Comments on: No Goals - No Analytics!

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:48:08 +0000

Very informative post about analytics and reporting. It’s very true that the setting up of and analysis of goals is one of the key factor to make one understand what’s going wrong or good in his online marketing strategy.

Joseph

By: jason humble

jason humble — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:57:43 +0000

Hey Matt!
So….basically everything you’ve stated is true and I wholeheartedly endorse it for business but it breaks down considerably when applied to relationships. The differences between this model and what the post-modern generation is looking for are astounding. It’s just an interesting thought. Thanks for making me think! Now if I can just figure out why you were in Sweden!

By: Matt Bailey

Matt Bailey — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:21:49 +0000

Darius,

I’ve seen many goals implemented by companies, it is really a matter of looking beyond a simple action. I’ve worked with a B2B business where we evaluated the PDF downloads in terms of the sales cycle. The business was then able to aggregate visitors that were in different stages of the sales cycle. The next step was assessing previous visits and downloads prior to filling out a “more information” contact form, and the sales rep would then know which information they had already downloaded or read.

Other factors that can be measured as goals - anything that helps to make the sale - which factors or pages or typically viewed prior to a conversion? One example is a travel company had videos on their site - visitors that viewed the videos converted at a 30% higher rate than the non-viewing visitors. This helped to determine the next steps of developing the website and creating additional videos for visitors.

Matt

By: Darius Peczek

Darius Peczek — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:58:31 +0000

What are some of the interesting goals have you seen besides article downloads or email sign-ups?

By: Craig Geis

Craig Geis — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:12:56 +0000

Thanks Matt!

I like the contrast that John Marshall, of ClickTracks, gives on Reporting vs. Analysis:

“‘Reporting’ requires that you know what you’re going to want to know, whereas ‘analysis’ gives you the ability to learn on the fly what you don’t know and then to know it.”

I totally agree with John.

For example, there have been many times that I’ve randomly looked over a ‘Navigational Report’ and have learned many things about the strengths or weaknesses of a web page.

I also find that ‘light-bulb’ moments happen with or without a plan.

To me, analysis is more of a journey. Sometimes a compass (plan) helps in my discovery, other times it creates blinders that hide important factors.

On the other hand, since ’speed’ is not a word that is commonly associated with analysis, having a plan is one way to reduce the large amount of time that analysis takes.