In my opinion, most people (I.T. and business inclusive) don’t really understand what they want from the analytic tools. Perhaps obligations and competitive pressure from the market is nudging everyone towards it?

I have, in the last month, pulled all the statistics I can together (from our weblogs through our very ancient webtrends v3), signed up for a google analytics account. All this hopefully will give our business decision makers a better idea of what they can expect, and whether this would be sufficient.

The next step would then be to determine what is lacking and then qualifying the possibilities.

Generally, the web analytic area is a little confusing for me.

But, your post is helping me very much in my metrics/web analytic journey.

just my 2 cents ;-)

David (from germany)

For many web analytic tools are seen as a panacea to solve business issues by providing ‘hard data’. Although this can be the case, it is far more important to have the people in place to make best use of the tools functionality.

We often find that clients already have several tools in place, and that they cheery pick functionality between the various tools. This obviously leads to confusion as each system will likely have its own rules and will therefore produce different results for seemly identical metrics - Conversion Rate is a classic!

The approach mentioned here is a great example of an iterative implementation ‘journey’. Web Analytics is at its best when used over short date ranges, decisions are made and actions implemented, and then verified in the following period. Additionally, A/B and multivariate testing allows for a more rapid turn around, and can ultimately lead to self-learning / optimising web sites.

All web analytic tools have their ‘killer’ features as well as their idiosyncrasies! The key is learning these, and then planning accordingly. In my opinion there are still many circumstances where tool selection is based on who is seen as the largest vendor, rather than the tool providing the best fit for now and the future.

An honest view on what is actually needed, rather than a potential tools feature set is vital. We’ve talked with many clients that only need basic metrics, and have no real interest in further analysis, in which case there are many free or low cost solutions out there. However, web analytics is rapidly becoming an integral part of many business decisions, and as such it is vital that the tools can be tailored to that business’ needs, as well as providing auditable data for comparative purposes.

Overall, with flexibility often comes complexity. As such it is important to think carefully of what is really needed. We have encouraged several potential clients to use free tools initially, allowing them to ‘test the waters’. In many cases, we’ve found that they come back 6 months or a year later, having reached the ceiling or the tools capability. The difference now, if that their company culture has changed from seeing web analytics as an additional MI burden, to an essential data source which must be mined on a continual basis. As a consequence they therefore have a much firmer idea of what they need allowing for a much more efficient evaluation of paid tools.

Finally, there have been numerous posts regarding the hidden costs of ‘free’ tools, as so I won’t repeat the arguments here. Ultimately, it comes back to planning and communication, and of course ROI.

* A word of caution with the ‘Free’ tools:
1. there is a tendency to get to ‘it’s free why spend any money’
2. they are free because they help the provider in some way

just some thoughts

Give it a go….

I recently stumbled across your blog and what a treat it is! I work as a Sr. Web Analyst for a prominent Canadian bank and I found myself nodding at everything that you said. I can’t tell you how much we struggled with not 1 but 2 big analytics vendors precisely because of the ask- everyone- and -their -neioghbour’s- cat- for -requirements approach that you rail:) against. It was a real sense of deja vu! Thanks for articulating what many people already know but won’t talk about.

I’ve been forwarding your blog left and right to folks I work with and we even plan to use some of your quotes for a presentation we have coming up..with proper citations of course:)

Thanks and keep ‘em coming.

Thanks for invite me here. I linked your post frm my blog.

Regards

Bala Singam

I have a limited experience in web analytics and in all the companies out there. But I have yet to find a company that can clearly articulate in a vacuum - when they don’t have anything (or many many times even when they have something).

So let’s say you don’t have a analytics tools and I request you to give requirements. I can pretty much guarantee that you will ask for everything because you really don’t know what you want. And even if you know what you want (by you I mean your business users) then right after they get the tool they will change their minds (this is ok and normal).

My “radical” suggestion hopes to avoid this problem completely. Don’t define what you want (because you will surely not get it right), in 15 mins implement a tool, give it to users, get them to use it for a month, now go ask them what they want and there is a 90% chance that they will give you requirements that outline really what they want.

I hypothesize that it would take you a month to collect requirements, why not during that month give your users Google Analytics for free to use and increase the chance that they will define good requirements.

I stress that this might not apply to everyone and I offer this (and the post) as simply a alternative that folks can consider (something different from the usual).

I hope I have answered your question. Thank you for taking the time to read the post and share your feedback, I appreciate that.

I agree with you that the nine steps by itself will not lead tot a sufficient solution. To have a successful tool the company must know what KPI’s will give them actionable insights into there web channel. Only than can they put the information to use and get some return on their web analytics inverstment.

How will your radical approach lead to an overview of this particular information need? Perhaps you could add a step in which the information need is established?

“random blogger??” Hardly. Thank you for this great post!

Gradiva Couzin
http://www.yourseoplan.com/

Before doing anything, I recommend some hard thinking about how (and how much) value is created by the web site and how much more you can get by using analytics. Until you know that, why spend any time or money on analytics? This also helps determine what results are “good”. Since most web analyics “failures” are not technical problems but organizational, this goes a long way to set the stage for success.

Jim

I also say to my clients that “Implementation is the only thing that matters.” I think your readership would benefit greatly if you could address the implementation issue, the importance of data architecture, and why marketers have to care about all this “technical” stuff like .js code and content categories, to get data that matters. :) Too many CMOs, raised in a “brand” environment, don’t understand why they need to own the code on a Web Analytics tool, and why it’s worth fighting with IT for it, and why every new feature needs a meeting to discuss how it will be tracked in the tool.

In my experience, too many senior managers don’t realize that selection of the tool is only the first, and perhaps the least important step in the process.

Melinda

This post was mystic! Seriously, have you learned to read other people’s minds? If so, please let me know where, they did a wonderful job!

Great post, I have already sent the link to my manager. Keep on writing, I am always surprised with your posts’ actionability. They just fit the definition of a KPI worth of reporting from Eric Peterson: “All good KPI drive action. This is the polite way of saying, ‘any KPI that, when it changes suddenly and unexpectedly does not inspire someone to send an email, pick up the phone or take a quick walk to find help, is not a KPI worth reporting.”

Your posts inspire. Thank you.

Daniel Waisberg