SiteLogic » Analytics

Caveman Analytics

Matt Bailey — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:02:12 +0000

I couldn’t believe it when i saw it, but here it was.

A national retailer sent me the analytics reports that their SEO company was giving them.

In exchange for paying this SEO company thousands of dollars per month for SEO and analytics, this retailer was getting nothing more than screenshots of Google Analytics; screenshots that showed Unique Visitors, Page Views, Time on Site and Top Content.

In 2011, I never thought I would still be seeing this, but I can’t believe how prevalent it is, and how much customers accept this artificial substitute for real business-based analysis. On top of that, to simply deliver screen captures and deliver no analysis of what the numbers mean is simply unacceptable.

Business owners want accountability and ROI for the money they spend. Search Marketing companies that do no more than generate “cut-and-paste” analytics reports do themselves and the industry a disservice by calling this “analytics.”

Where is the business case?
Where is the ROI?

When did these standards stop being the measurement of success?

Any business can improve the quality of their reports in a matter of minutes.
If the report they receive from their agency or their analysts does not contain clear action-based analysis that shows how to make more money – then stop accepting it.

A clear report should show (at a mimimum):

Where did the revenue come from?
What channels create the most revenue?
What search terms create the most revenue?
What actions should be taken as a result?

Beyond just these simple business-based questions are more in-depth questions that could be asked that would clarify an online business strategy;

What is the most profitable product/content/campaign?
What creates the best lifetime value?

Do you notice what isn’t in these questions? Unique visitors. Time on site. Visitors from other countries, etc. Those are all numbers that mean nothing without context. Simplify your strategy and grow your business by getting analytics reports that focus on revenue and value – not visitors.

It’s time to evolve.

If you would like more information on adding context to those numbers and how to develop better analytics, explore these articles:
Your Ranking Reports Are Wrong
No Goals, no analytics!
Analytics: Fun and Easy! Part 1

Google Analytics Limits Marketers – Claims “Privacy”

Matt Bailey — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:28:58 +0000

An interesting move from Google has search marketers reacting in anger, amazement and disgust. Google, after years of providing search referral information, has decided that users that are “logged-in” to Google will no longer have their search terms show up in website analytics. This move has marketers fuming, as this is an important metric to measure in terms of developing a clear understanding of the search words that people use to find the site and those that lead to conversions. many marketers evaluate those terms in order to better understand the visitor and build content and better user experiences.

However, to make this move even more odd, is that Google will make those search terms available to advertisers in their Google AdWords campaigns. This is what has marketers seething with anger. It is a clear sign from Google that those paying for advertising will be able to gain information. However, the clear sign from Google about a pay-to-play for this information also sends mixed messages about Google’s intent.

You see, the primary reason Google is making this move is – privacy. In in interview with Google’s Matt Cutts, Danny Sullivan presses Cutts about the reasoning for hiding the search terms of logged Google searchers, and Cutts keeps coming back to the issue of privacy as the driving reasons.

So the message seems to be that Google is concerned about you keeping your searches private, but they will give the information to advertisers?!?

Truly a mixed message.

Of all reasons Google could give, privacy seems the most unlikely. Privacy is one of those issues that seems to be an inconvenience for Google, so to use this excuse now as a way to “protect” their users, seems hollow.

Here is a sampling of Google’s history of privacy concerns:

CEO Eric Schmidt, “Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.” (What happened to ‘Do No Evil’?)
Google’s Street Car program collected and cataloged public Wi-Fi locations.
Google also recorded the addresses and unique identifiers of computers and other devices using those wireless networks and then made the data publicly available through Google.com until just a short while ago.
Google has admitted that employees collected personal information and data for three years across the globe while its cars traveled through neighborhood snapping pictures for its Street View program.
The cars also collected “information” from Wi-Fi networks from people’s homes. Information is defined as: passwords from Wi-Fi networks in every home the cars drove past.
Google developed the ‘Facebook Friend Exporter,” a tool to snatch Facebook friends and their personal information into the new Google+. Names, addresses and even personal phone numbers are pulled into Google+.
Android phones regularly connect to Google.com and disgorge a miniature data dump that includes time down to the millisecond, current and recent GPS coordinates, nearby Wi-Fi network addresses, and two 16-letter strings representing a device ID that’s unique to each phone. (CNet)

In addition to this, a more formal list of privacy issues has been developed by Privacy International. Google has the highest ranking of “Hostility” towards privacy, detailing the following reasons:

Vague, incomplete, and possibly deceptive privacy policy that fails to explain details.
Poor track record of responding to customer complaints.
Ambivalent attitude to privacy challenges.
Privacy mandate not part of the culture throughout the company.
New technologies are frequently rolled out without adequate public discussion of privacy issues.
IP addresses are not considered personal information.
Does not allow search history to be removed.
Most services do not permit user access to specific or aggregated tracking data.
Opt-out possible for some, but not all services.
Some services do not work well without cookies.
May access most services without an account, but creating and using an account increases privacy risks.
Uses Doubleclick’s advanced profiling system.

Google is also more likely to provide information to information requests from the Obama Administration than any other government: The US government asks Google for user data more than twice as often as any other, and in its own Transparency Report, Google says it complied with US requests in 94 percent of cases.

For advertising purposes, Google gathers IP addresses, dates, and time for a 9-month span for a single user in order to determine what ads to display according to location, content of e-mails, and YouTube video watching habits.

So, Google….

Can we get past this very thin excuse of “privacy” and whatever that means to the company and get to a real discussion of this move?

- – - -

From my own opinion, Google says that this “privacy” move to hide the search terms of logged in Google users will only be about 1-2% of users, which is not enough to change the data that we at SiteLogic use to determine better methods of design, persuasion and conversion.

I can’t see that number being so low, however, and that is my issue. Most Google users are not aware that they are logged in as a Google User nearly all the time. Unless they log out, they will be logged in every time they use the search box, even with search bars integrated into toolbars and browsers, searches can be performed as a logged-in user from almost anywhere.

In addition, is this simply a move to begin “locking down” the hold that Google Analytics has by preventing data from being shared to other analytics programs? This move has many industry analysts and marketers watching in curiosity – and some in anger.

Color, Contrast and Text Size

Matt Bailey — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:24:15 +0000

3 of the most important elements in designing the content of a webpage are color, contrast and font size.

These three elements are amazingly useful when used properly, and mean the difference between action or ignorance. Understanding the important part that these three elements play in capturing the visitor’s attention is critical to today’s online marketing.

Google Analytics finds the Interface

Google is the most recent company to understand the critical role that something as basic as color, contrast and text size have to do with creating a successful user experience. By updating their analytics interface, they have now overcome one of the primary obstacles to gaining great data from analytics.

You see, one of the most important tools available in analytics is segmentation. The old interface in Google Analytics suffered from major User Interface problems, as the primary tools were simply not seen by the users. I was constantly amazed in my seminars as most attendees simply had no idea how to access the segmentation features available in Google Analytics. The primary reason no one knew about it? The combination of color, contrast and text size resulted in a critical tool that was difficult to find and use.

That Old User Interface

You see, here is the old analytics UI (user interface). The link to access or create an advanced segment is in the upper right corner, in light grey text in a grey background. Most people were simply not aware the option was there or that it was clickable!

Is the User Path Clear?

Then, once the link was clicked the window opened up. Pre-set segments were available to the user, but there are no custom segments, these need to be set up. However, the tool/link to access the custom segments is now on the left side of the window, in another small font text link. It’s not underlined, and it is in a very low-impact position, blending into the background. Only after the user has figured out where to click and where to go are they able to then develop custom segments.

However – the battle wasn’t won yet – the next screen took users to a screen that focuses on “Dimensions” and “Metrics,” which is another article for another day about using clear text labels for instructions. But that has been updated. It’s not great, but better.

The new Google Analytics interface now focuses users on a clear path to creating segments. The link for creating advanced segments uses clearer colors, higher contrast and a larger text size. IN addition, the primary linmk to creating new segments is now located on the left side of the page. The old location was on the right side of the poage, where eyes rarely drift, especially where there are no contrasting elements to draw the users’s eyes. By moving over to the left side of the page and presenting it in larger text and contrast, users will now be able to see this function as part of the interface, and not an afterthought.

See how these elements work together to draw your attention to the important feature?

How are you using color, contrast and text size?

Are you directing the users’s attention, or do users have to find their own way on your pages?

Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day

Matt Bailey — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:28:25 +0000

Release date is set for March 29, 2011

Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day

is now on the way to the printers. The release date is March 29, 2011, but you can pre-order your copy today!

This exciting project was the work of over 14 months of research and development for presenting a start-to-finish guide to internet marketing. The book covers the testing of your current site or the considerations to starting a new site, and the development of marketing campaigns to extend the visibility of a business.

What Others are Saying…

Already the book has received great reviews from other peers and experts in the industry:

“Matt Bailey is one of my favorite speakers at industry events because he delivers insights with intelligence and wit. He brings that same approach to this book in what is quickly becoming the next must read for anyone interested in improving their business online.”
Brett Crosby
Director, Product Marketing; Google

“This book should be required reading for all business owners. At a time where everyone claims to be an internet marketing expert, Matt is the real deal. He has provided a clear and concise guidebook containing all the tools and knowledge to help business owners quickly unleash the power of Internet marketing, In the sea of Internet marketing books, Matt’s book rises to the top for its clarity and focus on generating ROI for business owners.”
Eric Greenberg
Faculty Chair, Center for Management Development
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

“Matt Bailey unpacks the mystery of SEO, site design, data and much else, in step-by-step directions, and plain English for the rest of us. No one else has approached the plain-English demystification of building an effective Web presence as cost-effectively and time-effectively as has Matt. This work is built on top of something like 15 years of experience in helping global majors and backyard amateurs be the best that they can be on the Internet. And maybe 5 years of teaching US Direct Marketing Association classes, and helping hundreds of students be the best they could be for themselves or for major companies in the US and abroad. If you have a struggling site and can’t figure out why it isn’t performing better, or if you just got your first PC and know your new business needs a Web presence, this book will more than repay you. It will build your business.”
Charles Prescott
Editor Prescott Report; Executive Director, Global Address Data Association;
Director, Direct Marketing Association.
Chair, Consultative Committee, Universal Postal Union

What You’ll Find in Internet Marketing: An Hour A Day

A Holistic Approach
How Search Engines Work
Establishing Business and Website Goals
Website Evaluation Tools
Basic SEO Techniques
Keyword Research
Principles of Online Sales and Marketing
Developing Great Content
Connecting Content to Users and Search Engines
Online Persuasion Techniques
Improve Conversions
Develop Effective Architecture
Consider Accessibility
Troubleshoot Technical Roadblocks
The Little Details
Link Building
Market Effectively with Blogs
Understand Social Media
Develop a PPC Campaign
Measure the Right Things
Analyze for Action

You can pre-order your copy of Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day at:

Wiley/Sybex
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Thank you to all who helped to make this book possible, especially to the amazing staff at SiteLogic, who performed brilliantly throughout the months in delivering quality consulting to our clients while also developing amazing case studies and examples for use in this book!

Your Search Engine Rankings Reports are Wrong

Matt Bailey — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:07:01 +0000

Search Engines do not like ranking report software. Period.

In the past, some search engines allowed an API access key to be used for ranking report software, and it can still be utilized today. Without utilizing the API key for the reports, you could be blocked from accessing the search engine. Software-automated queries drain resources, bandwidth, and inflates ad impressions, which is used to compute quality score for Pay-per-Click Ads. In response, Google is particularly aggressive about blocking repeated queries from the same IP address. Google would rather keep advertisers happy then overly aggressive SEO’s who check their rankings incessantly.

Personalized Search

With the advent of creating accounts at the search engines, personal search histories have been accumulated. When AOL published only a few random search histories, I doubt they felt that any one of those anonymous searchers could be identified, yet some were.

Personalized search is important to the search engines for many ways, not the least of which is personalized advertising that can be crafted solely for you, based on your preferences, search history and associated accounts.

Personalization will affect search results. After all, the search engines are attempting to provide the best, most relevant results to the searcher, and using their search history will enable the engine to adjust the results as necessary to create that personal relevance.

I expect this to continue to grow, as the line of privacy and advertising becomes increasingly blurred. Many people choose to give up privacy in order to receive more relevant advertising, and do not see the risks.
As a result, the rankings you see may differ from your neighbor, simply based on your past search and click-through behavior.

Google’s Promote Results

Google’s search results instituted a feature recently, called promote results.
It’s simple. I you like one result over another, simply promote the result. Of course, many webmasters see this as a means to affect rankings. Sorry, but no. If it does, it is on a very minute scale. Anything that can be manipulated by people on a large scale tends to hold little value.

If anything I have seen this used very effectively by marketing managers that are able to go into their bosses’ computer and promote their website for specific search terms. That way, to the boss, they are always #1, and he leaves them alone, and stops demanding to know why the website is not ranking first.
Tricky, but effective.

Multiple Search Engine DataCenters

Each search engine has data centers located all over the country and all over the world. Even in one office, different computers may hit a different datacenter. Data centers are consistently being updated, and it is very easy to see different results, usually only within a few rankings, from a search of different data centers.

The API Access

With the API key, the search engine could direct the automated queries to a specific datacenter. However, it was immediately apparent that the datacenter was out of sync with the live results. We liked to joke that the datacenter for rankings queries was out-of-date and hidden in a forgotten closet.
Without an API Key, you would be likely to see this:

Either way, it was more accurate for a client to simply open a browser and search for words and rankings manually. The results are much more accurate. Having a company run a rankings report, save it to PDF, and then send by email, results in a report that is outdated before it was begun.

Regional Weighting

A New Yorker searching for the term “Zoo” on Google is going to get results that show the Bronx Zoo as being the most relevant result. A Google searcher in Southern California will see the San Diego Zoo as number 1. Regional searches are being weighted and slowly implemented. Obviously, this doesn’t work with many terms, as they are world-wide in scope.

However, Google has recently, within the past few years, placed a heavy emphasis on local results, maps and business listings. Offering searchers local based results creates more advertising inventory, and also connects users to locally-based providers. Intentional or not, Google is turning the world market back into a local market. Locally-based searches provide a more relevant result to a local searcher.

Social Network

A friend of mine was searching Google for analytic information, and he saw a result from my blog in the first page of results. While I’d love to thin that I earned that spot on the first page with my brilliant analytics writing, it was actually because I was in his social circle, and the results were presented because of the Social Circle Beta in Google. The reason that page was in the results he was logged into Google, had a Google Social Profile, and Google was recommending articles as a result of our social profiles being linked.

In addition to the Social results in the search results, there are news article suggestions and book suggestions rounding out the bottom of the first page of results. The search results page is becoming a very busy place, and also a very personalized space. As searchers start to link social profiles, ecommerce profiles, regional preferences, the search results are going to reflect more of a personal nature, and be nearly unique to each searcher.

Where is this Heading?

Continual changes like this Social Profile Suggestion Beta program show the direction that a search engine like Google is heading. Google is integrating social recommendations, multimedia, personalization and regionalization as a way of customizing search results specific to a person. The more information you provide to Google through your account, the more Google can and will customize your search results.

The days of gaining the #1 ranking in Google, and knowing that everyone searching will see that #1 ranking are over. Rankings are the “sugar high” of marketing, but now it’s time get down to the main course and start measuring better things . . . .

Google Analytics and Bounce Rate Loyalty

Ben Bailey — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:31:35 +0000

Many people point to the bounce rate in Google Analytics and assume that those who bounced are worthless visitors. This is not the case.

Before I explain why, I want to say that I have changed the GA code so that Bounce Rate is calculated from those who spent less than 10 seconds on the site, not those who viewed one page, which is the default. The reason I did this is that many of my sites are blogs or are using blogging extensively. If a visitor enters on a category page, they can spend up to 10 minutes reading posts, yet the default GA code only sees one page viewed, and says that they bounced.

If you would like to use this bounce rate, you need setTimeout, and here the code and where to place it:

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-xxxxx-x”);
pageTracker._trackPageview();
setTimeout(‘pageTracker._trackEvent(‘NoBounce’, ‘NoBounce’, ‘Over 10 seconds’)',10000);

Now, why are visitors who bounce not worthless? Simple, GA seems to be calculating bounces off of the most recent visit. This does not mean that the visitors have not spent time on your site before. Here is a screen shot of the Visitor Loyalty report, segmented by those who bounced.

(click to enlarge)

You can see that although the majority (93.5%) of visits were the 1st time to the site, around 6.5% of visitors were returning, some of them up to 9 – 14 times.

This means that these returning visitors liked what was offered on the site enough to come back, but then why did they bounce?

I believe that many of the Loyalty Bounces are looking to copy URL’s to send to other people. Yes, that may sound like wishful thinking, but when I go back to a site and leave immediately, it is usually for that very reason. Another reason may be to verify some piece of information. Every case is different, which is why Custom Segments are so important for your analytics.

To see this in action, you will need to create a custom segment by clicking on Advanced Segments in the left hand navigation of GA. Originally I used Metrics-Site Usage-Bounces with the Condition Greater than or equal to, and the Value as 1. This gave me the bounce rate of the site. Then I created another segment to combine bounce rate and returning visitors;

(click to enlarge)

Dimensions – Visitors – Visitor Type – Matches Exactly – Returning Visitors

Metrics – Site Usage – Bounces – Greater than or equal to – 1

There you have it. You created a custom segment, and you can see what I call a Loyalty Bounce.

Update: When I applied this to another of my sites, I believed it confirmed my suspicions about why people are returning to the site, then bouncing. The Top Landing Pages report segmented by Loyalty Bounces was very similar to the Top Content report for all visitors. The pages that are most popular on my site are the ones giving me the Loyalty Bounce.

So a visitor that bounces is not always a bad thing. They may be spreading links.

Why Google Analytics?

Ben Bailey — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:59:09 +0000

I know that there are a lot of people who are wondering if they should make the switch to Google Analytics, and I would say, yes. I was one of those people for a long time. I used Clicktracks (now Lyris) since the day I started analytics, and always resisted GA. It has only been within the last few months that I have really started to use GA extensively, and not only that, to like it.

Google does bother me a little bit with the amount of information that it has on the millions of people using it. Giving Google access to my analytics only increases its knowledge, and we all know that knowledge equals power. This ties in with Matt’s recent post on the failure of search engines, the bigger and more powerful the search engine (Google), the more we have to design and analyze for that engine. This can take away somewhat from the user experience and the conversion of those users.

In spite of all that, Google has given us a very powerful tool to analyze our visitors; and they gave it to us free.

Let’s take a look at some of the competition out there first.

Webtrends can cost upwards of $20,000 just for the first year. That buys you a massive amount of installation work, more graphs than you can graph, but not much actionable data. I have said that Webtrends is like a bodybuilder on steroids, it’s big and muscular, but it ain’t got no balls.

I have used Webtrends, but I found that it was too big and bulky, and I wasn’t able to really do my job and find actionable insights. I know there are people out there who will say that it is my fault, but it’s not. In my experience, Webtrends (and most other analytics programs) are implemented and run by IT or marketing people. Neither of which are web analysts.

I loved using Clicktracks. Because it uses log files, one of the major advantages is the ability to apply anything to historical data. That means I could set up a goal, and see the data for that goal for any time period I chose, even if that time period was before I set up the goal. Whereas in GA, you can only see the data from the time you implemented the goal. The only problem with log file based analytics is the slowness. A site with more than around 25,000 visitors really gets bogged down, and if you go over a couple hundred thousand, you might as well take the day off while it calculates the data.

Clicktracks is fantastic at segmentation. It is one of the basic features of CT and it makes it very easy to create custom segments, and to combine them any way you want. (Without segmentation, analytics is useless.)

GA is much easier to install, and is very easy to use. It does not look near as impressive as Webtrends, or have the ability to compute historical data like Clicktracks. However, there are a number of reasons I believe it is better.

First, it’s free. You can’t get a better price than that. Many people think that because it is free, it isn’t worth it, but they are wrong. Google wants your site to perform well. GA is their way of helping you make your site better, so that they have better quality sites in their index. Kind of selfish on their part, but it works.

Second, Avinash Kaushik is their Analytics Evangelist. Avinash helps Google to “…shape the vision, direction and features of 13 different Google tools that provide data to customers.” This is one of the biggest reasons for GA’s success, it has top web analysts working to make it usable and actionable.

Thirdly, because they give out the API, anybody can create code for Google Analytics, and there are some fantastic scripts and add-ons out there. Here are a few that I use;

Enhanced Google Analytics - This was a script for Greasemonkey, but was later made into a FireFox add-on. This puts a little button on the top of the Referral report and Keyword report that show you the “unusual” traffic. It graphs out sites/keywords that brought 50% more traffic over the last 7 days, and those that had 50% less traffic over the last 7 days.

The next is Better Google Analytics. This is a collection of scripts that give you many, many options. Here are a few of the cool toys it adds to GA;

Adds search function to each search term in the Keyword Report.

Converts percent values to absolute values in tables.

Allows you to go full screen and minimize the left hand navigation.

Links to Google Insights and allows you to check keyword terms and perform a Google Insight search.

Social Media metrics from Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and more.

These are only a few of the scripts that are available in the Better Google Analytics Add-on, and there are even more out there. With so many new scripts being written for GA, it will always have more to offer, and most of those offerings will be what we analysts need, not what some giant corporation thinks we need.

I am by no means a Googlephile. As I said earlier, sometimes I have to put on my tin foil hat before I start searching the web. However, Google has given us the tools to make our sites better, the code to make our own scripts for Google Analytics, and they have done it for free.

How can anyone compete with that?

If you think your analytics program is the best, tell me and let me know why.

Update:
Avinash has reminded me that by using Custom Segments in GA, you can create a goal segment and see basic historical data. I have used this, but my point was that even by doing this, there is still no historical data in the Goal Reports.

Also I have used Omniture Site Catalyst (another massive analytics program), and it does not even have segmentation abilities, and as I said above, without segmentation, analytics is useless. So I guess you can take from that what I think about Site Catalyst.

Analytics – Fun or Easy? Part 3: Segmentation Finds Motivation

Matt Bailey — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:55:41 +0000

Part 1: Analytics: Is it Fun or Easy?
Part 2: Ambiguity is Opportunity

Part 3: Segmentation Finds Motivation

Why Segmentation?
Segmentation is the principle that people come to the website for many different reasons, they enter at many different points, the see different pages, and are looking for many different pieces of information. Basically – you can’t treat all of your visitors the same way, neither in the marketing and content nor in the measurement and analysis. As John Marshall of Market Motive (who also developed ClickTracks) famously said, “people are not cattle.” Therefore, we should not treat them as such.

Aggregate = Inaccurate
Funny enough, when we build reports on aggregate data (page views, visitors, top 10 pages, top 10 search terms) we are doing exactly that. Aggregate numbers view people as a herd of cattle, all with the same motives, behaviors and views. Segmentation allows a deeper examination of the website and the different types of people and their motivations.

Analytics finds Behavior based on Expectation
By simply segmenting visitors based on their keyword searches, motivation can be determined. By segmenting those same visitors based on goal completion and the entry point of the site, you can begin to compare behavior alongside the motivation. Comparisons allow new ways to interpret the data, and find areas of the website that need immediate improvement. Not all products can be sold the same, so why measure them the same?

Context, Context, Context
Building context is a primary step in developing new ways of viewing data. The more we know about a group of visitors, the more we can understand them. By viewing people as the complex organisms that they are, we can begin to develop the site around them and make changes suited to best market to that segment. This isn’t a difficult step; it’s actually very simple by using the 3C’s of Analytics: Context, Contrast & Comparison.

Context is simply building multiple data points into a specific view of activity. Essentially, the more data points involved, the better the story becomes. Adding content to a segment tells a particular story about a specific group of people and what they encountered on your website.

Start building context by segmenting visitors based on the acquisition method and their motivation. Contrast that with the average, which Google Analytics does by default, in order to see how this segment performs compared to the site average. Then, compare to other segments in order to find significant differences. Comparison allows the analyst to find specific segments that are performing at extremely high or low levels. This is the first method of a direct evaluation for the website.

Test poorly performing segments, and grow the higher segments. Compare segments and keyword rankings to be sure that you are targeting the right words. Get a clear picture on exit rates by finding the segment that is contributing the most. Comparing and contrasting segments is the basis of learning, and it is the easiest method to find opportunities for growth in your marketing. You may find that your best ranking keywords, the ones bringing in the most traffic, are also the worst performing group. Only segmenting and building context will allow that exploration.

More Data Points = More Understanding
The simple conclusion to this type of analysis is that there must be multiple conversion goals. One conversion rate doesn’t tell the story of who came to the website, what they expected to see, what they did see, and how they reacted to it. Multiple conversion rates; based on keywords, actions, product types, price points, keyword rankings, navigation methods are just a few of the ways that one can build conversion segments.

Action-based conversions, such as video views, navigation tendencies, point to the behavior of people within a segment and can provide insight as to how people respond when they interact with elements within the website. Understanding the actions and how they affect conversions will provide direction for continued development of interactions within the website.

Part 4: Compared to What?

Analytics: Is it Fun or Easy? Part 2- “Ambiguity is Opportunity”

Matt Bailey — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:45:02 +0000

Part 1: Is Analytics Fun or Easy

Part 2: Ambiguity is Opportunity

Hamster-Wheel Analytics
From Part 1, setting goals is the first and only place to start when developing an analytics strategy. Otherwise, the analyst or the website marketing manager will spend the majority of their time developing reports with numbers on them. The rest of their month will then be spent justifying why those numbers are higher or lower than the previous month. Without goals, there is simply no direction.

Large numbers become the goal, and people become enamored with large numbers, even though everyone knows that more visitors is not necessarily the goal. Qualified visitors are the goal . This is hamster-wheel analytics. The endless cycle of doing the same thing and going nowhere.

Why Do You Have a Website?
Clearly stated goals are the first place to start. I find that the best answers are the clearest and simplest. Points are awarded for brevity. Two word answers are clear, and everyone involved in the website should have these printed out and displayed clearly, as they are your new measuring stick – The measurement upon which every decision about the website should and must be based.

No guesswork, measurement.
1. What is the purpose of the website?
2. What is the company goal for the website?
3. What do we want visitors to do?

One of the best goal statements I heard from a company was the simplest. Make Money, Sell Shoes. Simple, to the point and a clear measuring stick from which to base every decision. From design, analytics, social media strategy and continued development, the questions are simple – “Does it make us money? Does it sell shoes? From that, a successful website marketing strategy is born.

Into Action
How these are answered provide the framework for building measurement outcomes for the website. By now, I am hoping that the numbers developed for typical reports would start to seem like foreign concepts. How can you measure company goals and visitor expectations by unique visitors and page views? Hint: you can’t.

Clearly, we need to think differently about our concept of analytics.
This concept was made clear when I read Iconoclast. The book features examples of those individuals who went against common thinking and the wisdom of crowds. Gregory Berns, a neuroscience attempts to explain how iconoclasts think differently, respond differently and can even learn things differently.

Pursue Ambiguity
In one of the sections he discusses the concept of Bayesian updating. Most people learn by entering a subject with a preconceived idea of what they need or want and then find the information that develops and reinforces those ideas.

People tend to avoid ambiguity – as ambiguity is traced to a fear of the unknown. People desire some semblance of structure, which is why it is easy to cling to the concepts of unique visitors, hits, page views, time on site, etc. However, when the goal is to increase sales and get to the “why” of analytics, it requires foraging into the unknown and making guesses. Some of those forages may not yield substantial information; most will reward the analyst with a gold mine of information.

The most important trait is the ability to learn and respond as new information is found.

Bayesian updating is important to an analyst as it is the process of using new information to update probability. As Berns writes, “The key reappraisal for ambiguous circumstances is to view ambiguity as an opportunity for gaining knowledge.”

Once the goals have been established and the analyst has been freed from the shackles of mundane reporting, the process can be viewed as a blank slate. Start from the company goals to determine how the website is doing.

The very first report I would recommend building is an acquisition report based on motivation. Who came to the website and why? Segmentation is the principle that answers motivation.

Part 3: Segmentation Finds Motivation

Related Articles:
Why are Analytics So Difficult? Can you appreciate the irony of this title?
Analytics 1.0: A case of Velliety
The Lost Art of Sales

Analytics: Is it Fun or Easy? Part 2- "Ambiguity is Opportunity"

Matt Bailey — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:45:02 +0000

Part 1: Is Analytics Fun or Easy

Part 2: Ambiguity is Opportunity

No guesswork, measurement.
1. What is the purpose of the website?
2. What is the company goal for the website?
3. What do we want visitors to do?

The most important trait is the ability to learn and respond as new information is found.

The very first report I would recommend building is an acquisition report based on motivation. Who came to the website and why? Segmentation is the principle that answers motivation.

Part 3: Segmentation Finds Motivation

Related Articles:
Why are Analytics So Difficult? Can you appreciate the irony of this title?
Analytics 1.0: A case of Velliety
The Lost Art of Sales

SiteLogic » Analytics

Caveman Analytics

Google Analytics Limits Marketers – Claims “Privacy”

Color, Contrast and Text Size

Google Analytics finds the Interface

That Old User Interface

Is the User Path Clear?

How are you using color, contrast and text size?

Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day

Release date is set for March 29, 2011

Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day

What Others are Saying…

What You’ll Find in Internet Marketing: An Hour A Day

You can pre-order your copy of Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day at:

Wiley/Sybex Amazon Barnes & Noble

Your Search Engine Rankings Reports are Wrong

Search Engines do not like ranking report software. Period.

Personalized Search

Google’s Promote Results

Multiple Search Engine DataCenters

The API Access

Regional Weighting

Social Network

Where is this Heading?

Google Analytics and Bounce Rate Loyalty

Why Google Analytics?

Analytics – Fun or Easy? Part 3: Segmentation Finds Motivation

Part 3: Segmentation Finds Motivation

Analytics: Is it Fun or Easy? Part 2- “Ambiguity is Opportunity”

Part 2: Ambiguity is Opportunity

Analytics: Is it Fun or Easy? Part 2- "Ambiguity is Opportunity"

Part 2: Ambiguity is Opportunity

Wiley/Sybex
Amazon
Barnes & Noble