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Last Updated: May 24, 2022

Table of contents for how to set up Google Analytics real time alerts

1. Introduction to real time alerts
2. Steps to sign up for StatsGlitch real time alerts tool
3. Steps to set up real time alerts using StatsGlitch
4. Steps to create real time alerts using the preset in StatsGlitch
5. Steps to create auto generated real time alerts
6. Steps to create custom real time alerts in StatsGlitch
7. Email notifications by StatsGlitch

Introduction to real time alerts

In this article, we will discuss how to set up real time alerts in Google Analytics reports. We have already seen how real time reports work in my previous article: Real Time Reports in Google Analytics Tutorial

Let’s see how we can set up alerts on real time reports. These alerts will help us identify if there are sudden spikes in traffic on a specific time period, if there are no conversions on a specific day, and also validate how your marketing campaigns are working.

Normally, Google Analytics reports any abnormal activity on your website within 24 hours of detecting it. However, 24 hours is a long time for the issue to be unreported, this could lead to a huge loss of traffic and also sales if you own an ecommerce website. Real time alerts work best in such cases where issues need to be reported immediately.

Currently there is no option in Google Analytics to set up real time alerts. You can use APIs to do it but this requires a lot of coding knowledge. There are many third-party tools that can help us set up real time alerts. One such tool is StatsGlitch, which is a paid tool, but they also have a free trial program for 14 days.

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Steps to sign up for StatsGlitch real time alerts tool

Step-1: Navigate to StatsGlitch and then click on ‘Sign-up’ at the top right-hand side.

Step-2: Scroll down the page and then click on the ‘Start a 14-day free trial’ button under the ‘Agency’ plan:

Step-3: Signup for their 14-day free trial program using your credentials.

Step-4: Enter your name, email address and password and click on the ‘Sign up’ button.

Step-5: The next step is to link it to your Google Analytics account.

Step-6: Sign in with your Gmail account and allow access for StatsGlitch.

Step-4: Once access is provided, you will land on the manage alerts dashboard, as shown below:

Steps to set up real time alerts using StatsGlitch:

Step-1: Click on ‘Create your first one’ in the manage alerts dashboard after your sign up is completed.

Step-2: A popup like below will appear when you click on ‘Create your first one’. Select ‘Real- Time alert’ from the options.

Step-3: You can either choose a preset or create a custom alert. To create alerts using a preset alert, click to choose.

Note that presets are the predefined alerts, that are based on different criteria like a spike in pageviews, email campaign spike, Facebook pageviews spikes, etc.

Step-4: To create a custom alert, scroll to the bottom of the page and select custom alert.

Steps to create real time alerts using the preset in StatsGlitch

Step-1: To create real time alerts using the preset, you can either select any options provided.

Step-2: Let’s select ‘Website Active Users Spike’, then select ‘Choose’.

Step-3: In the set up section, select the view. Since Google Analytics is linked to this tool, it will show all the Google Analytics views that the user has access to.

Step-4: Since we have chosen the preset of website active users spike type. Let’s set up alert when active users are greater than 20.

Step-5: You also have an option to add filter to the alerts that you are setting up. Click on ‘Add filter’.

Step-6: In the notification settings, you can select the frequency, email, time zone, as shown below:

Step-7: In the notification frequency, you have an option to set it up for different minutes as shown below:

Step-8: Additionally, to set up alerts you can also integrate with Zapier, you would need an API key for it.

Step-9: Finally, click on the ‘Save alert agent’ and you are done with setting up first real time alerts.

Step-10:  Once the alert is set up, you can view it in the dashboard as shown below:

Step-11: You can click next to the status, this allows you to edit, duplicate or delete your alert that you have set up.

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Steps to create auto generated real time alerts

Step-1: Click on ‘Auto generate’ in the managed alerts agents.

Step-2: Based on the type of business, you can select any of the options below to set up your alerts.

Step-3: Now, you have to select your GA view for which you are setting up real time alerts in the projects section and click on ‘Next’.

Step-4: In the next step, you can choose the type of alert that you would like to set up and click on ‘Next’.

Step-5:  Depending on the type of alert you would like to set up, you can select from the predefined options available.

Step-6: You will have a preview of the real time alert you have set up. Click on ‘Confirm and finish’.

Steps to create a custom real time alert in StatsGlitch

Step-1: Navigate to the dashboard and click on ‘New alert agent’.

Step-2: A pop up like below will appear when you click on ‘Create your first one’. Select ‘Real-time alert’ from the options.

Step-3: Scroll to the bottom of the preset option and click on ‘Custom alert’.

Step-4: You can now set up the alert based on the metrics and filters of your choice. For this example, let’s say we create a custom alert for total events equals to 10 and it doesn’t contain any not set in the source dimension.  Below is the configuration:

Step-5: Set the frequency for the email to be sent, provide email address and time zone in the notification settings.

Step-6: Click on ‘Save alert agent’.

Email notifications by StatsGlitch

Every time your criteria is met in the real time alerts, an alert email will be sent to the email address provided in the notification section.

You will receive an email something like below in your inbox:

When you click on the investigate alert, it will redirect you to your Google Analytics property real time reports section.

Congratulations! You have now learnt how to set up real time alerts using the StatsGlitch tool and keep track of the real time alerts.

Related Article: Google Analytics Custom Alerts with Examples