GROUP BY item;

/*---------+-------------+-----------+
 | item | total_sales | num_sales |
 +---------+-------------+-----------+
 | apples | 9 | 2 |
 | bananas | 15 | 1 |
 +---------+-------------+-----------*/

👉 GA360: Major enhancement of its API's unsampled data quotas

Google Analytics 360 significantly improves access to unsampled data in two main ways:

1. Quota increase :some text
   • Daily quota increased to 20,000 tokens
   • Quota per request increased to 5,000 tokens

2. Technical improvements :some text
   • New token calculation algorithm, better aligned with processing costs
   • Introduction of a machine learning-based model for fairer pricing
   • Better access to complex data without sampling limitations

These enhancements bring new benefits to GA360 users:

• More comprehensive analyses: Users can now examine their data in its entirety, not just samples.

• Informed decisions: Comprehensive data provides an in-depth understanding of user behavior and boosts the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

👉 BigQuery: New fields linked to session traffic sources

BigQuery export now includes new fields for analyzing traffic sources at session level, offering a more complete view of user paths. Key new features include :

Improved Last-Click attribution :

• Direct access to attribution data for manual campaigns: campaign ID, source, medium

• Google Ads campaign details: campaign ID, ad group, customer ID

• Direct access to allocation data without further processing

New fields of integration :

• Cross-channel campaigns

• Campaign Manager 360

• Display & Video 360

• etc

Previously, it took a lot of time and effort to link attribution data to user journeys. Now, this key information is directly integrated into BigQuery exports, greatly simplifying analysis.

👉 CNIL announces a massive mobile app control campaign for 2025

The Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) is implementing an action plan structured in two distinct phases:

• In the coming months, CNIL will be mobilizing its resources to train professionals in the new rules, clarify the requirements of the recommendations, and assist with the implementation of compliance measures.

• In the spring of 2025, the CNIL will launch a vast campaign to monitor mobile applications. The aim will be to verify their compliance with regulations, and impose corrective measures if necessary.

What you need to know about compliance measures for :

1. Transparency measures

• Provide clear information on how the data will be used. For example, a running app collects your location only during your runs, to calculate yourroute.

• For example, a weather application explains that it needs your location for local forecasts, but not your contacts.

2. Technical measures

• Minimize data collection: a calculator app shouldn't require permission on principle, unlike a photo app that needs access to the camera.

• Encrypt sensitive data, e.g. a banking application that encrypts your data locally before transferring it.

3. Measures concerning consent

• Set up a simple interface to manage permissions, taking the example of a delivery application that offers two clear options :some text
  • "Allow localization only for deliveries".
  • "Allow location to be tracked at all times for personalized suggestions".

4. Control measures

• Set up tracking dashboards Like Google, which offers a "My Activity" table showing all data collected.

• Create an alert system such as notifications if your account connects from a new device.

5. Measures for sensitive data

• Enhanced protection for sensitive data such as medical data, so an application managing this type of data must require additional authentication to access test results.

💡 Tip of the month

Our "Tip of the month" section shares practical tips used daily at Starfox Analytics. These tips cover various Web Analytics tools to optimize your work. Don't hesitate to try them out and share them with your colleagues.

GROUP BY ALL

Until now, you had to specify the names of all the columns in a query GROUP BYand we can all agree that it was tedious!

GROUP BY date, country, product, category, subcategory

No more long lists of columns in your GROUP BY ! With syntax GROUP BY ALL with BigQuery, simplify your queries and make them easier to read.

SELECT 
  date, 
  country,
  product,
  category,
  subcategory,
  COUNT(*) as total_sales,
  SUM(amount) as revenue
FROM sales_table
GROUP BY ALL;

📖 Sharing Is Caring

Every month, our "Sharing is Caring" column presents an in-depth article on a current topic in Web Analytics. Our experts use their know-how and online resources to explore these topics in detail.

This month, discover our article on setting up and configuring Matomo: Introduction and configuration of Matomo. Matomo is an open-source data analysis tool offering a confidential alternative to Google Analytics. Launched in 2007, it enables detailed tracking of web browsing data and offers additional features such as heatmaps, session logging and A/B testing.

❤️ Best resources and articles of the moment

• GA4 events anomaly detection (and alerting) with BigQuery and Dataform. An article about the implementation of an anomaly detection pipeline in the GCP environment for we analytics purposes
• ‍Server-side tagging for mobile apps | Google Tag Manager - Server-side | Google for Developers. You can configure your mobile apps using the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK to work with server-side tagging in Google Tag Manager.‍
• Axeptio on LinkedIn: Axeptio x First-id 🌟 Discover our collaboration with First-id for...Axeptio x First-id 🌟 Discover our collaboration with First-id to offer you an innovative solution: universal identifiers, an answer to the end...

🤩 Inside Starfox

In future newsletters, I invite you to discover a series of unfiltered articles about our constantly evolving organization. Follow our LinkedIn page and sign up to go behind the scenes at Starfox Analytics and explore the challenges of a growing Lean agency! To create a truly next-generation agency, we've simplified the essentials: marketing, operations, admin and customer support. Guided by Lean, we're eliminating unnecessary tasks and improving every step to keep things running smoothly. The goal is simple: to maximize value for our customers and our team.

‍

Edouard de Joussineau

→ Follow me on Linkedin

Thanks to automation and artificial intelligence, we are building a support system, not a control system, that supports our employees in their daily work and enables them to give their best. Project management, customer care, team culture - all these pillars are constantly being reinvented to maintain our agility and commitment to customer satisfaction.