Many of the methods you outlined are still widespread in practice, even 2 years later. I wish I had the same passion for analytics as you do, but my passion is more on the organic side rather than delving deeply into the results.

As a rule, I typically cross reference 2-3 analytics tools to find a cross section of data to extract. I have clients who have click tracks installed and I am not particularly fond of the way it splits each page into multiple near duplicate ids, just for the sake of measurement. When the process of finding tangible benchmarks crosses over to an SEO liability, does the tool warrant its use?

I particularly enjoyed #8 about shopping cart abandonment, it is easy to get lost in the numbers and forget the gist, the human element.

Amazing how doubling conversion doesn’t have to imply doubling traffic, just minor tweaks with the right trigger for emotional staging.

In any case, I look forward to studying your posts for further insight, since you cannot have one (SEO) without the other (analytics) and the ability to measure it.

All the best.

These “top ten signs” are great reminder for us analysts to review the competency required to do our job. I think this post goes well together with the other post you wrote “How to Excite People About Web Analytics“, since these ten signs will definitely support making your business folks move forward or get excited.

Reason I brought this up is, I personally feel challenged regards to exciting the business to take action based off the actionable insights. There are several signs you mentioned such as communications and playing offense, these are things that I feel web analysts are even more challenged, since we need to justify the return on investments on those analytics tools.

Once again, thanks for this great posts! I am always reminded from your posts on many fundamentals that we live with, but sort off buried in our daily tasks.

Thanks,
Kris

One thing I wince at just a bit is the assumption that you can find “a nugget of gold in a coal factory.’ Sometimes there is only coal in that factory and finding any gold is only self deception. While it is important to think creatively about problems it is equally important not to ‘see’ signal were there really is only noise.

Thanks

Matt Gershoff

Loved the blog, though it appears I am about a year and a half late in responding! I can’t agree with you more about your top ten signs of a good analyst. I can honestly say that I meet 8.5 of the 11 (including bonus). Unfortunately, my company only uses one analytics tool, and, while I’m signed up on the Yahoo analytics group, I rarely participate and/or read through the discussions. Additionally, I have never taken a statistics class, so I can’t say that I have mastered the quantitative side of analytics. However, the tools that I have along with my excel skills make up for what I lack in actual statistical experience.

I personally, come from a mindset that the quantitative should only back up what the qualitative infers. In other words, I enjoy getting into the customers mindset first and trying to understand how they physically interact with the site, and then use the data to prove my instincts.

Anyway, again, this is great stuff and I look forward to reading more of your (more recent) blogs!

Thanks,
Jeff

Very interesting information! Thanks!

Bye

Is the number given to each point with one more important than the other or it is just the serial number?

I would give highest weight to “understanding of customer needs”.

Also, I feel a good analyst need to know his competitors well. He should first find who are the other players in the industry and among them who are potential competitors. He needs to know the position of his company’s offering w.r.t. the other similar products in the market. In addition to it, he needs to analyze competitors website and find the trend of evolution with time. By doing this he will be able to predict the future change and make counter moments early.

Great Post! I feel that you brought out a lot of points that we always felt but never surfaced. My two cents ..

I think an analyst(not just web analyst)who is in internet and marketing field should above everything know how to present his findings to his audience. When I first joined a company after grad school, I struggled why people did not get my analysis (I use to spend hours touching and making sure all strategic points are well covered). I spent hours perfecting my “analysis” but at the end it really did not pay off..It was only when I took an opportunity with another company that was more sales oriented research I realized what was it I was missing in my earlier job. As you mentioned “decision makers” or “creative minded marketing folks” do not think as deeply as analysts do - They need something simple, spoonfed and quick and that is where one presentation skills come in. I started perfecting that and I already feel that I am getting the response that I always desired…

Keep the ideas flowing fellows.. I just joined this blog but feel this is the best group with some very bright folks with interesting ideas..

I recently discovered your blog.

This piece could easily fit in a best selling BI book. Interesting choice of words:

“inherent ability to degrade a complex situation to its simplest level”
“play “Offense””

You have selected a balanced mix of business and technical skills.

Enjoyed reading your post.

K