5 ways to improve your web analytics

5 quick ways to improve your web analyticsJim Hazen, capstrat
November 17th, 2010

The narcissist slide
Jim Hazen
Capstrat
Analytics Director @hazenj
jhazen@capstrat.com

Topics we shall explore
Have a reason to exist
The fallacy of averages
Illumination of segmentation
Measuring ‘engagement’
Beyond the short-term success

If you have no objective, than any measurement will do

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Does your current report look like this?
Your business gets paid for outcomes not page views. Measure accordingly!

#1: Have a reason to exist
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Scenario 1: You own an online jewelry store
Objectives:
Sell more stuff
Make a profit
Increase average order value
Generate repeat purchases (lifetime value)
Notice how time on site or page views aren’t listed?

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Objectives:
Increase volunteers
Grow donations
Communicate news and opportunities
Metrics:
View the contact us page
Volunteers
Online donations
Newsletter subscribers
Scenario 2: You run a non-profit website
There are a million things you can measure but only a few that can change the business.

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Scenario 3: You run a structural engineering consultancy
Objectives:
Increase sales leads
Promote products and services
Metrics:
Leads
Downloads of product sheets
Visits that read key content

Averages hide the distribution of behaviors. Don’t rely solely on averages in your analysis!
#2 : The fallacy of Averages
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Does your current web analytics report look something like this?

#3 : The illumination of segmentation

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Compare segments and drill underneath what content these visitors view to create more targeted marketing efforts.

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Types of Segmentation to try:
Geography
Traffic Sources
Behavioral – viewed certain content
Achieved Goals vs Non-Achievers
SEO vs Paid Search

But what if my goal in life is ‘engagement’?

#4 : Measuring “engagement”
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First question….
What the hell is engagement?
“Engagement” is not a metric, it’s an excuse – AvinashKaushik
Σ(Ci + Di + Ri + Li + Bi + Fi + Ii) – Eric Peterson
My take?
No standard answer to engagement, its unique to each company/website.
So what are some ways to do this?

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Segment on Site Behaviors: Create custom segments by piecing together metrics around Page Depth, Loyalty, Visit Duration, and Recency.
Problem is you have define what is ‘good’.

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Create a Micro-Conversion scoring: Give values to each of the small micro-events on your site that you think are valuable.
You have to define what each conversion is worth.
Stolen from Omniture blog

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Now you have a quantifiable way to evaluate ‘Engaged’
Create segments and see what they’re doing.

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I got the conversion, I’m done right?

# 5:Beyond the short-term success
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Don’t just stop at the conversion on your website. Measure the lifetime value.
Best way is to integrate with your CRM.
Web analytics tool of choice
CRM tool of choice

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Create a unique identifier on your lead form/order confirmation that is passed to your web analytics vendor as well as your CRM system.
CRM
Lead form
Set a Custom Variable for your web analytics:
CRM record with LEADID-123456
pageTracker._setCustomVar( 1, “Lead-ID", “LEADID-123456", 3

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The common identifier allows you to link the 2 data sources together to understand:
What happens to the lead once it goes into the backend?
What are the touch points that leads to a sale?
Do these visitors purchase more in the long run?
What sources of traffic/tactics generate the best customers?
What content leads to better leads?

Questions & Potentially Answers
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Thanks and enjoy your day!
Twitter: @hazenj
Email: jhazen@capstrat.com
Google: “Jim Hazen”

5 ways to improve your web analytics

by Capstrat on Jan 04, 2011

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5 ways to improve your web analytics — Presentation Transcript