New Feature Spotlight: 

App Usage Analytics (aka Reports)

Analytics have gone from a “nice to have” to a “need to have.” Successful companies make informed decisions with data. So it’s no surprise that some of our most active InstaVR users have requested detailed analytics related to the VR apps they’ve created and distributed.

Previously, users could tie their InstaVR account to Google Analytics to pass some data points into that tool. And in late 2017, we introduced Heatmaps 2.0, a great feature that allows you to visualize where your viewers spend the most time looking within a scene.

The new built-in app usage analytics — aka “Reports” in InstaVR — provide the most robust view yet into what your users are doing within a scene. Combined with heatmaps, we’re giving you a comprehensive look at how users interact with your virtual reality.

All of the data is captured anonymously and aggregated. So you won’t have any PII (Personally Identifiable Information) on the user. But you will have a good view into the viewer’s journey that your app users take.

Find out below all the details on this new feature…

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How Do I Access the Usage Analytics:

A.) Log into your InstaVR console
B.) Click the head icon in the upper right
C.) From the drop-down, select “Report”

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What data points does InstaVR collect? 

A lot of them. Going from left to right in the below screenshot, you’ll see we capture:

Date – The date & time the scene or hotspot/navigation link was accessed.
Project – Since analytics is currently only displayed for the Project you are viewing, this will always correspond to the name of the Project.
Event – This will show the Scene viewed, as well as Link, Hotspot, or Action (the three main interactive features you can add to a scene)
Event Detail – The name of the Scene, Link, Hotspot File, or URL opened. The name is pulled from your File Manager, so make sure to give distinct names to your files prior to uploading.
Platform – The publishing platform used to access the app (ie Web, Mobile, Oculus Go, etc)
Model – For mobile, we’ll tell you if the user is on an iPhone or Android. For web, we’ll be able to tell you if it’s desktop or mobile. (and iPhone or Android, if the latter)

(Note: InstaVR only collects data if the accessing device is connected to the Internet. For offline apps where the headset/mobile device/computer are not connected to internet via WiFi or mobile data, no information will be collected)

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What do I do with this data?

At the top of the Report page, we aggregate data across your users. We can tell you such high level data as how many devices were used to access your app, times per day the app was played (along with an “average per day” metric), and total viewing time. This aggregated data will give you a good overall sense of how effective you were in distributing your app.

The Event and Event Detail information is important for understanding how your users interact with your application. You can track a user through their Navigation Links to understand the sequential path they take. Or you can look for data patterns, such as a particular Hotspot that gets a lot of engagement.

You can also do A/B testing, such as using two different icons for a Hotspot to see which one gets greater clickthrough.

The Model information will help you in understanding your audience’s device usage. For instance, if you distribute WebVR, and a majority of users are accessing the page from an Android device instead of their laptop, perhaps it would make sense to publish a standalone app for the Google Play Store?

The data requires a bit of interpretation on your part. But as you see patterns emerge, you’ll begin to understand why this data is valuable.

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What are specific use cases for this data?

There’s plenty of ways to use the data. Just a few of the most popular ones are:

Sales/Marketing – You can look at which Hotspots get interacted with the most, indicating where user’s interests lie. For example, Oakland-based furniture maker Zuo Modern uses InstaVR for showcasing a “virtual showroom”, and incorporated the “Action” overlay in InstaVR to link out to the product pages on their web site. Using the “Event Detail” data, they can see which pieces of furniture get the most interest.

Education/Learning – Researchers or trainers can use interactivity, such as Hotspots or Navigation Links, to engage users of the VR app. They can also collect data from that interaction. For instance, if you’re educating a new doctor on how to deal with a variety of patients, you can incorporate Time-Based Navigation Links to present the doctor with options on what to do next in the scene — Action A or Action B. Adding up the Navigation Link interactions, you can see how many users selected A vs. B. From that data, you can extrapolate information on what course of action doctors are likely to take. (Side Note: this is particularly effective in gauging how people would react in dangerous or unlikely scenarios, without actually exposing them to the danger of the simulated scenes.)

Real Estate/Tourism/Entertainment – Virtual tours were one of the first commercial uses of VR, and remain popular today. Interactivity data for these industries gives you insight into what tours or rooms are most popular. For instance, our client TUI Group showcases their Excursions to guests on Gear VR headsets to increase bookings. Using the data provided by InstaVR, they can see which hotels are seeing the most use of the headsets, and within a headset, which of the Excursions are most popular to look at. Likewise, a real estate agent can see in a virtual tour which rooms or parts of a house are most interesting to the VR viewing audience — and feature the more popular areas first, making sure prospective buyers don’t miss it.

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Conclusion –

Building a VR app using InstaVR is Step 1.

Distributing it is Step 2

Analyzing, iterating, and improving it are Step 3.

The new built-in Reports feature in InstaVR makes this easier than ever. Learn about every scene accessed, every Hotspot clicked, every device used — all the anonymous data you need to get an understanding of your VR users and how they interact with your app.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Customer Success team via Live Chat, 24 hours a day on weekdays. We’re happy to help you clarify and maximize your use of Reports!