Boston–Though Web analytics is nothing new, it’s a subject that leaves many multichannel merchants scratching their heads. With his Monday intensives on Web analytics and conversion, Bill Bruno, a project manager with Web analytics consultancy Stratigent, aimed to turn those head-scratchers into marketers who could nod knowingly.
Bruno covered the types of information that crucial to analyze, key performance indicators, executive reports, and how to measure results.By the end of the day, the attendees were ready to see the Web analytics tools in action. Representatives from Google Analytics, WebTrends, CoreMetrics, and Visual Sciences (WebSideStory) fired up their laptops in the back of the room and gave everyone from the novice to the expert a walk-through.
“The sessions were constantly alluding to what the Web analytics tools can do and what they had to offer,” Bruno said. “Being that they listened to us talk about it all day, we wanted them to show them around the tools a little bit.”
David Salinas, representing Google Analytics, described Web analytics as “having the data tell you a story about your Website.”
And the story doesn’t always have to go into great detail. Brian Wahl, senior solutions engineer for WebTrends, said that some of the people he spoke with need only a high-level view of their data, though other companies were looking for the finest detail about their customers.
“Every business culture is a little different” Wahl said. “The companies with a very analytical nature, I think it’s all part of their culture in terms of how deep you go with analytics, or how well you want to use that for advanced targeted marketing.”
Hillarie Brady, marketing manager for continuity marketing company TN Marketing, said her company had only recently entered into e-mail marketing and that the intensive gave her a “good touchstone” about industry practices.
“We’re just kind of struggling with analytics and understanding how to make improvements and drive traffic,” Brady said. “For me personally, in my last job, I was the marketing analyst, so I was much more in touch with it. This I think was general enough for normal people to understand but detailed enough for people like me who want to learn more.”