Web Analytics Strategic Initiatives For 2007

The year 2006 has truly been a banner year for the web analytics industry. Not only in terms of the growth in awareness and size of the web analytics industry, but also in the ability of firms to increase the return on investment derived from web analytics initiatives, 2006 has been a success.

So how can we continue this upward trend through the New Year? As part of planning for the coming year, I thought I would share a summary of the top priorities that appear most often on the "2007 To Do" list for many of the organizations with whom we work.

Dedication to proactive analysis of web analytics data. Without the proactive analysis of data and taking action on the resulting recommendations, it is virtually impossible to derive return on investment from web analytics. When resources are consumed by reactive reporting, maintenance and administration, companies are unable to propel the sophistication of analysis to the next level. Therefore, companies are beginning a major push to dedicate resources to the proactive analysis and interpretation of high value data. This analysis often leads to actionable insights which have the ability to directly impact site design, marketing campaigns, and business processes.

• Email
• Testing and optimization
• In store customer data
• Call center data
• Direct mail data

Investment in a web analytics staff. There is still a critical shortage of skilled and experienced web analytics professionals in the industry. Not only are consulting firms like Stratigent looking to add significantly to their teams, but many of our clients are also looking to add dedicated web analytics staff to their organizations throughout the coming year.

Testing and experimentation. In almost all cases, organizations with whom we work are looking to either expand their current efforts or begin new efforts in the testing and optimization space. Most often this involves at least A/B and multi-variable testing, but there is also a growing interest in fully automated site and visitor optimization.

Developing business processes for web analytics. As the importance of web analytics has grown, so has the need to have established business processes for the management of web analytics solutions, the analysis of data from web analytics, and the coordination of multiple internal teams (IT, marketing, web analytics team etc.)

The points above, of course, are only a glimpse into what 2007 holds for the future of web analytics, but can serve as a roadmap in the planning and validation process that we all most go through as the New Year approaches. Here's to your 2007 roadmap, and another successful year for the web analytics industry.

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