NCDM 2008 Web Analytics R Albano Preso Final Publish
1. Web Analytics: People, Planning, Process & Platform
2008 National Center Database Marketing (NCDM)
Presented by: Rocco Albano
Razorfish - Web Analytics Practice Lead
12/8/2008
3. What To Expect From This Session
Session Expectations
This session focuses on the 4 P’s of Web analytics; People, Planning,
Process, and Platforms. The session is meant to be interactive and please
feel free to ask questions as we go.
The session material will attempt to answer or inform answers to the
following questions:
• Does my company, brand, site really need Web Analytics?
• How much does it cost and what can I expect in return?
• Okay it’s installed, why is it not working?
• Who should access the system and those that should never have to?
• Dealing with Your Current Situation
• What is the future of Web analytics?
4. My Qualifications
Quick Bio - Rocco Albano – Web Analytics Practice Lead - Razorfish
•14 years of account management, interactive marketing strategy ,and technology experience
• At Razorfish since 2005 originally as a Sr. SEO Account Manager overseeing a team of 6
• Started Web Analytics Platform Group at Razorfish in 2007 and grown group to 7 consultants
• Originally began working with Web Analytics tools in 1998
• Have led consulting engagements in Vietnam, London, Germany, and across the U.S.
• Sampling of work performed for leading companies over the last decade for SAP, Belk,
Johnson and Johnson, Nintendo Europe, Wyeth, Microsoft, and Ford
6. Web Analytics - It’s Easy Right? Just Tag The Page and Start Reporting!
Original Source: The Easy Button is part of a brand campaign developed by Staples Corporation. The image used is of the actual Easy button staples sells at
there stores. The image was found on the Solid-Orange.com Web site.
7. Web Analytics - It’s Difficult, Data’s Inaccurate, and It Makes My Head Hurt!
Original Source: Visual illustration from NASA of the Big Bang Expansion as explored by their Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Imagery sourced from:
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/resources/imagetopics.html
8. First Lets Define Web Analytics
A Community Definition of Web Analytics
*Web analytics is the study of online behavior in order to improve it.
There are two categories; off-site and on-site web analytics.
Off-site web analytics refers to web measurement and analysis
irrespective of whether you own or maintain a website. It includes the
measurement of a website's potential audience (opportunity), share of
voice (visibility), and buzz (comments) that is happening on the Internet as
a whole.
On-site web analytics measure a visitor's journey once on your website.
This includes its drivers and conversions; for example, which landing
pages encourage people to make a purchase. On-site web analytics
measures the performance of your website in a commercial context. This
data is typically compared against key performance indicators for
performance, and used to improve a web site or marketing campaign's
audience response.
*Original Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_analytics with no specific author associated with definition on 10/13/2008
9. But Does My Company Need Web Analytics?
Web Analytics: A Need or Requirement?
If your organization conducts marketing or sales, or
provides services, and products on-line you need
some level of Web analytics reporting capabilities.
The larger an organization in scale, reach,
resources, and digital footprint, the greater the need
will be for organizational use of a Web analytics
platform and supporting operational procedures
required to run the tool in an optimal manner.
10. Web Analytics – The Many Means of Counting (A Small Sample)
Ad-Serving Site Side CRM / Database / Transactional
Panel
11. Web Analytics – Too Many Ways of Counting and Siloed Data
User Profile Data
Name Joe Analyst
Web Analytics platforms
DOB 6/29/1967
do not provide this level
Marital Status Married
of structured data or
Children 2
profile output…yet.
eMail joe@nullandvoid.com
Home Address 1234 Sherwood Blvd.
City Philadelphia
State Pennsylvania
Zip Code 11100
Discount Club Member No
Payment Method on File VISA
Theoretically: What Would Be Needed
Acquisition and Purchase History Data
Initial Purchase Date 11/1/2007
Initial Purchase Channel Retail Outlet
Initial Purchase Outlet Store 177698
Web Account Status Yes
Last On-Line Purchase 9/27/2008
Last Retail Outlet Purchase 11/1/2007
Web Account Customer ID 1289789
Web Account eMail Address joe@nullandvoid.com
Trailing 12 Months Web Purchases 3
Trailing 12 Months Retail Outlet Purchases 1
On-Site Behavior Data
Average Product Views Per Session 15
Average Session Length 8 Minutes 24 Seconds
Last On-Site Search Keyword terabyte iPod
Last On-Site Purchased Item Apple I-Pod Deluxe
Last Purchase Referrer Direct Load
Avergage Site Visits Per Month 2
eAudio News Letter Subscriber No
12. A Look Into The Clickstream and Why it needs and Interface
Google search on
“airfare to Cozumel”
and clicked on 4th
listed organic result
HTTP GET Request
Data Tags Firing
Fiddler 2 – HTTP Debugging Freeware can be downloaded at: http://www.fiddler2.com/fiddler2/
13. A Look Into The Clickstream and Why It Needs an Interface
Lets Book a Flight To Cozumel: What a user sees
We supply 12 pieces of
data that translate into
hundreds of metrics or
KPI combinations
14. A Look Into The Clickstream and Why It Needs an Interface
What the Web Analytics Tag Collects All data being collected
via the Web analytics
tag for the page
Omniture 3rd Party Cookie
Several key pieces of
data entered on the
booking form.
15. A Look Into The Clickstream and Why it Needs an Interface
An Assessment of Booking Cozumel
• Had we tracked the entire Clickstream from the Google search through to final
Cozumel booking confirmation the single session Clickstream would have contained
over 100 metrics or pieces of data (Multiply this by millions of sessions!)
• All Web analytics platforms on the market take every Visitor session Clickstream
and edit down/break the stream up into hundreds of data cubes or tables to be
processed and re-assembled, albeit in aggregate
• Several platforms offer the ability to preserve the entire stream of every individual
session however the vast majority of Web analytics data is analyzed at the
aggregate level and essentially has to be re-assembled in the tools UI
Raw Data Streams
Aggregate Data Silos or Cubes
16. A Look Into The Clickstream and Why it needs an Interface
Clickstream Anonymity
• The nature of the Clickstream makes it very difficult to use a Web analytics platform
to uniquely identify users and accurately target them directly based on past
preference, customer ID, or a stable cookie
• Advanced Web analytics allows for associating customer ID’s of users with events
and actions users take on a site, but this type of analysis usually requires going
outside of the Web analytics platform to join a customer or users ID with their
personally identifiable data and CRM profile if it exists
• Additional Clickstream talking points:
- Vendor Data Storage Limitations
- Platform Data Processing Time
- Platform User Interface Issues
- User Privacy Policies and Rules
- Cookie Death/Instability
- Browser and IP Inability to Provide a Unique Visitor ID
18. Web Analytics – People, Process, Platform, Planning
Question: What does my organization need to be successful with Web Analytics?
Answer: Well that depends on a lot of different variables…
People Process Platform
• Governance or Lack Of •
• Consultants/Agency Platforms In Use
• Reporting Cycles •
• Training Platform Modules
• Report Distribution Formats •
• Marketing Staff Server Call Volume
• Data Availability •
• Analyst Staff Platform Hardware
• Ad-Hoc Request Timing •
• IT / Maintenance Staff Import Capabilities
• Organizational Efficiency •
• Vendor Services Export Capabilities
• Learning Curve
Planning Planning Planning
19. Web Analytics – Organizational Analytics Maturity
Question: What does my organization need to be successful with Web Analytics?
Answer: …and an organizations analytics maturity level
Dedicated In-house and Agency Analyst and Maintenance Staff
Top to Bottom Measurement Across Entire Organization
Ad, Web, Buzz, CRM; Data Integration, Reporting, and Analysis
Advanced User Segmentation and Behavioral Targeting
Decisions Based Primarily on Data and Long Term Trends
Marketing Supplements Small Analyst Staff
Shared IT Handles Maintenance Load
Silo Based Organizational Analytics Structure
Ad and Web; Siloed Reporting and Analysis
Data Helps Inform Decisions Sometimes
Everyone is An Analyst
Web; Reporting is Ad-Hoc and Infrequent
Decisions Are Rarely Informed By Data
20. Web Analytics – Server Calls and Platform Costs
What Exactly Am I Buying?
Most platforms charge tiered pricing based on “Server Call” volume. Granted there
are other licensing costs, as well as services, and on-going staffing needs.
The simplest definition of a Server Call would be designated as a Page View.
However any type of HTTP call from a page to a Web server via embedded Flash,
AJAX, Silverlight, form submission, or video streams launched may be counted as
Server Calls.
Web Analytics – Platform Costs
Server Calls in SaaS or Client Self Hosted Model
Additional Modules: Coremetrics Explore, Omniture Discover, WebTrends Visitor Intelligence
Custom Reports: Coremetrics, Omniture, WebTrends all charge over a certain threshold
Data Warehouse Modules Secondary Server Calls: Omniture
Extended Data Storage Costs Beyond 2 Years: Coremetrics, Omniture, WebTrends
Custom 3rd Party Data Integration Costs: Coremetrics, WebTrends
API 3rd Party Data Integration Costs: Omniture Genesis
Server Hardware: WebTrends if Client Hosted as well as Omniture’s Visual Sciences Platform
22. Web Analytics – Planning For Success
There exist no out-of-the-box Web Analytics systems…
Every system on the market requires implementation
planning, KPI definition, configuration, and maintenance
to function properly.
23. Web Analytics – Planning For Success
Web analytics implementations fail due to a lack
of planning, staffing, and a misunderstanding of
what the systems are capable of…
Weekend Project
24. Web Analytics – Planning For Success
Common Adoption and Implementation Pain Points
People and Process Issues
• Platform vendor leads the implementation without understanding your business
• Requirements planning does not include Marketing or Business goal definition
• Implementation does not involve Marketing, or Business stakeholders!
• No one owns the Web Analytics platform and initiative within the organization
• Management expectations are not realistic for what the system does, i.e. Web
analytics platforms are not accounting, inventory, or customer relationship
management systems
• Management expects 100% data accuracy. This will never be the case…ever. If
90% to 95% accuracy can be attained your implementation is optimal.
• Training occurs once and not against real customer business data
25. Web Analytics – Planning For Success
Common Adoption and Implementation Pain Points
Tactical and Platform Issues
• Platform functionality acquired is not fully understood or production ready
• JavaScript code is implemented but none of the front-end system filters, variable
naming, custom report creation, or conversion attribution settings are configured
• Difficulties encountered with applying tracking code or specialized tagging specific
to Flash, Flex, Silverlight, and AJAX.
• Testing does not occur at launch
• Campaign tracking and segmentation is not implemented or maintained
26. Web Analytics – 4 Step Process
Automated and Advanced
Report
2
Ad-Hoc and
Measure Analyze
Deep and Planned
1 3
Wide
Optimize
Site(s) and Campaign
4
Original Source: for 4 Stage Process Only O’Reilly, Web site Measurement Hacks Tips and Tools to Optimize Your Online Business, 2005
27. Web Analytics Process: Measure Halfway Mark
Everything your organization does online is
measurable, but not everything needs to be
measured. Simply put, you must maintain an
Report
ongoing understanding of your target audience
2
by measuring their interaction with your
organization, your brand, your corporate
messaging, and your product.
1. Measure - Deep and Wide Measure Analyze
1 3
On a Per Site Basis
Across Multiple Sites (Roll Ups)
Site Segmented by Business Region, Brand
Customer Segmented by New, Repeat, Loyal
Optimize
Prospect Segmented by Known Attributes
4
Per Campaign and Channel
Across Multiple Campaigns and Channels
By Visitor Region and Referrer
By Content Groupings
By Product Groupings
By Transaction and Application Experience
Original Source: O’Reilly, Web site Measurement Hacks Tips and Tools to Optimize Your Online Business, 2005
28. Web Analytics Process: Report and Analyze
2. Report - Automated and Advanced
Automated In-System Dashboards
Report
MS Excel Advanced Dashboards
2
Via Desktop and Device Widgets
Via Structured Report Builds
Measure Analyze 3. Analyze - Ad-Hoc and Planned
1 3
Ad-Hoc
Daily Against Established Key Metrics
Long Term Trend Analysis
New Site Performance Analysis
Optimize
4 Group Review of Structured Reports
A group review of processed and analyzed data done regularly will yield deeper results and help
steer a course to action. During the group review key decision makers should be involved in the
process . This includes marketing and brand management, as well as any stakeholders responsible
for implementing changes to the site or campaigns at hand.
Original Source: O’Reilly, Web site Measurement Hacks Tips and Tools to Optimize Your Online Business, 2005
29. Web Analytics Process: Optimize
Putting actionable data into effect through on-
going site and campaign optimization is critical to
yield any true ROI from your Web analytics
Report
platform. Once a site-side or campaign based
element has been targeted for change, it should
be implemented as reasonably fast as possible.
Optimize: Site and Campaigns Measure Analyze
Content: Body Copy, Links, Navigation
Browser Titles and Meta Data
Transaction Pages: Form & Application Fields
House Ad and/or Product Offer Placements
Optimize
On Site Search Index Size and Results
Site Navigation and Content/Product Groupings
Campaign Spend
Channel Spend (e-Mail versus Organic, etc)
Original Source: O’Reilly, Web site Measurement Hacks Tips and Tools to Optimize Your Online Business, 2005
30. Web Analytics Platforms – Measurement Best Practices
Entry Channels Conversion Actions / Events
Web Site
Direct Entry Commerce
Display Media Registration
Paid Search Lead / Subscribe
Organic Search Download
Paid Inclusion Survey
Referring Link Post / Comment
eMail RIA / Video
Unique/Return Time Spent Path/Depth Geography Event Tracking
Track Session Dashboards
Web Analytics
Process Data Segmentation
Platform
Import/Export Data User Interface
32. Getting To End Is Just The Beginning – Show Me The Data
Executive Reporting Needs
The vast majority of web analytics report users do
not want nor should they need to log into the system.
These users, typically executives, brand managers,
and marketers need summary data in a dashboard
that can be reviewed in under 2 minutes.
33. Getting To End Is Just The Beginning – Show Me The Data
Analyst Needs
Your teams analysts or analytical agencies on the
other hand, should be accessing the Web analytics
platform directly on a daily basis. These specialists
need access to the full functionality of the platform
and all of the methods it provides for segmenting
and extracting data.
34. The Finished Product – Consumable Data
Automated Executive Level Dashboard
Original Source: Omniture Site Catalyst Demonstration Data Account
35. Case Study: Creating Advanced Dynamic Reports and Dashboards
The Problem: Two years of SEO Data and Manual Reporting
• Monthly SEO reporting was taking 25 hours per month
• Reports had to be manually assembled and delivered
• Reports were output in a static format allowing no interactivity with the data
• Reports were limited to showing 12 months of rolling data
• Report construction cut into SEO analysis time
36. Case Study: Creating Interactive Advanced Reports
Process
• Requirements Definition
• Excel Dashboard Template Development
• Report / Platform Integration Set Up
1. Before: Manual Excel data entry template
used to create charts and graphs which were
then converted to PowerPoint presentations
2. Before: Static Manual PPT Report Output
37. Case Study: Creating Interactive Advanced Reports
Outcome
• Dynamic MS Excel Dashboard
• Dashboard covers 2 years of SEO data
• Reduced process from 25 to 3 hours
• Dashboard updated independently
After: Partially Automated – Interactive Dashboard
38. Where Analysts Live – Wrestling With The Standard Platform Data
Original Source: Omniture Site Catalyst Demonstration Data Account
39. Where Analysts Live – Advanced Web Analytics Interfaces and Analysis
Original Source: Omniture Discover - Demonstration Data Account
41. If Your System Is Already Installed – Audit and Remediate First
Web Analytics Implementation Assessment and Remediation (System already installed)
• Conduct Implementation Audit
• Report Suite Re-Architecture
• KPI GAP Analysis
• Code Modifications / Additions
• Filter Implementation
• Campaign Channel Segmentation
• Conversion goal tracking set up
• In-system Dashboard Creation
• MS Excel Dashboard Creation
• Custom Report Development
42. The Web Analytics Platform Remediation Process
Phase 1 - Audit Current Implementation
KPI GAP Analysis Configuration Assessment
Phase 2 - System Remediation
Configuration
Code Level Change External Data I/0
Modifications
Phase 3 - Data Output and Maintenance
Dashboard Development Maintenance Process
43. If Your System Is Already Installed – Audit First
Web Analytics Audit Example 1 – KPI GAP Analysis
44. If Your System Is Already Installed – Audit First
Web Analytics Audit Example 2 – Conversion Configuration Review
45. Start (Re-start) From The Beginning – Selection and Full Implementation
Web Analytics Selection and Implementation
• Needs assessment
• Vendor / Platform Selection
• Purchase Negotiation
• Business Goal Development
• KPI Definition
• Business Requirements
• Technical Requirements
• Report Suite Architecture
• Tag Insertion and Programming
• Front End System Configuration
• Conversion Goal Tracking Set Up
• Campaign Channel Segmentation
• Dashboard Creation
• Custom Report Development
• 3rd Party Module Integration
46. The Current State of Web Analytics and
A Hypothetical View Of The Future
47. Web Analytics – Talent Demand as an Indication of Need
Web Analytics Platforms - Job Posting Mentions
(October 9th, 2008 - Indeed.com)
1600
1408
1400
1225
1125
1200
1000
800
600
400 299 261
200
59
0
WebTrends Omniture Google Coremetrics Unica ClickTracks
Analytics
Original Source: Job postings containing platform mention were obtained from Indeed.com ;a job listing aggregation site
48. Web Analytics – Is Marketing Automation Possible
Original Source: Screenshot of the Omniture Suite 14 Tool Selector
49. Web Analytics – Creating A Web Centered User Profile System
A Retail-centric eCommerce Focus
Real-time eCommerce Sales data
on the merchandise and product
teams desktop or bull pen monitor
Original Source: Screenshot s of Coremetrics Marketing Material
50. The Future Is Now – Google Continues Pushes The Envelope
Google acquisition of Double Click closes
in 2008, giving Google a display media
network and access to all of the data that
comes with it to eventually integrate into
Google acquires Urchin Analytics in 2005 GA as was done with Ad Words for Paid
and transforms it into Google Analytics a Search tracking on Google.
“free” Web analytics platform that by end of
2008 has been installed at least 2 MM times
Google acquires Trendalyzer in 2007, a Flash based multi-
dimensional analysis tool that can be used to analyze any
structured data source and begins to integrate
components of the UI into their GA product under the
Visualize tab and code named Motion Charts.
51. The Future Is Now: Microsoft Continues To Innovate and Expand
Microsoft acquisition of Aquantive
closes in October 2007, giving
Microsoft, Atlas a display media
network and access to all of the data
Microsoft acquires DeepMetrix in 2005 and
that comes with it.
transforms it into Gatineau, a Web analytics
component of MS Ad Center Analytics.
Microsoft acquires Rapt in early 2008, a
suite of media optimization, attribution
modeling, and media mix - ad spend
management analytical tools.
52. The Future Is Now: Yahoo! Adds Web Analytics Very Late in The Game
Yahoo! acquires Index Tools, a small business Web
analytics platform provider in mid-2008. Yahoo! Very
quickly rebrands the tool Yahoo! Web Analytics and
plans on iterative roll-outs of new and Yahoo!
Integrated features throughout 2008 and 2009.
53. The Future Is Now: Are You Quantified? – Panel meets Tagged
Quantcast offers free access to panel data matched to
I.P. and demographic data. Sites can also sign up to
be “Quantified” meaning to have Quantcast tags put
on ones site. This is the beginning of site side data
being mapped to complex demographic and
psychographic data sets.
54. Close
Thank You
Rocco Albano – Rocalbano@yahoo.com or 267-295-7101
