How to Reset, Export, or Transfer Your Burst Statistics Data

Managing your website's analytics data is a common need, whether you're starting fresh, migrating to a new site, or simply performing maintenance. For users of the Burst Statistics plugin, this process involves a few specific steps within the WordPress environment. This guide covers the most common data management tasks based on community discussions and official support responses.

How to Reset All Data and Start Fresh

If you need to wipe your analytics and begin with a clean slate, the process is straightforward:

1. Navigate to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
3. Find 'Burst Statistics' and click Deactivate.
4. During the deactivation process, a pop-up will appear asking if you want to delete all data. Select this option.
5. You can then reactivate the plugin to start collecting new data from zero.

This method is the primary way to clear your database of all Burst Statistics records. The development team has intentionally kept the settings interface minimal, hence the option is located in the deactivation workflow rather than within the plugin's settings.

Exporting and Transferring Data to a New Website

If you are migrating your site or wish to combine historical data from an old installation with a new one, you can transfer the raw data. It's important to note that this process transfers the raw pageview hits, not a processed export like an XLSX file, which is a requested but not yet implemented feature.

1. Use a database management tool like phpMyAdmin or a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus.
2. Identify and export all database tables prefixed with wp_burst_ (e.g., wp_burst_statistics). The exact prefix may vary if your site uses a custom table prefix.
3. Import these tables into the database of your new WordPress installation.
4. For a complete setup, you may also need to manually note and reconfigure your Burst settings on the new site, as they are stored separately from the main data tables.

Important Consideration: Burst Statistics identifies data by URL. If the URLs on your new site match the old ones, the imported data will be treated as native to the new site. If the URL structure has changed, the historical data will not be associated with the new pages.

Understanding Data Storage and Cleanup

The wp_burst_statistics table stores a record for every pageview, which can lead to the table growing significantly over time. This is not 'bloat' in the traditional sense but rather the core functional data of the plugin. If the table size is a concern for your backup routine, the reset procedure described above is the recommended way to reduce database size before a backup.

A Note on Data Import from Other Plugins

A frequent question from new users is whether they can import historical data from other analytics plugins like WP Statistics, Jetpack, or Koko Analytics to avoid starting from zero. According to the Burst Statistics team, this is a recognized feature request that has been approved and added to their roadmap. However, as of now, no official import scripts are available. The team has indicated that building these importers is complex, especially for cloud-based services like Jetpack where obtaining a usable data export can be difficult.

Conclusion

While Burst Statistics currently lacks built-in tools for advanced data exports or imports from other services, it provides effective methods for resetting and transferring its own raw data. The most reliable method for a fresh start is the deactivation-time data deletion, while table export/import is the solution for data migration. Users looking for import capabilities from other platforms are encouraged to follow the official Burst Statistics changelog for future updates on this requested functionality.