Plan Your Set Up
Welcome to Amplitude! This article describes how to successfully set up and get familiar with Amplitude basics.
Amplitude is an event-based analytics tool that tracks the behaviors of users based on in-product interactions and analyzes user behaviors in real-time. If you haven't, review What is Amplitude? for a high-level overview before proceeding.
Send data¶
Without a data source, Amplitude can't show you who your customers are and their behavior with your product. You should pick one source to start with, but you can add more later. Send data to Amplitude client-side, server-side, or through a third party.
There are two main ways to send data into Amplitude:
- Import existing data if you have data stored elsewhere
- Track data using Amplitude SDKs and APIs if you are starting from scratch
After your source is set up, use the debugging guide to check your initial setup.
Import existing data¶
If you already collect data outside Amplitude, you can stream events directly from your chosen source by adding a source.
Track product data¶
You can track your product data using Amplitude SDKs or APIs:
- Determine which data source works best for your product (refer to client-side vs server-side sources)
- Install a data source using SDK Quick Start Guide or API Guide
- Tag a few important events upfront.
What events to track¶
Know key concepts before you get started
See What is Amplitude? for definitions of users, events, and properties.
If you're just starting out, you should resisting the urge to track everything upfront. The number of events you should track depends on the complexity of your product.
Consider starting with two important events in your product to give you some initial insights.
Here are some sample questions to get you thinking:
| Questions | Events |
|---|---|
| How many daily active users or how many logins per week do I get? | Login event |
| What percentage of users who add an item to their cart successfully check out? | Add to Cart event and Checkout event |
| What percentage of sign-ups request a demo? | Sign Up event and Request Demo event |
| What's the retention rate? How many users come back to the product two weeks after signing up? | Sign Up event and Session Start event |
After successfully tracking these events, you can track more.
Create a tracking plan¶
As you advance, it’s critical to create a tracking plan document that outlines what events and properties to track, why you're tracking them, and where they're tracked. A tracking plan should be based on the business outcomes you’re trying to measure or improve.
If you are using Amplitude SDKs, it's recommended to use Ampli Wrapper which is a lightweight wrapper over the Amplitude SDK that provides type safety, supports linting, and enables features like input validation. Ampli CLI works together with the Ampli wrapper to bring a tracking library into your project. Learn more about Ampli.