Unlocking Insight From Web Analytics Data

Unlocking insight from web analytics data Webcast Guide
Unlocking insight from web analytics data

Presented jointly by: Ian Michiels Aberdeen Group Jason Thompson Empty Mind Solutions
Web analytics data can help optimize marketing strategies and improve marketing decisions. However, many online marketers are not getting the depth of insight that they know they should. By employing segmentation, you can discover market potential and generate new streams of revenue.
This guide presents some current trends in the analytics space, common challenges, and what best-in-class companies are doing right for extracting more value from the online channel..
Unlocking the potential of data

A recent study conducted by the Aberdeen Group titled WebAnalytics: Actionable Insights for Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Online Data, set out to answer these questions: How do businesses unlock the hidden potential within the data theyre collecting? What are businesses that are achieving higher performance doing differently? What are some key best practices that can be taken from this research? Based on this research, we want to identify best-in-class (BIC) tactics for extracting more value from the online channel.
Aberdeen asked each of the 250 participants to provide online marketing key performance indicators (KPIs), along with their year-over-year improvement or decline in those metrics. Aberdeen identified three metrics that successful online marketing businesses use: Online conversion rate Revenue per visit Customer profitability
In the context of those three metrics, Aberdeen wanted to see what the best performers were doing differently to excel in them: Which pitfalls were they avoiding? How were they achieving this greater success? Which strategic actions were they leveraging? Which technologies and services were enabling them to succeed?
Top marketing pressures

Aberdeen wanted to knowthe top-three pressures that the marketers participating in the study felt. The responses below are the ones that were the most commonly cited:
From their own research, Aberdeen knew that the two most profitable channels for businesses in the past two years have been online and email, as well as the best way to reach out to their customers. It was no surprise then to see that marketers have been looking to online channelsto address the pressures they feel, because the web is so effective in measuring and improving marketing results, as well as acquiring new customers.
Business strategies for mitigating top pressures

If these companies want to relieve some of these pressures, what are they doing about it on their sites? Here is how they responded:
Role of economic climate

The participants were asked: How prominent a role has the current economic climate played in your organizations use of the online channel for better customer insights and understanding? As you can see, the economy has made it a higher priority to invest in the online channel:
Level of satisfaction with web analytics

The respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 15 how satisfied they were with the actionable information delivered by their web analytics solution.
This articulates the point that there is certainly room to improve. Marketers see the value that can come from web analytics, but they want to get more out of it than they are. The respondents were also asked to convey their frustrations with their web analytics solution, and whether the solution was free, purchased, or both. Interestingly, the most common frustration among both types was the same:
Best-in-class practices
The survey also demonstrated what BIC businesses are doing with their analytics to realize more value and take action that brings in and keeps customers.
Paid versus free solutions

The first piece worth looking at is how the BIC compare others in terms of using a paid versus a free analytics solution.
BIC businesses were more likely to use a paid analytics solution. Paid solutions tend to have more best practices built in and more access to resources like consulting and a development community. These things are typically not found in a free solution. While having a free solution seems cost effective from the outset, having a paid solution allows the BIC to extract more value. It is interesting that many of the BIC businesses have both.
Adoption trends
There is also something to be said for a long-term time investment into a solution. The BIC companies tend to have invested in a solution for several years, to the point where theyre getting a good value in return.
As you can see, many BIC businesses have invested in an analytics solution for more than five years. Theyve gone through the learning curve and are reaching efficiencies based on the system theyre using.
Measurement trends
If youre getting good results from your analytics, its likely that youre asking the right questions and measuring the right things. Here is a look at what the BIC businesses are measuring versus the rest of the field.
There isnt a whole lot of variance. The BIC are measuring conversion rates in higher numbers, but the others are pretty even. You see the difference when you compare performance variance for free versus paid solutions in the following chart.
These results demonstrate that those who paid for an analytics service were getting significant upticks in performance of their online channel. Because of the access to consulting resources and built-in ease, it wasnt too surprising to see that paid analytics users outpaced those who use free solutions. It is interesting to see that those who use both paid and free solutions arent necessarily getting extra efficiency out on the other end. Those using both are likely inundated with information and getting more than they can usefully and efficiently use.
BIC capabilities
What are BIC companies doing differently, or more capable of, to give them better results than their peers? Here is what Aberdeen gathered:
Things to consider: Do the executives support the initiative? Is the information getting to the right people? Has the business specifically identified what it should be measuring? The BIC companies seem to have successfully addressed these and others similar questions.
Segmentation
There was some serious separation between the BIC and everyone else when it came to using segmentation. BIC companies were 3.5 times more likely to use segmentation and targeting.
Is your organization segmenting or personalizing? If not, where are you likely to end up from a performance standpoint? And if youre not segmenting and personalizing, your likely competitors are.
How are the BIC segmenting? Heres a look:
The BIC companies are focusing on personalizing according to geography targeting based on purchasing behavior. Are those always easy to do? No. You have to have solutions that help you gather that information and make it actionable. So, the information from the study is coming full circle. The BIC feel theyre paying for the more worthwhile analytics solutions; theyre taking the time to learn them and get value out of them; and, in turn, theyre getting the ideas, information, and strategy that is pushing them and their results above the pack.
Mining for hidden gems

When talking about segmentation, mining makes for a good metaphor.
The first step in the mining process is discovery, which is carried out through prospecting or exploration to find and then define the extent, location, and value of the area. This leads to mathematical resource estimation to figure out the value of the deposit. Mining techniques can be divided into two common excavation types: surface mining and subsurface (underground) mining.
Often marketers focus much of their time on surface mining. What needs to be addressed with more depth are the subsurface techniques that uncover truly hidden gems. These techniques are valuable and have a large impact on business KPIs. Here are the three that will be pointed out here: Channel segmentation to identify winning treatments apart from the losers Segment dashboards to identify site issues early Fold segmentation to optimize site conversion To improve registration, Jason Thompson made alterations to his home page. He tested four different versions, including several headlines and a total page redesign.
As you can see from the funnel, the idea was to improve the home page to get more people to start registration and, of course, ultimately more of them to complete it. He was prepared to immediately push the winner out to 100% of the traffic.
Here are the results of the test as seen in Adobe Test&Target, powered by Omniture(R):
On the surface it looks like all tests underperformed in comparison to the control. But take note of Treatment 2 that is underperforming by 6%. If you take that result into Adobe Discover, powered by Omniture, and start to slice and dice it by segment, you get a better sense of how different segments are interacting with the treatment. When the segments are looked at more closely, Treatment 2 had a 29% lift for paid search.
Had the reporting alone from Adobe Test&Target been used, this gem would have been lost. However, through segmentation and a better understanding of the traffic to the site, Treatment 2 could be used with the paid search segment, and the rest given the Control, thus maximizing revenue.
Segmented dashboards
Here is an example of a dashboard that is sent out to the product team.
It gives a segmented view of site traffic. This particular piece is showing the registration funnel by top browsers. A product manager saw an issue affecting Firefox visitors, resulting in a 91% drop in registration conversion. This issue could represent any change on your own site that affects a certain segment. If youre not looking at segments, you might not find the cause or context of the issue. In this particular issue, a fix was put in place that same day. If the issue had been unresolved for even 3-4 days, it would have translated to losing 200 registrations, or $26,000 per day in lifetime value.
Value below the fold

Marketers will endlessly debate the value or effectiveness of information below the fold on a landing page. The truth is, it depends on the circumstances, but you need to know how it works for your situation. In this example, we have a retail site. Clearly, the call to action is above the fold:
It would seem that there would be no issue affecting conversion based on whats going on below the fold, but the numbers seemed to suggest that those customers with a higher monitor resolution produced 45% higher conversion. Results like this typically set off a firestorm in a conference room of what to do. Some say its significant, some say its not, and no one agrees what to do going forward. Jasons response, rather than making a guess, is to test it. Remove the guesswork. In this case, the insight gathered was that customer and product views below the fold actually increased conversion for this particular page.
Closing thoughts
Hidden gems can be found below the surface or take a real dedicated effort to reach. Segmentation data can help unlock hidden potential and allow you to gain greater insight into your visitors onsite behavior. Key takeaways: Web analytics is a learned discipline. Attention is a key commodity. Personalization, segmentation and targeting set the bar high. Basic and advanced segmentation provide rich insight. Let your analytics be your excavator.
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To view this webinar, visit

http://www.omniture.com/offer/725
About the presenters

Ian Michiels Research Analyst, Aberdeen Group Ian is charged with the oversight and management of Aberdeens fast-growing Customer Management research group with a focus on CRM, sales and marketing automation, and emerging marketing technologies and practices. Jason Thompson Consultant, Empty Mind Solutions Jason is an experienced web analyst whose main focus is on delivering information, insight, and recommendations that are used to monitor, measure, and optimize online businesses.
For more information

To learn more about segmentation through testing and analytics with solutions from the Adobe Online Marketing Suite, powered by Omniture, contact your Omniture account manager or call 866-923-7309. For businesses outside of United States and Canada, visit www.omniture.com for the office nearest you. Obtain additional resources at: 877-722-7088 View recorded webcast: www.omniture.com/webinars Learn more: webcasts@adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated 345 Park Avenue San Jose, CA 95110-2704 USA www.adobe.com
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Omniture, and Test&Target are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
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Unlocking insight from web analytics data Webcast Guide