James Clark | Technically Product
@technicallyproduct.co.uk
Freelance web analyst, and writer of how-to guides for digital marketing and product people. Was @technicallyprod over on the bird app. Lives at https://www.technicallyproduct.co.uk
I love email personalisation, it makes me feel so valued
November 9, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I love email personalisation, it makes me feel so valued
Here's one for @graphcrimes.bsky.social. Without a label on the Y axis, it took me way too long to work out that it is showing me 'knife offences in schools per 100,000 people'. And wouldn't 'per 100,000 pupils' be a more useful metric?
October 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Here's one for @graphcrimes.bsky.social. Without a label on the Y axis, it took me way too long to work out that it is showing me 'knife offences in schools per 100,000 people'. And wouldn't 'per 100,000 pupils' be a more useful metric?
I did my first Parkrun today! Apparently "VM" stands for "Veteran Male", not sure how I feel about that
August 23, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I did my first Parkrun today! Apparently "VM" stands for "Veteran Male", not sure how I feel about that
If you're a blogger or any other type of creator with a website, I'd recommended adding a 'buy me a coffee' widget. It isn't a big money spinner (at least not for me), but when someone takes the time to thank you like this it's an amazing feeling. Kudos to everyone who supports independent creators.
June 28, 2025 at 1:14 PM
If you're a blogger or any other type of creator with a website, I'd recommended adding a 'buy me a coffee' widget. It isn't a big money spinner (at least not for me), but when someone takes the time to thank you like this it's an amazing feeling. Kudos to everyone who supports independent creators.
#GA4: It took me a moment to work out why these sessions with source 'Direct' and medium 'Direct' were being placed in the Unassigned channel! And I still have no idea why they are Direct / Direct and not (direct) / (none)
June 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
#GA4: It took me a moment to work out why these sessions with source 'Direct' and medium 'Direct' were being placed in the Unassigned channel! And I still have no idea why they are Direct / Direct and not (direct) / (none)
I have to say that the Royal Institution is a fantastic venue. And very fitting in a way for an analytics conference! Nice choice, Mixpanel
June 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I have to say that the Royal Institution is a fantastic venue. And very fitting in a way for an analytics conference! Nice choice, Mixpanel
Google Ad Manager is threatening me now. "Remove dimension 'Week', or else..."
June 7, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Google Ad Manager is threatening me now. "Remove dimension 'Week', or else..."
If money can expire, it isn't money. I don't know what PayPal has sent me but it isn't £5 GBP
April 22, 2025 at 7:22 AM
If money can expire, it isn't money. I don't know what PayPal has sent me but it isn't £5 GBP
Looks like GA4 has got that Friday feeling!
March 14, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Looks like GA4 has got that Friday feeling!
Imagine your political system being controlled by a few rich men
March 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Imagine your political system being controlled by a few rich men
I'm glad #GA4 has Custom Insights (triggered alerts) but they seem weirdly limited. For example, the metric 'Sessions' isn't available. I think it's reasonable to want an alert if there is a sudden change in the number of sessions on your site
March 6, 2025 at 10:51 AM
I'm glad #GA4 has Custom Insights (triggered alerts) but they seem weirdly limited. For example, the metric 'Sessions' isn't available. I think it's reasonable to want an alert if there is a sudden change in the number of sessions on your site
My favourite thing at Confex yesterday was Sketchbot. It takes your photo and then the little robot arm draws your picture. I thought it might have struggled with my beard and glasses but no! I do have a slight Obi-Wan Kenobi vibe going on though
February 28, 2025 at 10:41 AM
My favourite thing at Confex yesterday was Sketchbot. It takes your photo and then the little robot arm draws your picture. I thought it might have struggled with my beard and glasses but no! I do have a slight Obi-Wan Kenobi vibe going on though
Most of my clients are involved in the events sector, either because they provide event tech they are publishers that run their own events. So today I'm at International Confex to learn about new trends and catch up with old faces...
February 27, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Most of my clients are involved in the events sector, either because they provide event tech they are publishers that run their own events. So today I'm at International Confex to learn about new trends and catch up with old faces...
Google Ads question! I have a Google Tag set up in GA4. Is there any benefit to also adding Google Ads as a 'Destination' for this tag? (I have already linked GA4 and Google Ads, and imported my key events as conversion actions)
February 19, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Google Ads question! I have a Google Tag set up in GA4. Is there any benefit to also adding Google Ads as a 'Destination' for this tag? (I have already linked GA4 and Google Ads, and imported my key events as conversion actions)
More playing around in Looker Studio today. I came up with a new way to make annotations (sort of) using calculated fields rather than a second data source. Sadly if you hover over the data point it shows a numeric value - because it is a metric rather than a dimension. So that's annoying
February 18, 2025 at 5:29 PM
More playing around in Looker Studio today. I came up with a new way to make annotations (sort of) using calculated fields rather than a second data source. Sadly if you hover over the data point it shows a numeric value - because it is a metric rather than a dimension. So that's annoying
Google Tag Manager's preview tool was acting glitchy for me. Turns out I had both the 'Tag Assistant' and 'Tag Assistant Companion' Chrome extensions running! Not sure how that happened. The Companion one is being deprecated so you can deactivate or remove it. #gtm
February 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Google Tag Manager's preview tool was acting glitchy for me. Turns out I had both the 'Tag Assistant' and 'Tag Assistant Companion' Chrome extensions running! Not sure how that happened. The Companion one is being deprecated so you can deactivate or remove it. #gtm
Just used the 'Group' feature in Looker Studio for the first time. It's basically a friendlier interface for writing CASE statements. That's good, but maybe the two things need to have the same/similar names? Someone looking to create a CASE statement wouldn't necessarily know to click on Group
February 7, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Just used the 'Group' feature in Looker Studio for the first time. It's basically a friendlier interface for writing CASE statements. That's good, but maybe the two things need to have the same/similar names? Someone looking to create a CASE statement wouldn't necessarily know to click on Group
Just remortgaged my house to buy pears
January 25, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Just remortgaged my house to buy pears
Shout-out to my fellow UK-based digital marketing freelancers and agencies! Looking at economic data for 2024, 'professional and technical services' was one of the strongest performing sectors. Green line is our sector, grey line is economy as a whole commonslibrary.parliament.uk/economic-upd...
January 15, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Shout-out to my fellow UK-based digital marketing freelancers and agencies! Looking at economic data for 2024, 'professional and technical services' was one of the strongest performing sectors. Green line is our sector, grey line is economy as a whole commonslibrary.parliament.uk/economic-upd...
Normally I use the week between Christmas and New Year to renew my Google Analytics certification... but this year I thought I'd mix it up and take the Google Ads Search certification instead!
I still have no plans to manage search ads for clients, but it's good to keep a working knowledge.
I still have no plans to manage search ads for clients, but it's good to keep a working knowledge.
December 30, 2024 at 4:33 PM
Normally I use the week between Christmas and New Year to renew my Google Analytics certification... but this year I thought I'd mix it up and take the Google Ads Search certification instead!
I still have no plans to manage search ads for clients, but it's good to keep a working knowledge.
I still have no plans to manage search ads for clients, but it's good to keep a working knowledge.
Official Google training video is restricted from being viewed in official Google training course 😆
December 29, 2024 at 4:49 PM
Official Google training video is restricted from being viewed in official Google training course 😆
'Your password must not contain special characters'
December 27, 2024 at 11:16 AM
'Your password must not contain special characters'
Trainbow
December 19, 2024 at 12:56 PM
Trainbow
I renewed my boiler cover and so far I've had five emails about "the experience". There was no experience, it was an auto-renewal, it just happened without me getting bothered. Oh wait
December 12, 2024 at 6:22 PM
I renewed my boiler cover and so far I've had five emails about "the experience". There was no experience, it was an auto-renewal, it just happened without me getting bothered. Oh wait