Web Optimization Blog

The analysis of site traffic has become quite complicated. Even Eric Peterson has come right out and said “web analytics is hard“. On that we agree.

A really interesting conversation, begun by Ian Thomas from Microsoft, predicts that in five years, there will be no Web Analytics vendors, but Web Analytics will be everywhere.

Regardless of who’s driving the activities five years from now, the same five basic things will have to occur:

1. Initial implementation
2. Ongoing maintenance
3. Analysis and interpretation
4. Data storage
5. Data integration

Within this framework are the data quality, site quality, and compliance issues and the need for a scientific approach to ensuring the data quality, both discussed in previous posts.

Aspect One: Initial implementation

Even if the initial implementation is flawless, the challenge then is to keep it that way. Implementation:

• Requires a commitment on the part of the site owner - page tagging is a contact sport
• Requires guidance by the vendor or by third-party consultants that know the selected vendor’s product

Aspect Two: Ongoing maintenance

Site owners struggle mightily with this. Sites are becoming larger, more complex, more volatile, with more user contributors. Errors creep into the tag implementation, site quality issues infect the data, and compliance issues impact the way visitors interact with the site. Ongoing maintenance:

• Is the ultimate responsibility of the site owner
• Requires support by vendor or third-party consultants that know the vendor’s product
• Requires special product knowledge and expertise to diagnose and correct issues
• Requires continuous automated validation of implementation and diagnosis of issues

Aspect Three: Analysis and Interpretation

The analysis and interpretation of web analytics data is the source of much consternation, worry, hair-pulling, obsessing, and frustration. If you don’t believe it, drop in on the web analytics forum, and see the types of things practitioners struggle with every day. A lot is being written and pontificated now about the future of web analytics. No matter what happens, without analysis and interpretation, all the rest is simply an expensive, time-consuming and resource intensive data collection exercise. And without accurate data to analyze and interpret, practitioners are challenged even further. As the discipline matures, data validation processes are put in place, and companies’ internal organizations mature, those people that are skilled at interpretation will be an even hotter commodity than they are today. Interpretation:

• Requires an understanding of the business drivers of the site owners - analysis must align to goals
• Requires special knowledge and expertise, and has given rise to a new profession choice
• Currently part art and part science, it carries with it the challenge of moving internal stakeholders past “page views” as the measure of success
• Needs standards - standards development is still in early stages - Web Analytics Association has a committee devoted to it
• Is dependent on data quality. Defects in data quality negatively data impact interpretation

Aspect Four: Data storage

Somebody has to do it.

• Off-site, on vendor-supplied machines - it is part of their cost basis. Being in the web analytics business means being in the infrastructure management business, lots of machines, lots of bandwidth, highly secure environment, guaranteed uptimes, power backups, etc
  OR
• On-site on site owner-supplied or controlled machines

Aspect Five: Data integration

Web Analytics vendors are now acquiring other companies and building out partner networks that enable them to combine data from other sources. This is a natural next step, to get a combined view of the things that drive people to sites and the actions they take once they arrive. Sources of data for integration include:

• Web Analytics
• Live Onsite Chat Session
• Onsite surveys
• Ad banner-generated traffic
• Keyword buy-generated traffic
• Email campaign-generated traffic
• Call centers
• POS devices

Conclusion

The adoption of outsourced web analytics is not a decision to be made lightly. It involves a lot of moving parts in a shifting landscape. In some ways, web analytics as matured - “it’s in the august of its years” says Ian. As for data integration, it is still early days. That said, things move really fast in this space, and there is tremendous interest in and motivation to solve it. These five aspects will be as much a part of the picture in five years as they are today.