Web Analytics Management

Planning a Successful Omniture Implementation

How do you approach a Site Catalyst implementation?

How do you decide what data collect?

How do you know what to do first

Gary and June have already written about Semphonic's recently released Omniture Implementation Toolkit and the value it can bring to understanding the complexity of SiteCatalyst tags.

I wanted to write a bit about the Project Management and Implementation Management documents included in the kit.

Project management is probably one of the least favorite activities among analysts. After all, you want to spend your time analyzing data and finding fascinating insights. So, in the Implementation Toolkit, we've made it easy. We've put all of the steps into an Excel spreadsheet project plan template that walks you through the page tag implementation process from start to finish, and notes task dependencies, resource requirements based on role, as well as call outs on where to find detailed information within the guide so you can fill in the dates you need to track. We think you'll find this to be a huge management help.

How do you develop a paper trail documenting what happens from report requirements to tag building to report creation? We've put together an Implementation Management worksheet that brings you through the entire process and gives you a convenient "all in one" repository for keeping track of this complex relationship. Especially important when maintaining and updating your SiteCatalyst implementation.

So, yes, knowing how to build the SiteCatalyst tags will optimize your return on investment in Omniture; understanding how to plan for a successful implementation will ensure that you complete the project on time and within budget.

To take a closer look at the Toolkit, go to: http://www.semphonic.com/analytics/impgutr.asp

Top 5 Reasons Web Analytics Managers Like Their Vendor

I've just finished writing the latest version of the Web Analytics Report for CMS Watch.

While it's cool to see what the vendors are doing, I enjoy the research because I speak to lots of web analytics managers who are using the solutions in many different scenarios...for e-commerce and marketing, for distributed reporting and for extranets, and so forth.

I thought I'd share with you the top 5 common themes web analytics managers expressed when talking positively about their vendor:   

1. The most satisfied customers are those who believe their vendor has listened to them, and delivered on requirements that are quite customized. "Even though the tool doesn't do "so and so" out of the box, the vendor worked with us to customize a solution that no one else could." 
2. Managers like a solution that is really easy for their stakeholders to use. This seems obvious, but if it was the "status quo" people wouldn't keep making the point. As one manager said about the solution his company uses, "We like it because report creation is very simple for simple reports," or "It has a very user friendly UI…trainees often figure it out themselves." 
3. Managers believe they're getting a good value for the money they are spending. "The vendor was able to do the customization at a reasonable price." 
4. Managers have a clear idea of why they're using the solution. They've carefully determined organizational and metrics requirements prior to purchase. They've focused on the type of business partnership they can have with the vendor on a long term basis. As Bob the Builder says, they're using "the right tool for the job."
5. Managers are happy with technical support.  Yes, it can happen. The point is, responsiveness counts. "Support is wonderful; very prompt; we have a good account manager."

Notice that technological superiority or features didn't make it into the top 5. From the vendor it's about service, value, and relationships. From the customers, it's about planning, and having a firm notion of requirements. Food for thought as you come up for contract renewal, and for planning analytics projects for the coming year.

How do you pick a web analytics consultant?

How do you pick a web analytics consultant?

It's a question you'll likely need to answer if you manage web analytics, marketing, e-commerce, or web content.

In Forrester's recent Where to Get Help With Web Analytics,there are 91 firms claiming to have expertise in web analytics consulting; 51 in North America alone.

I was surprised to see so many; then again web analytics is hot right now, so lots of folks are eager to hang a shingle. In addition, Omniture's move to add certified consultants is also contributing to the growth in the ranks.

Maybe it's a good news/bad news scenario...a few years ago it was easier to choose because there weren't as many consultants, but you couldn't be assured there was an organization that met your requirements. Now there's more to choose from, but how do you select between the top 2 or 3 that meet your requirements.

While price still matters a great deal, I've always found that intangibles count for a lot...to be able to communicate in plain language, to understand your business, to recognize and appreciate the relationship between technology and business,and to have the ability to bridge gaps between stakeholders with varied agendas.

I've hired and worked with a diverse set of consultants over the years...and I've been a consultant as well. Whether its web analytics, or mortgages, successful engagements are built on communication and relationships.

Industry thought leadership, and a long list of speaking engagements are simply pre-requisites for consideration. Get to know your potential consultants a bit more than what is reflected in the proposal and meeting. Figure out how they'll work with you and your stakeholders. When you talk to references, find out how consultants worked with their client teams, not just whether they were proficient in building page tags. Get a sense for how they handle mistakes, or surprises.

If you take these extra steps, you'll find that you'll be selecting a business partner who you'll be able to depend on and grow with for a very long time.

“Car Talk” for Web Analytics

Tom and Ray Magliozzi won’t be there...sure, we tried to convince them, but they wouldn't leave the garage and join us at Semphonic Central...

Nevertheless, Ask Semphonic is going to be even more informative and more entertaining...about web analytics.

If you haven't already signed up, read Gary and Joel's posts, and know why you can't miss this.

If you've been procrastinating and waiting to the last minute to sign up...well, we're approaching the last minute...

Ask Semphonic is on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 11:00AM Pacific / 2:00PM Eastern.

The time to register is now...just go to: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/320201650

If you don't know about Ask Semphonic, the 25 word or less summary is that it is a free, online, interactive webinar series with the Semphonic team... where you get to ask your questions and get no-nonsense, no-sales answers.

The theme of the first webinar will be the Omniture acquisition of Visual Sciences and what it means to customers and the vendor landscape.

Looking forward to having you join us!

WHEN: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 11:00AM Pacific / 2:00PM Eastern

To Register: Please visit https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/320201650

For more info: http://www.semphonic.com/analytics/asksem.asp

Google Analytics Effect Revisited

When I've asked folks who work at Web analytics vendors if Google Analytics threatens their business, they generally say that Google has actually driven them business because companies start with Google, then need to "graduate" to a more robust product.

However, I also hear from people who have dropped their web analytics solution and moved to Google Analytics because they realize they aren't getting the return on investment from their analytics vendors.

So I'm curious...

Have you dropped your web analytics vendor for Google Analytics?

Have you "graduated" from Google Analytics to another web analytics vendor?

In light of the last month's events, does Google Analytics seem like a better choice, simply due to the stability of the company?

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts...

WebTrends will not be acquired by Omniture

I just read Eric Peterson's post this morning about Tim Kopp's departure from WebTrends.

While there's no way to predict what will happen with WebTrends, I would certainly not bet my money on an acquisition from Omniture.

Most of WebTrends' customers are still in the SMB market...clearly not a match for where Omniture is going with their product development.

If WebTrends were to be acquired by any web analytics vendors, I'd say there's more potential to be taken over by Coremetrics' or Lyris, formerly J.L. Halsey, owner of ClickTracks. Coremetrics' created an SMB offering in September and considers 35% of their customer base to be in the SMB market. Part of their motivation for creating this offering was to compete against WebTrends. Lyris' historical focus is the SMB market. In fact, they just announced their name change and new Lyris platform yesterday. Seems like the sophistication they are bringing in combining analytics, PPC and email marketing could be quite attractive to SMB companies.

While I have no basis to say whether the change in management at WebTrends is either good or bad, the anecdotal evidence I've gathered indicates that take up of their enterprise offering Marketing Warehouse, has been extremely slow. If the management team was banking their company's success on this offering, and it wasn't successful, maybe it was time for a change.

From my perspective, WebTrends has spent a lot of time transitioning customers from its licensed solution to its On Demand solution,yet it still has had to support its licensed and log file-centric customer base. I imagine that's had to be a drain on resources.

In short, the company has tried to be all things to all people - log files, page tags, licensed,subscription, SMB and enterprise all rolled into one...there isn't a vendor on the market today that is spread so broadly.

If WebTrends does stay in the game, new management will need to refocus what the company is selling and to whom...and hope that enough of its customer base is willing to stick with them.

WebTrends loses out in bid to be bought by Omniture, and CEO is history

Well that was the news out of Portland late yesterday from a piece in the Portland Business Journal. Also gone are Jason Palmer, vice president of product management; Tore Steen, vice president of business and corporate development; and Hamid Bahadori, vice president of product development and hosted operations.

There's not a lot of details coming out just at this time. However, if you have anything to share, please post a comment.

WebTrends has seemingly been on the come back trail with features such as Score and Visitor Intelligence. On the other hand, their WebTrends Marketing Warehouse has been slow to catch on with customers, and it's probable that their highly publicized effort to scoop up HBX customers hasn't paid off.

What Does Web Analytics Consolidation, Fragmentation and Wal-Mart-ization Mean to You?

There has been plenty of discussion over the last few days about the consolidation of the web analytics marketplace due to the Omniture/Visual Sciences deal, and some comments on my last posting speculating about the future of Coremetrics and WebTrends.

What strikes me about the discussions of consolidation, is that the very concept is really more relevant if you invest in web analytics companies, rather than use their products.

I wanted to suggest a different theory based on the point of view of a web analytics consumer, rather than a web analytics investor: that the web analytics marketplace is not simply consolidating; it is in fact fragmenting, and there are plenty of options to consider if you are purchasing web analytics solutions.

From an offering prospective, Omniture has acquired two companies (Instadia and Visual Sciences) that are also based primarily on a SaaS/page tag collection model, and also focused on a large company customer base. In this vendor segment that leaves Coremetrics' and Fireclick, and IndexTools as the main competitors, and if you are in Europe, you could also include Nedstat. So within the SaaS/page tag segment of the market,you could say that there has been some consolidation from a company standpoint. However, unless you require complex segmentation, robust Excel reporting, tons of data processing and custom querying, in many respects the functionality is all comparable.

Now let's look at the segment of vendors that offer hybrid solutions, i.e., page tag/log files, SaaS and licensed options. Sadly, many web analytics consumers dismiss these as "log file" solutions...thanks in large part to the marketing hype of SaaS/page tag centric vendors, poor data processing reputation of first generation log file solutions, and reinforcement of others who have only "discovered" web analytics in the last 5 years. From a web analytics consumer perspective, having the potential advantages of hosting and controlling your own data, capturing web site performance data, and the flexibility of using tags for event tracking can be very attractive. ClickTracks, Unica, WebTrends are all worth considering as options...and all have impressive product development paths going forward.

And finally there will likely be quite a bit of activity in specialized web analytics tools for Web 2.0 content that will challenge the Wal-Mart concept of analytics that's become the status quo. I don't mean simply integrating different types of analytics methodologies, but new tools used to analyze evolving content and applications at more discreet levels than current offerings. At the recent eMetrics Summit and through the research I'm conducting for the next edition of the Web Analytics Report, I've learned about ClearSpring, a widget analytics tool, Visible Measures, a video analytics tool, and even an analytics solution for Second Life ad campaigns, called VTracker. And of course there are already existing blog specific analytics tools out in the market already.

Sure, the Wal-Mart, one-stop-shop oriented vendors enable you to track Web 2.0, but newer tools that are lightweight can address specific analytics questions with a lot less fuss than the "all in one" analytics packages. As we've seen with the parallel adoption of Google Analytics in companies that already possess analytics tools, Web 2.0 specific measurement may be another function that can be reported upon outside of the primary web analytics solution.

While its likely that the web analytics marketplace will see more consolidation, the "new wave" of specialty tools suggests more fragmentation at the lower end. And if you think about it, that has always been the life cycle within analytics...players come, players go, and vendors keep evolving the technology to keep up with what needs to be measured.

For perspective, consider that of the first generation analytics big dogs...NetGenesis, Accrue and WebTrends... only WebTrends is on the scene today. We'll see who survives intact on this ongoing evolution, and what new players will emerge. Having been in web analytics since 1996, I'll quote the French novelist Alphonse Carr, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

So, enough rambling for now...I'm interested in hearing from you: What do you think about consolidation vs. fragmentation, and how are you using lighter tools with your "Wal-Mart" solutions? I look forward to reading your comments.