Corporate Web Analytics Concerns
| Manoj Jasra - Tuesday, July 08, 2008 2 Comments |
In large organizations where priorities are constantly changing and everyone has a very tight deadline, there are many issues surrounding web analytics that can arise. I will mention some of these issues in a moment but the key to web analytics in a corporate culture is evangelizing it. Getting as many key stake holders trained on its usefulness and getting them to understand the importance of web analytics has become a necessity in order for web analytics to receive any type of priority. As an analyst, the more people you can get on your side the more you can push things like testing, deep dives, best practices and the importance of tagging.
But, without further ado, here are some major pains for web analytics in a corporate culture:
- Web Analytics is the last thing on people's minds. A massive email campaign is about to be released and right after the send button is pushed, someone asks how each link in the campaign will be tracked.
- Web Analytics is a part time role for a Jr. team member. You think you have all of your bases covered because the new guy, who has 6 months of marketing experience attended a Google Analytics webinar last week.
- Lack of understanding of what metrics are important to your business: If people on your team are more concerned with rankings and impressions than conversions and ROI, then you've got issues.
- Who needs an analyst when you've got a $100,000 product: A product with all the bells and whistles is fantastic but without someone who knows how to implement it and pull the right data, it can become useless very quick.
- More Excitement then Execution: Everyone is pumped about web analytics and can't wait to see the results but one of two things happens: The excitement shortly dies down OR you have no ownership for the excitement so that strategies get built around it.
Labels: Web Analytics
Good post that sums up very common concerns. But as Darwin would put it, it's part of the natural selection process. There are clear indications that companies who "get it right" have much better chances of survival (especially with the economy hick ups we're going through!).
If anyone reading this post share the pain, I would recommend giving "Competing on analytics" by Davenport to your boss, or better still, to a senior executive or even CEO. :)
This is a good summary of the context of the difficulties in presenting a complex aspect of a web project's optimisation... would be great to see a follow up article on imaginative ways of finding a resolution to the issue.
I have been working for a company that has 4 million subscribers on their different newsletter product lists, but absolutely no attention for putting in place a tracking system.
The arguments have to be made via analogies drawn, dashboards concepts that get together the shifts in effectiveness of template models. Ultimately yes it is uphill in any big coorporation with its fixed culture. However breakthroughs in results for CEOs do arise, but they come after the evolution of the communication of the analyst.