Web Analytics is More Than Just a Reporting Tool

Posted by Naras Eechambadi on March 8, 2010

1 comments | 1475 reads

Recently I was on a keynote panel at the National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM). In response to a question from the audience, one of my co-panelists pooh-poohed the value of web analytics. He referred to it as just a fancy reporting mechanism for web activity with little relevance for marketing. I was a little surprised by the comment and was itching to make a rebuttal, but the moderator chose to take the conversation in a different direction. "Web analytics" is one of those terms that tends to be thrown around casually by folks seeking to impress others and can mean different things to different people (and mean nothing to most people).

The Web Analytics Association defines web analytics as "the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage." Within the confines of this strict definition, my co-panelist was probably accurate. However, the value of marketers of web analytics comes from what is done with the data after the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of the web activity. We have found that linking this activity to unique visitors, whether they be customers, identifiable prospects or even anonymous visitors can yield very rich, actionable insight. It is possible to perform sophisticated segmentation on visitors and use this segmentation to target communications such as advertising or cross sell or upsell messages. See one of our recent case studies that discusses this approach.

Once the web behavior of individual customers and prospects is being tracked it can be linked to their behavior in other channels, such as call centers, retail stores or branches as well as their responses to email or direct mail and as well as their activity on external sites, in some cases. Web analytics can, therefore, be not only relevant to marketing but actually very central to understanding customer behavior and value and lead to actionable segmentation.

It is more than just a reporting tool.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Naras Eechambadi.

Naras Eechambadi

Naras Eechambadi is the General Manager of Quaero, a CSG solution. Quaero delivers multi-channel marketing solutions that help companies build long-lasting customer relationships and maximize return on investment. Eechambadi was the winner of the American Business Award for Marketing Executive of the Year in 29 and is the author of High Performance Marketing: Bringing Method to the Madness of Marketing (Kaplan Professional Press, 25).

About Naras Eechambadi |
Connect:

Categories:

1475 reads
Print
Email

1 comments »

Akin Arikan

March 9, 2010

From web to customer analytics

Couldn't agree more with Naras.

Maybe the web analytics market place has only itself to blame for that negative comment by the other panelist.

* On a maturity model that goes from 1. reporting to 2. site optimization to 3. visitors/customer segmentation to 4. interactive marketing with individual site visitors, most users of web analytics are still at a level 1 or 2.

* Among online marketers and web analysts there is always talk of a cycle of continuous improvement for making website and online marketing processes better. However, the discussion has for too long neglected another cycle of continuous improvement, namely one at the level of individual visitors and their lifetime value to the company.

But the very good news in Naras' post is that this came up at a keynote panel at NCDM. As more and more direct marketers have been embracing digital, I am confident that we are going to see the discussion become a lot more interesting in 2010.

Thank you for the post and vote of confidence for the value of analytics!
Akin

Post new comment

Your name: *

E-mail: *

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Homepage:

Subject:

Comment: *

Input format

Filtered HTML

Allowed HTML tags: <a> <img> <hr> <table> <tr> <td> <th><ul> <ol> <li> </li><blockquote> <colspan> <rowspan>
Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
Images can be added to this post.

Post

Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
Images can be added to this post.

More information about formatting options

Notify me when new comments are posted

All comments

Replies to my comment

CAPTCHA

No spam permitted! Moderator reviews ALL content before publication to ensure compliance with the CustomerThink terms of use.

To block automated spam submissions, please answer this question.

What code is in the image?: *

Enter the characters shown in the image.

MarketPlace

Drive customer loyalty, empower support teams, and reduce costs. Get social.

[Feb 22] Guest speakers from Forrester Research, Allscripts, and CustomerThink will discuss market trends and research on social customer service strategies, as well as proven tactics from the trenches. Join the live webcast on Feb 22 at 10am Pacific (1pm EST).

Global Customer Experience Management (CEM) Certification Program

[March 13-14, Paris] An internationally recognized program with proven track record of success - being run for 33 times in 13 cities with attendees from 50 countries, the program is developed based on the U.S. patent-pending Branded CEM Method which aims to drive customer loyalty and brand differentiation with quantifiable business results. Limited offer: USD300 early bird discount.

10 Steps to a Single Customer View

Linking customer data across department databases and business units improves business intelligence, customer profiling, and customer management. This paper outlines 10 steps to improve the quality of customer contact data, including physical mail, email, and telephone information.