Facebook launches commerce “Analytics” app

Facebook wants to prove it can earn businesses money, not just build their social media audience. This morning, just before its big F8 conference, a “Facebook Analytics” app for iOS and Android appeared in the app stores. It touts the ability to “stay on top of your growth, engagement, and conversion efforts on the go. Easily view key metrics and reports, check automated insights, and receive notifications when changes occur.”

As social marketing has matured, companies aren’t content just getting Likes, followers, and reach. They want to sell stuff. Between store fronts on Facebook, marketing bots on Messenger, professional accounts and shopping tags on Instagram, and the new WhatsApp For Business app, Facebook wants to offer tools to keep them loyal.

We’ll likely hear more about the Analytics app later today during the conference, and we’ve reached out for more info. The app complements Facebook’s Pages Manager and Ad Manger. But rather than just those surfaces, the Analytics app helps businesses track their apps, websites, bots, and event source groups.

The Facebook Analytics app lets uses create custom mobile views of their most important metrics like revenue, retention, demographics, and active users. It ties into Facebook’s web Analytics suite to let you view funnels, cohorts, and segments you’ve created there. Some businesses will also see automated insights such as that you’ve expereinced a period of higher sales, or that a certain demographic spends more time or money in your app.

If Facebook can boost confidence in the return on investment businesses get from its social network, it could convince them to invest more in ads, content, and managing their presence there. Clients have largely stuck with Facebook through its recent scandals because there’s simply no place with more precise ways to reach customers. But as the app hits saturation in certain markets and user growth plateaus, Facebook must keep finding ways to squeeze more money out of each of them.

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