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Web Analytics Full Circle: Back to the Data Mine(To Web Analysts: Become Statisticians or Get Into Management)

Christopher BerrySenior Analyst

Insight and Planningchristopherb@criticalmass.com

http://christopher-berry.blogspot.com

3 Core Takeaways

• Businesses increasingly want web data combined with business intelligence

• We’re going to have to get along (Las Vegas eloping or shot-gun wedding, it’s our choice)

• We need to start getting to know one other now, (because the differences are quite substantial)

Web Analytics

Traditional Definition 1.0:

• “Web Analytics is the study of the behavior of website visitors.”

Definition 2.0:

• “Web Analytics is the study of digital behavior.”

Web Analytics Association Definition

• “Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage.”

The Obligatory How we Got Here From There Slides

Direct Marketing / Marketing Science

And then…

We have log files! Hooray! Tell me hits!

Well these aren’t very good, now are they?

We netted out though…

Then it got worse…

• CMO’s and eCommerce managers are:– Spending a greater

portion of their dollars on the web

– Are demanding more accountability

• Why? In part…blame Business Pop Culture!

HBR

…and in “popular” literature

Already…leading Manager and CMO’s are asking...

• How is my website driving in-store or online sales? How is online advertising and marketing performing? How is social media affecting brand equity and sales?

..and we can satiate them…for awhile…

But Wait…there’s more!

Measure these channels holistically, too!

…which is fine, because most Search Engine Marketing gets along well with Web Analytics…

We need your talents and your data warehouses…

Your Customer Intelligence Databases

And how are we gonna fit it all together?

Oooooh Yeaaaaah

So web analytics: back to the data mine

That’s WHY we’re getting pushed together

How are we different?

Reasons why we’re different: Precision versus Accuracy

Democratic Access versus Elite Access

Thirdly…Most Web Analysts are NOT statisticians… (And that’s a real knowledge gap!) However, they can be very good communicators.

At the core…it has been about understanding digital behavior

• The toolkit we use to understand digital behavior, and how to use business intelligence based personalization, is distinct from pure business rules generation and predictive modeling

• The level of customization is that much more intensive

Increasingly it is about consumer behaviour on or offline

• To get the holistic view of the consumer, we need to work together.

You’re not going to be able to eat us

But we have so much in common!

What a TWIST!

Web Analytics is 3 Disciplines!

Database Mining is Three Disciplines!

We’re each accustomed to data integration projects…

DW/BI development just takes a lot longer…

• We need to find a balance between the two

And we’re just loved by everyone…

Web Analytics Wednesday

• In Toronto, typically held the second Wednesday of the Month, typically at Bar Wellington. (Check the website first though. ☺ )

• This Month, it’s coinciding with the end of SES at Bier Mrkt next Wednesday (register now)

• http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com/wednesday/index.asp

Predictions from Industry Experts

• Angie Brown (WAA Standards Committee Chair): Web Analytics is evolving and probably won’t “exist” and won’t be called “web analytics” within a year or two. It’s heading back towards database marketing.

• Jim Novo (Database Marketer, WAA Education Committee Chair): Web Analytics as a “discipline” will phase out by name, and merge with business intelligence. People trained in Web Analytics are better equipped to run Business Intelligence companies anyway and will take over. Quants will take over as marketers.

• Don Corvine (Database Marketer, Consultant): Google will become an advertising agency – they’ve been hiring Bayesians in England, CMOs and Friedman school quants in CA – Marketing and advertising will become like the stock market with trades and futures – quants will become the new marketers…advertising will come to resemble the financial-services sector, which also went through a technology revolution more than two decades ago. While the relationship aspect remains, technology made it more efficient to match up supply and demand.(same as Novo).

3 Core Takeaways

• Businesses increasingly want web data combined with business intelligence– So…who in your organization is responsible for web analytics?

• We’re going to have to get along (Las Vegas eloping or shot-gun wedding, it’s our choice)– It’s probably better for you to arrange your own marriage

• We need to start getting to know each other now, (because the differences are quite substantial)– It’s not about all your data are belong to us, in fact our data is really

yours in most cases, it’s about how we can help each others disciplines, and our organizations, compete and thrive in the age of interactive intelligence

Web Analytics Full Circle: Back to the Data Mine(To Web Analysts: Become Statisticians or Get Into Management)

Christopher BerrySenior Analyst

Insight and Planningchristopherb@criticalmass.com

http://christopher-berry.blogspot.com