Acting on Data - Business Perspective of Web Analytics

Acting on Data - Business Perspective of Web Analytics

Gathering raw data is likely one of the initiatives of your company’s web analytics program; however what is even more important and an often under-utilized aspect of web analytics is to understand the value of this data by analyzing it from a business perspective and acting on that data in a manner that is consistent with your overall business objectives.

Why is it Critical?

Too many businesses simply invest in a web analytics tool and then do not realize the full value from it due to their inability to take any action on the data that is being captured. Business people know that it is impossible to effectively manage something that you cannot measure. In order to determine your progress; you need to be able to measure your results. Without the proper metrics in place you cannot evaluate if your actions are bringing you closer or further away from your business goals.

Web Analytics is an investment like any other; it requires financial and human resources. As with any other type of investment, companies want to make sure their resources are being used most efficiently to ensure they receive the most return on their investment in web analytics. With all investments, it is critical that you are able to obtain all available data to make informed decisions. This also carries over into the web analytics industry. Unfortunately, in firms who are not effectively leveraging their web analytics data, many decisions are based on intuition rather than facts. For instance, an individual may use certain images on the homepage based on what he/she thinks will appeal to visitors. In this scenario, the individual should instead take a more active approach by continually testing the effectiveness of various images. Only then can a decision regarding the level of appeal of different images be based on factual data rather than intuition.

Common Pitfalls

In some cases, the Marketing/Business team requires web analytics data to make informed decisions but the IT team owns and controls the web analytics tool. So the Marketing/Business team requires assistance from the IT team to help them configure reports and extract data, but often the IT team has little interest or knowledge of what business questions the tool should be helping them to answer.

In other cases, the Marketing/Business team owns and controls the web analytics tool. In these situations, the Marketing/Business team may not have a strong technical background since their expertise is in other areas. This often results in the web analytics tool being configured incorrectly, which yields inaccurate data. The most detrimental part of this is that they often are unaware it is configured incorrectly and they base decisions on the inaccurate data.

In other situations, the two teams may be attempting to jointly control and operate the tool. Problems often arise because the two teams do not fully understand each others needs and may have varying objectives. All of these cases make it very difficult to take action on your web analytics data and fully optimize the value of your time and financial investments.

Goals

The end goal of looking at web analytics data from a business perspective is to become a data-driven organization. Most importantly, you must act on the data and then measure the results of your actions. Next, you must analyze those results to determine the effectiveness and identify future actions to test. Acting on the data should be an ongoing process towards continuous improvement of your website.
 
Goals
 
The right tools and the right talent are essential to being able to identify the proper actions you should be taking. The right web analytics tools are much easier to come by than the right analytics talent. Since web analytics experience is a rare skill there is often a huge premium for that talent. As mentioned earlier, there are often conflicts of interests between the Marketing/Business team and the IT team; an experienced analyst should also be able to serve as a liaison between the two teams and ensure they understand each others goals and work together successfully.

It is also critical to make sure your analysts is experienced, whether it be internal or external, to ensure your data is accurate and is being analyzed effectively to identify the most appropriate action items to help you to optimize your business objectives. Companies often have trouble finding skilled personnel because they are in such high demand and there is very little supply of them in the job market. An increasing number of companies are turning to outsourcing and consultants to leverage the collective experience of services firms as an effective way to accelerate the progression of their web analytics initiatives.

Do not overlook the importance of leveraging your web analytics data from a business perspective to maximize the value you receive from your web analytics initiatives. Using analytics in this fashion will help you to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
 
Josh Manion
Josh Manion
Chief Executive Officer
Stratigent, LLC

For more information please call 877-427-2900 or email info@stratigent.com.