Successful analytics implementations focus on what’s useful and actionable, not merely what’s interesting. There’s a seemingly never-ending set of reports available, but which ones will you actually base business decisions on? The challenge is distinguishing between the “noise” and the “signal”.
Keys to Successful Web Analytics Projects
Miller Systems has performed over 100 web analytics projects across many vertical markets and diverse online experiences. Here are some of the keys we’ve found to ensure a successful analytics implementation:
- Successful web analytics projects are generally 75% definition. Implementations are usually straight forward, as long as there is clarity about what you are going to measure.
- Prioritize the identification of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – meaningful metrics that you can make decisions and changes on.
- Use the KPIs to create easily understood scorecards and dashboards that are based on the most important transactions and conversions on your site.
- Make sure all fundamental channels are represented in your KPI model (social media, e-mail marketing, Pay Per Click, SEO, Affiliate programs, etc.).
- Carefully consider how – and by whom – your reports are interpreted. Create special, simplified reports and dashboards that senior stakeholders and management can understand with minimal preparation (Translation: “I have 5 minutes before a board meeting, give me some numbers!”).
- Make sure your reports are accurate and use consistent models. Senior management is rarely concerned with the details – but they are always sensitive to changes.
- Be sure your data collection and tagging strategy support the KPIs and reports you need. You can’t analyze data you simply don’t have.
- A marketing team will need substantially different reports than a technical team. Their roles dictate different definitions of how the site is working (or not working); as a result, the data they’ll look at is very different.
- A well thought out CMS implementation can greatly benefit and accelerate the implementation of web analytics.
Does Any of This Sound Familiar? Get in Touch
- We’ve had Google Analytics/Webtrends/Omniture/etc. (or some other analysis tool) for years; I know we could be getting more out of it.
- I know how many page views, hits, and visits I have, but how do I use that data to improve my customer experience?
- Our analytics system has a million reports in it. Which ones should I be looking at?
- We just redesigned our site. We think it’s much better than the old site. Are we right?
- We have a pretty long sales cycle. How can I get visibility into how our web site contributed to a sale over the course of several weeks/months/quarters?
- Is Web Analytics an “IT thing” or a “Marketing thing”? I don’t know who should be in charge of this.
- We run lots of campaigns and marketing programs, like SEO, pay-per-click, e-mail, etc. Each of these systems have their own reports, and it’s a ton of work to aggregate them.
- What’s “long tail tracking”? Why do we care about it? How do you do it?
- My VP of Marketing or CEO wants to know “how our web site is doing”. How can I keep him/her happy without confusing him/her with all the details?