The Business Person’s Approach to Web Analytics
- May 18th, 2009 by Steven Leung
Integrated marketing activities, by definition, require coordination across a company’s lines of business. But sometimes the metrics data needed to coordinate and optimize these campaigns is managed by another department.
The most common example is web analytics, which is often managed by IT in mid-sized companies. IT departments typically have a number of priorities that range from thankless basics like ensuring running email and network security to coordinating and executing the technical requirements of product and marketing initiatives.
Most companies track web metrics, but if yours doesn’t, you don’t necessarily need to purchase an expensive analytics package then have your IT department install it. There are many hosted web analytics systems available, like Google Analytics, which are available for free — and have more reports than most marketers and executives have the time or patience to read.
Installation is simple and may not require IT. It just needs several lines of JavaScript to be added to each page on your site, and this is usually very easy if your site is backed by a content publishing system. And with these hosted web analytics systems, you don’t need special software or IT intervention to generate reports.
If your IT department manages your site, they might be picky about which system you use. Should the system require software installation, it means they have to dedicate the resources to learning and maintaining it (i.e. they have to bless it).
With a hosted system, you might encounter resistance because the data is stored by a third-party or because it requires minor modification to the website. But these generally aren’t showstoppers because of how important it is to measure the success of web initiatives.
It’s so important that in many organizations, web analytics reports are a subject unto themselves. Creating these reports becomes its own job, with increasingly complex graphs and figures being presented. It’s very easy to get bogged down in analysis paralysis either sorting through all the different reports, or spending time trying to choose between analytics packages that have one type of report over another.
The reality is that for most mid-sized companies not doing retail on the web, there’s not enough traffic or variation to provide all the data needed for an expensive analytics package to bring you measurable results. What’s more important is knowing you need the right metrics, like conversion ratios and return on investment (ROI).
Web analytics will capture the information you need about your web visitors, but your site needs to be structured correctly and substantial enough to put the information in a relevant context.
In our next blog post, we’ll talk about how to create more successful websites by avoiding some common pitfalls and encouraging visitors towards the path you’d like them to take.
Tags: Prospect Conversion, Websites
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