Emakina Academy - 5 - Know your audience - Web Analytics

Know your Audience: Web Analytics & Search Engine Marketing Emakina Academy 11 October 2006

Agenda 09.30 Welcome Coffee 10.00 Web Analytics by David Rademaker (Emakina) 10.30 Why choosing WebTrends by Maarten Sambre (WebTrends) 11.00 Coffee Break 11.15 Search Engine Marketing (SEM) by Michael Vandenhooft (Extenseo) 11.45 Optimize your website for indexation by Laurent Goffin (Emakina) 12.15 SEM cases : Cora Direct & DVD Post by Michael Vandenhooft (Extenseo) 12:50 Conclusion - Q&A 13.00 Lunch 14.00 End

Introduction How many surfers visit your website every day? What are their favorite sections? How can you turn a visitor into a lead, then in a client? Where are the hurdles to this conversion? During this fifth Academy, our WebTrends experts will explain how web analytics can significantly improve your website ROI and better profile your target group. In the second part of this session, our partner Extenseo will show the power of Search Engine Optimization and Keyword Buying to attract qualified audience through Google & friends. If you’re not interested in knowing your consumer, don’t stay.

About Emakina

Multi-channel approach

Competence Centre

Prestigious References

From visitor to customer

Web Analytics David Rademaker, Emakina

Web Analytics > Agenda Inspirational anecdote Common mistakes Statistics ABC: from hits to visitors Types of metrics Why managed statistics Interpreting numbers Top metrics to watch for What Emakina can do for you

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics Mark Twain 1835-1910

Real life anecdote Overheard at Fortune 100 company Person A: “I have got 10’000 (something) on my website” Person B: “That’s all? I got 100’000 (something) on mine!” The truth? Person A had 10’000 visitors Person B had 100’000 hits but only 1000 visitors What would you prefer?

Web Statistics: Terms Used Hit – Any information requested from a site - this includes HTML pages, pictures, forms, scripts and files downloaded – Can be affected by redesign, robots, caching etc. Page Views (or requests/impressions) – The number of pages viewed – Extensions such as .htm, .html, .asp etc. User Sessions – Series of requests from unique IP address within a period of time (more accurate if registered users – Issues with firewalls, institutional caches etc. Value Users, Visits, Actions, Interests, Acquisitions

Apples and pears 1 VISIT 1 VISIT 1 HIT 100 HITS

Interpretation Issues Profiling users - can we track users easily? – You can’t tell the exact identity of your users – Using IP addresses, domain names of visitors – Following paths – entering and exiting the site – Registration Caching – Browser caching and institutional/ISP caching Robots – Necessary enable your resources to be found – Robots generate hits Quality??

Types of Metrics

Typical Solutions Log file based solutions Tagging based solutions Log file based solutions Tagging based solutions Works with standard log files Works with custom data logging Works with standard log files Works with custom data logging Typically 3rd party solution Often in-house Typically 3rd party solution Often in-house Ideal for “classical” websites Better for non-HTML websites Ideal for “classical” websites Better for non-HTML websites (“HTML”, …) (Flash, …) (“HTML”, …) (Flash, …) Requires little setup Requires active setup Requires little setup Requires active setup Relatively development neutral Often needs development support Relatively development neutral Often needs development support Hybrid solutions Hybrid solutions Tries to marry best of both worlds Tries to marry best of both worlds

Typical Solution > Log file based (6) Read (1) Request reports Page Visitor Web Administrator Reporting server server (2) Write (3) Read (5) Create Request Requests Reports Logfile (4) Process log to data for reports

Typical Solutions > Tagging based (2) Custom (5) Read reports (1) Request parameter Page Visitor Web 2nd Web Administrator Reporting server server server (4) Create Reports (3) Process custom parameter

Solutions > Pro & contra Log file based Tagging based Often in-house Typically external Processing Proxy caching (ISP, Browser, …) can JavaScript is run every time page is Caching hide part of true activity loaded / shown Data All web transactions are recorded Only specific transactions are logged Detailed tracking Limited: requires URL parameters Can go very far (clicks, non clicks) Disk space Raw data logs can be large Tend to more compact (typically 10:1) ROI Retro-active: you can use it on past Forward only: More neutral because it respects Vendor specific solutions: Vendor lock in industry standards vendor lock-in Web technologies HTML, ASP, JSP, … Flash, RIA, Search engine Referrer Development effort Low to none Low to high Accuracy Comparable (caching vs browser config)

Typical solutions “Free” “Managed” Solutions Solutions Good starting point Best long term solution Good for simple websites for Ideal for companies that want to companies with low requirements have long-term solutions Features are subject to change Supported software Example: Example: Google Analytics WebTrends

Managing numbers

Why do we need statistics? They indicate how popular your site is They show how successful your marketing strategy has been They can be used in management reports They can identify gaps in service provision They predict and plan for future load patterns They allow you to monitor performance levels They can be used in consideration of deployment of new technologies They can inform and motivate contributors They can show who your users are

Store management 100 years of expertise Fact: Management of stores and shelves is almost becoming an exact science with plenty of proven rules Impact Well managed stores are a competitive advantage and can make or break a business Main criteria Profitability per square meter (horizontal & vertical)

Site management: 10 years, but still young industry Most companies still ask: How many visitors did we have? How many visits this year? Most are not up to questions like: How did sales or visits improve after changing parameter A? Real world example: Amazon Not the best looking site, but a professional managed site that is run like a supermarket Criteria to introduce Profitability per pixel

The Wheel of Management… Plan Do Act Check

… Applied to Website Management Implement Plan site objectives mechanics Define KPIs for statistics Update & reporting Plan Do Act Check React to meet Follow-up objectives Monitoring Find solutions Interpret

Website nirvana Reached through continuous quality improvement Website nirvana

The Coke Wars: Return on Number Management • John Sculley, in the 80’s quot;The Nielsen ratings defined the ground rules of competition for everyone... top managers would carry little charts in their wallets with the latest key Nielsen figures. They became such an important part of my life that I could quote them on any product in the market. We would pore over the data to search for vulnerable points... It was the man at the top who made it this way. The challenge for the person at the top is to make sure everyone knows what he or she is watching. Then they can direct all the company's energy towards the same goals.

Questioning numbers

Real life example Reported figures over 1 year Large Belgian company >10K employees 1M unique visitors 2M visitors 3M page views Questions to ask Reasons to celebrate? Or…. Emakina did an analysis to assess the numbers and look for opportunities

Returning visitors Reported figures – More than 70% of the visitors never returned the same year – Only 12% came back at least 2 times – Only 5% came back 3 times Interpretation problems: – Search engines are not excluded from these visits – Internal people are not excluded from these visits Conclusion: – The proof is in the pudding: Visitors do not come back because the site offers NO relevant reason to come back

Duration visit Reported figures – 58% left the site within a single minute (!) – Only 20% stayed longer than 5 minutes Business fact – Stickiness = the quality of a website to retain visitors, by keeping them at the website and by getting them to return regularly. – Here: Site has near-zero sticky value Conclusion: – The site offers NO relevant reason to come back More then 80% leaves within 5 minutes; almost 3 out of 5 leave within a minute

Number of pages seen per visit/visitor Reported figures: – More than 70% of visitors consults less than or 3 pages – For normal sites, true visitors and a site of this kind, number of pages seen should be around 5 (home-news-search-find-read-contact) Conclusion – We can safely assume that, again, there is no incentive whatsoever to motivate people to explore the site More than 70% 3 pages or less

Comments to key figures Average of 10K “visitors” per day Seems a good average but this includes all traffic, search engines, collaborators, 85% comes only once or twice per year Too low = lack of reason to come back Site visits vs real consumption: One visit for every 715 rides… Visit duration: 55% less than 1 minute Too low = lack of stickiness / content A site can appear to have quantity traffic at first sight but upon detailed analysis, it can lack quality traffic. Understanding numbers is more important than having numbers

Quality site performance: Metrics to watch Web Analytics

Introduction > Making sense of numbers When it comes to web analytics, there is no shortage of measurements site managers can take to understand how their site is performing: visitors, visits, sessions, page views, hits, … Sifting through such vast amounts of information can be mind numbing. Even more daunting is knowing how much weight to put behind each measurement and how to put the data into context. It’s easy to identify which performance characteristics to track, but not necessarily how to interpret the resulting data and know what to do with it. Site owners agree that knowing which metrics to track and how much weight to give each one comes down to a very simple premise: Understand what you want to accomplish, like in real life. How to use that information to pinpoint problems, improve performance, identify customer priorities and generate more revenue or decrease costs

10 Metrics to watch Study Site Search Results - and Non-Results Optimize the Home Page Know What Works on Landing Pages Analyze tool usage to profile and streamline tools Look at the Look-to-Act Ratio Know Banner and Search Engine Marketing ROI Use Analytics to Make E-mail Marketing More Effective Inspect Customer Navigation & Maturity Find out why visitors abort their session Correlate data, go beyond plain stats

1 Study Site Search Results - and Non-Results Tracking what your customers and visitors search for is the best way to learn about their expectations and problems: if they search for it, it means they didn’t find it at a first glance or even after a little click search s This can be directly used for optimizing site navigation and structure You may think that people will search for “product X” but you may be surprised how many people will search for “service Y” Used metric: log submitted form data Comparing list of searched for words with site structure confirms if your site is addressing key customer expectations

2 Optimize the Home Page The homepage is the most crucial Hot piece of real estate available: Hot Zone Zone 2 knowing what information items 1 and transactional tools to position above and below the scroll line is a Without scrolling crucial balancing task Below the fold Not Hot? Used metric: click path from homepage Check that people click on items in the sequence that you expect them to click. If not rearrange items accordingly or analyze why.

3 Know what works on landing pages It makes no sense for site owners to pay attention to optimizing their home pages if they won’t create custom landing pages. More than half of customers will land at a retailer’s site either through a search engine, banner ad, e-mail promotion or affiliate marketing partner. It makes sense then for site owners to create landing pages designed to appeal to these customer’s expectations for product and service presentation and branding based on the search words used to lead them to the site Used metric: search engines data vs secondary clicks Google?search=my interest http://www.yoursite.be/pageX.html EXIT? CONTACT/MORE/DETAILS EXIT? CONTACT/MORE/DETAILS FAILURE: CONTENT DOES NOT SUCCESS: PEOPLE FOUND WHAT FAILURE: CONTENT DOES NOT SUCCESS: PEOPLE FOUND WHAT MATCH EXPECTATIONS THEY WERE LOOKING FOR MATCH EXPECTATIONS THEY WERE LOOKING FOR

4 Analyze usage of information and tools Analyze how people use static information vs interactive tools on your site: – Do they prefer static tables? – Do they interactive tools? – How many iterations do they do? – Do new visitors use tools differently then returning visitors? – If forms permit free text input (from “A” to “B”) does what they type in match your expectations? Used metric: hits/iterations on page X and tool Y, time spent on pages An analysis of tool usage may help you to decide where to invest in: more easy-to-print tables or a simpler, smarter planning tool?

5 Look at the Look-to-Book Ratio Review periodic usage ratio for various periods of the year: Examples: seasonal promotions Data patterns are but one clue to improving look-to-book ratios. The number of times a consumer views a product before buying it, or not, can tell retailers such things as whether the item is over-priced compared to alternatives, whether the Add to Cart button is visible or whether the customer got distracted after linking to a related page. Items with high view rates, but low add-to-cart rates are in need of close scrutiny from all angles Used metric: scenario analysis between pages An analysis of pre-buying usage may help you to decide how to price products / services and detect service overlaps

6 Know Banner and Search Engine Marketing ROI Awareness and promotion campaigns have real costs: Calculate these marketing costs and returns That means accurately tracking how many times a customer comes to a site through the same affiliate or search engine and what they do once they gets there. Used metric: incoming traffic via referrer X / Y The costs of communicating online can easily be 10% of traditional communication costs once reaching a certain volume.

7 Analytics to Make E-mailing More Effective Emailing is the most cost efficient information delivery tool but it is crucial to check if it is also appreciated – How valid is your email database? – What is the bounce rate on emails? – How many emails get delivered? – How many get read? – How many do get clicked? – How many get forwarded? What works best: – Frequency: weekly, monthly, quarterly, … – Delivery technique: table of content linking to site or full text? Used metric: statistics on landing pages, email sending reporting tools & click-troughs Effective email campaigns can build customer loyalty if part of larger citizen information program.

8 Inspect Customer Navigation Identify information search patterns as customers move across categories, enabling site managers to more properly streamline navigational paths: >80% of content should be findable within 3 clicks Consult how returning visitors use site vs new visitors: if it returning always have to click 1-2-3 to get where they want, consider a direct link from homepage Make an abstraction of individual pages and group them in content type pages: analyze content hopping like (descriptions) (prizes) (shopping) Used metric: scenario analysis over grouped content pages Knowing how customers vs prospects use your site can help you to minimize the total number of clicks to reach goals

9 Find out why visitors abort their session Nothing is more frustrating to site owners than seeing that customers do not click beyond homepage or do not use their brand new tool Analytics can pinpoint where the customer dropped out: Once all the pieces are known, the site owner can determine whether the process is too long, too cumbersome or does not provide enough data at the point the customer appears ready to proceed. Used metric: exit pages Learning why and where abort your site can help you to make every page of your website more attractive and meaningful to visitor

10 Correlate data, go beyond plain stats Avoid the one-dimensional: applying web site analytics can be a complex undertaking. Understanding the results can be even more daunting. But that understanding is essential to a web site’s success. The true value of analytics is understanding the insights provided by the numbers not the numbers themselves Multi-dimensional thinking is the key to keeping their web site performing at the highest level: – Visitor behaviour vs customer profile – Buying behaviour vs price setting or incentives – General site satisfaction results vs improvement cycles Used metric: any to any Finding meaningful relationships between datasets is the key to gaining valuable and useful insights

Emakina service offering Web Analytics

Maturity in statistics II drive results drive results II have an action plan have an action plan to reach my goals to reach my goals II have objectives have objectives II have insight in to have insight in to Current what it means what it means level II have some have some numbers numbers I have a site

Integrating web statistics in your company I make yearly reports but no one seems to use or understand them Big Company webmaster

Typical company Management Management Delivers website +logfiles Classical Classical IT Marketing Other IT Marketing Other Web Web Department Department Departments Department Department Departments Agency Agency Biggest mistake that can be made: business managers Biggest mistake that can be made: business managers assuming that web reports are hard to make and understand assuming that web reports are hard to make and understand

Well integrated companies Deliver logfiles, insights, know-how, solutions, trends, the right tools, long- Management Management term advice Value Value Added Added Web Web Agency Agency IT Marketing Other IT Marketing Other Department Department Departments Department Department Departments e-Enabled business managers from all departments that can e-Enabled business managers from all departments that can act and decide as soon as data comes in act and decide as soon as data comes in

Why You Need Web Analytics Goal setting Examples: – Decrease costs by e-handling – Site satisfaction at >80 percent… – Double your customer base… Challenge: – Determine what is desired, what is realistic, what is achievable … and then plan Internet offers a unique trackeable and personalisable medium that, if properly managed and correctly interpreted can give you a fair and unbiased 24/24 view on your business Measurement is the first towards management

Our expert recommendations Adapt metrics system so that statistics become meaningful and easy to interprete by business Analyze not absolute numbers but focus on trends Learn the meaning of definitions and get insight in numbers Filter undesired traffic from logs that inflate numbers Start with a set of quality metrics to watch monitor and set realistic business objectives

Emakina Service Range on Statistics Analyze Act Plan Analyze Act Plan Review historical log files Install business reporting Define measurable and Review historical log files Install business reporting Define measurable and and give second expert solutions: dashboards manageable key and give second expert solutions: dashboards manageable key opinion and drilldown reports performance indicators opinion and drilldown reports performance indicators Accuracy and reports Setup appropriate filtering Deliver strategies to meet Accuracy and reports Setup appropriate filtering Deliver strategies to meet Review historical and definitions and deliver on those KPIs Review historical and definitions and deliver on those KPIs objective-strategy Help you to observe and Integrate KPIs in daily objective-strategy Help you to observe and Integrate KPIs in daily mechanics understand trends management mechanics understand trends management Benchmark analysis: Benchmark analysis: identify weakness & identify weakness & strengths strengths Now Past Tomorrow

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Emakina Academy - 5 - Know your audience - Web Analytics

by Emakina on May 16, 2007

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Emakina Academy - 5 - Know your audience - Web Analytics — Presentation Transcript