Approaching web analytics KPI dashboard
Setting goals and detailed planning are essential to project success. If you do not know what you need to do to achieve you goal you will fail. http://ift.tt/2f4vKQAIf your goal is to sell $100,000 worth of products this year, but you have only sold $80,000 so far, how can you achieve your goal? How many more customers will you need to attract? How much money needs to be budgeted for advertising? Should any promotions or sales be run? Is the website contributing to the goal? As a Web Analytics Consultant you will need to be able to answer these questions for any number of different businesses. A KPI gives a business quantifiable measurements of things it has determined important to its efficiency, profitability and long-term success and is needed to measure the information obtained from business, communication and web analytics. Web Analytics KPI Dashboard and PlanningAn Associate Web Analytics Consultant knows how to figure out KPI and planning by calculating a client’s advertising budget, the target value of average spending per customer and the KPI of the company website.A Senior Web Analytics Consultant knows how to plan for a sales increase and how to calculate the profit from a website. They also know how to present the KPI according to their client’s point of view rather than their own. Let’s review some basics by imagining that a website is a department store. Understanding Web Analytics Terminology and KPIsAnalogy: Web Analytics and the Department StoreEvery shop in a department store corresponds to a page on a website. The number of shops each customer visited corresponds to the number of pages each user viewed and is indicated as PVs (page views). The number of customers that came to each store corresponds to the number of sessions that were started on the website. A customer who arrived at the main hallway of the department store and immediately left is equivalent to a user who arrived at the home page and bounced. A customer who entered the shopping floor for window-shopping but left without buying anything is equivalent to a user who browsed the website and exited. Instead of entering the shopping floor through the main entryway, a customer may have entered from an adjacent building. On a website, the main entryway is the home page and the other entrance is the landing page. How long a customer stayed in the department store corresponds with the session duration. The department store also uses various type of advertising. How many times a customer saw an ad and how many people saw it are collectively expressed as an impression in web analytics, and the ad that attracted customers is called a referrer. Goods that customers want to buy are identified by search words and search phrases used on a search engine website. The number of customers that bought goods is expressed as conversions. Every one of these is an important factor. Some customers may come to the store several times in a day. Those excluding duplicate customers are called unique users in web analytics. Customers who come for the first time are new unique users and those who come repeatedly are repeat users. If you are still wondering what is web analytics?. In web analytics, you can get lots of information about visitors. For example, you can use cookies and IP addresses to see where or which place users come from and how many times they have visited a website. The user agent shows which OS or browser each visitor uses. To a department store, people other than customers such as clerks and security personnel also come and counting them is meaningless. Similarly, search engine programs called crawlers often come to a website and should be excluded from the visitor count. While collecting consumer data for a department store requires great labor and cost, statistical data in web analytics can be collected in a manner that is both cost-effective and fast. A department store without customers will not gain a profit, just as a website without visitors will have no results no matter how attractive or user friendly it is. It is important to follow the PDCA cycle. It enables web analytics consultants to measure how proposed strategies work by looking at both online and offline data. Basic Metrics in Web Analytics (e.g. Pageviews)PVs i.e. pageviewsPVs indicate the value for how many times a page, identified by a single unique URL, was viewed by a user. PVs are also called accesses.You should be careful because PVs are often confused with both sessions which represent the number of visits and unique users which represent the net number of users. What are average PVs?The average value of PVs per user. In general, PVs are calculated as the number of PVs per session. Some tools calculate PVs as the number of PV per unique user.How to calculate average PVsThe average number of PVs can be determined by using the simple Arithmetic Mean Formula: The sum of all of the numbers in a list divided by the number of items in that list.Let’s look at an example. When Mr. A visits the apparel web store ABC Shop and views four pages, the PVs count is 4. After that, Mr. B visits ABC Shop and views 6 pages. You add together the number of PVs for both users and then divide the total by the number of sessions: 10/2. The average PVs for ABC Shop is 5. PVs (4+6)/Sessions (2) = Avg. PVs (5) For the same value of one million PVs, the average PVs differ significantly between 500 thousand sessions and 200 thousand sessions. * Google Analytics uses the term PVs per visit for this value. Virtual PVs and Events in Google AnalyticsIn addition to the normal measurement of PVs, Google Analytics provides the following functions:Virtual PVsVirtual PV enables counting actions which cannot be normally counted as PVs, for example, a shopping cart which displays the same URL repeatedly during the purchase process, or a PDF file in which a measurement tag cannot be embedded. By customizing the tracking code, a virtual URL is created and counted as PVs.Event trackingEvents are used to measure the clicks of buttons on social media sites or social bookmarks, when you do not want to count these clicks as PVs. This function is implemented by customizing the tracking code.Unique Page ViewsUnique page views i.e. unique views are recorded each time a specific IP address visits a website. If the same user visits a single site ten times over the course of a single session, one unique page view is recorded. If the IP address, user agent and cookies all have the same value, the analytics program you are using will determine that a single unique user is accessing the website.SessionsA session is a series of actions a single user who has visited, connected to, or logged into a website performs while browsing the website until he/she exits, disconnects from, or logs off the website. Sessions indicate the number of user sessions.Its synonym is visits. Some use the term visit count, however the WACA does not recommend using it because it can be confused with the number of repeated visits. Be careful using some tools as their reports might confuse sessions with unique users (mentioned later). If a single user views pages A and B over the course of a single session, the sessions and PVs are 1 and 2, respectively. A session generally terminates 30 minutes after the last access. Two methods you can use to measure sessionsFirstly, you will need to recognize page view transitions by:counting sessions with the same IP address and user ID as the same sessions, and using cookies and counting sessions that have the same cookie during the same sessions. Conditions that indicate a user has disconnected their sessionIn general, access analysis software interprets a session as disconnected when a user has been viewing a single page for 30 minutes or longer, even if the browser is still open. Some web statistics analysis programs allow you to change this setting.When a user closes his browser or disconnects from the Internet, the session is recorded as ended or disconnected. Note that just leaving the target website does not disconnect the session. For example, when a user leaves the target website and browses another, then returns to the target website, session is regarded as continuous. Remember that “exiting a website” while engaging in usual browsing activities and “disconnecting a session” in the context of access analysis are different. Data you can interpret from information on user sessionsWeb analytics tools count the number of pages viewed and report them as PVs; non-duplicated users are reported as unique users. When the number of sessions has increased, it means that the visit count has increased. For example, when sessions have increased while unique users remain the same, you can presume that the same users have repeatedly visited the target website.* Google Analytics uses the term sessions. However, the conditions to determine that a session has been disconnected differs. When one of the following conditions is met, the session is regarded as disconnected.
Unique UsersA unique user i.e. unique visitor on a website is a user counted only once no matter how many times they visit the site over a set period of time. Counting the number of unique users on your website accurately is difficult task for any web analytics consultant. Utilizing cookies is one option as is checking user IDs or any log in information available. You need to combine the data available to get the best estimate of unique user data possible.Note that when doing access analysis on mobile phones, the measurement standard for sessions and unique users differs from program to another. Differentiating unique users from the number of sessions recordedThe number of sessions recorded by analytics tools reflects how often a single unique user visits a specific website from their browser over the course of a set period of time.Information you can gather from analyzing unique usersThis data is used to measure the popularity of a website. If the number of unique users increases, that means that there are more new unique users browsing your website.A new unique user (i.e., a new visitor)A new unique user or new visitor refers to a user who has visited a website for the first time. Since cookies are used to determine whether it is their first visit or not, you cannot tell a new unique user from a repeater with 100% accuracy.Companies can increase or change their publicity campaigns to attract new customers and new unique users. What is the new unique user rate?The new unique user rate or new visitor rate is calculated by dividing the number of unique users who visit a website for the first time by the number of all unique users counted during the period being analyzed.What is a returning visitor?A returning visitor is a user who has visited the website before. Again, cookies are used to determine whether it is a return visit. Note that you cannot identify a returning visitor with 100% accuracy. Returning visitor statistics increase as the number of users revisiting a website grows.Notes on unique user measurementNote that the number of unique users is not the total number of visitors.Assume that users A, B, and C visited a website in January and then the users B and C revisited the website in February. In this case, the number of unique users for the month of January and February would be “three” and “two,” respectively. Note that the number of unique users for the two months of January and February combined would not be “five” but “three.”For a measurement method that uses cookies, accesses from a single user using different browsers are recognized as different users, and the number of unique users increases by the number of browsers used. Also, if a user erases the cookie, they will be counted as a new user on their next visit to the website.
Notes on Repeater AnalysisYou will encounter the following problems when you try to count unique users and repeaters using an access analysis tool:
Notes on Analyzing Unique User RatioThe sum of the “new unique user rate” and the “repeat unique user rate” does not equal 100%. In the figure shown to the right, the new unique user rate is 50%, while the repeat unique user is 100%.The new session rate uses a similar index but the calculation method differs between analysis tools and it needs to be checked. In Google Analytics, unique page views are called the number of users and records accesses as being unique when users visit webpages via different browsers or terminals. A new type of analysis, real-time analysis, records unique page views as the number of active users who have viewed a webpage within the previous five minutes. It will be used by Universal Analytics to allow analysts to measure and identify a single user from different terminals or browsers. How to identify Unique UsersUsing the packet sniffing method or the logfile analysis methodUnique users are identified based on their user agent and IP address as well as the access time stamp sent from the browser. Using the page tagging methodUnique users are identified by storing a unique number (visitor ID) generated by the access analysis program in the cookie.* An IP address is a unique number assigned to each computer connected to the Internet. Although it says “address,” an IP address has nothing to do with the physical location of a user. The web server can acquire the IP address of the accessing computer. The user agent is information that identifies a specific browser. A browser used to view a website communicates with the web server using the HTTP protocol and sends the browser information stored in the user agent, one piece of the accessing computer’s information. ConversionsA conversion is the most important factor to the success of your online marketing strategy. Having a user convert means that you have been able to convince a visitor to your website to do what you wanted them to do. They have bought your product, followed an advertised link, submitted a form etc.Note that just utilizing an access analysis tool or an advertising analytics tool is not enough; you must define what gaining a conversion means on your website. Conversions are generally measured by counting sessions and unique users on the conversion page or “thanks page” displayed at the end of the conversion activity but the definition of a successful conversion differs from website to website. Conversions for media websites or a manufacturer’s website may be defined by the length of a session, having the average PVs exceed a certain value or having a user stay on a particular page for a certain period of time. Conversions are generally equal to sessions in which the conversion page was displayed. However, for a website where each user leads to only one conversion (e.g., a member registration website), conversions may be measured as unique users. *Google Analytics aggregates conversions and transactions separately. While the same conversion is only counted once no matter how many times it occurs on the same day, transactions are counted for the number of times the conversion occurs. What is a conversion rate?The conversion rate is the rate of visitors who led to conversions.For example, if ten visitors out of a hundred converted, the conversion rate is ten percent. Conversion rates can be calculated with the following formula: Conversion rate(%) = Orders (Conversions)/Visits *100 On an EC website the conversion rate for the product page can be obtained by dividing the number of orders by the number of users who viewed the product page. When the Effect of a Website Cannot be Measured on the Web AloneLet’s assume that a beauty salon manages its own website and advertises on the web to obtain more appointments. This is a case where the effect cannot be measured on the web alone as appointments are made not only on the website but also directly over the phone.If you want to know how the customer heard about the hair salon, you will have to ask the receptionist to inquire as to where the caller heard about them. You can also assign different phone numbers to different ads (e.g., on newspaper and listing ads), so that you can measure conversions per ad correctly. There are many businesses where users come to the shop without making appointments or reservations after viewing the website, like a nail salon or a casual family restaurant. In this case, you can measure conversions by counting PVs on the map page or the number of coupons collected. Since you cannot measure conversions occurring at actual stores with just access analysis, you need to be prepared and creative in order to calculate the marketing ROI (mentioned later) correctly. What are KPIs?KPIs are business metrics used to evaluate factors crucial to the success of a business. KPIs look at things a business has determined important to its efficiency, profitability and long-term success. KPIs change depending on the business or organization using them. Web Analytics Consultants need to be able to figure out which specific indicators should be measured to match with their client.KPIs can also vary according to the purpose of a website, so it is important to determine that purpose straightway. The definitions of KGI, KSF and KPIKGI, KPI and KSF are important factors to consider if you want to achieve your business goals when using web analytics.
For example, if you are in sales, and your company has earned $550,000 this year to date, then your KPI is at $550,000. If you and your boss had agreed on a sales goal of $1 million for the year then your KGI is currently at 55%. Gathering KPIs directionally means that, rather than setting a monetary goal, you will be analyzing data trends to determine whether your company is performing better or worse over a set period of time. Overall, KGIs, KPIs and KSFs offer an excellent opportunity for businesses to target specific areas of desired growth to achieve maximum results. Either way you need to be able to present the information in a standard way, easily understood by all. When gathering data for web analytics, KPIs can be seen as user sessions or session duration, and KSFs can be interpreted as the action of providing users with desired content.
It is important to set KGI, KPI, and KSF correctly in order to lead web analytics to business results. If you program your analytics tools, you can set KGI data to represent your client’s business objective. From there you can follow previously described patterns and break the data gathered into representations of KPI and KSF. For example, assume you are analyzing a website where the number of sales increase in proportion to the quantity of ads published. For this website, KGI is the sales from ads, KPI is the click count or conversions from ads and KSF is the ad acquisition activity or article planning for increasing conversions. KPIs that measure the effectiveness of a websiteKPIs vary according to the purpose of the website.Success metrics of an e-commerce websiteMetrics you should look at when analyzing this type of website include: the conversion rate, the cart abandonment rate, products in each order processed, the average order value, the form abandonment rate, sessions and even the rate that shows how often users open newsletters.An EC website will often benefit most from measuring and improving the cart abandonment rate. Success metrics of a lead generation websiteLead generation refers to the marketing action taken to acquire prospective customers (leads). In this case, acquiring leads = KGI while the number of content downloads and requests for more information = KPI.If the success of your client’s website rests on it generating leads, you need to measure: leads per day/month, lead form abandonment rate, the overall lead generation rate, the content download rate and the rate of requests for more information. In addition to these general rates, a business like a real estate company would want to look at property research numbers, inquiry rates, and the number of phone calls generated by the website. In order to track these rates, you can create thank you pages, specific phone numbers or links to use and codes that are implanted into downloadable files. By directing customers to use these dedicated phone numbers or links, you will be able to track who used the website and who did not. These numbers will tell you if your marketing strategy is successful or not and will help you measure whether your website is able to effectively generate leads that result in conversions. Success metrics of social media websitesThere are a number of different metrics that can be used to evaluate the success of your social media profiles and blogs. So many, in fact, that knowing which measures are meaningful to your company is critical.Narrowing down the focus of your analysis can be difficult, so we recommend focusing on three main categories:
Success metrics of a customer support websiteCustomer support sites are very important to businesses across the board. Many support websites provide contact information for their company telephone center. They fill a need that users have at a critical moment when something is going wrong for their customer.The success of a customer support website influences a customer’s relationship with the business. If the support center is able to answer questions and help resolve problems, it will build customer loyalty, increase the chances that customers will mention them to friends or family and increase future profits. As the majority of users visiting a support website are stressed, impatient, angry or irrational, it is best to focus more on qualitative rather than quantitative metrics. Metrics you should look at include: the customer experience, the problem resolution rate, your response time, the satisfaction rate, the call process, the percent of visitors to the website that send emails or call the telephone support center, the number of calls and emails sent, the FAQ’s page bounce rate and the number of clicks made to specific Q’s on the FAQ’s page. If the support website is able to help a high percentage of users, there will be fewer calls and emails that need to be answered by humans. This in turn, leads to a reduction in personnel expenses for the business and an increase in customer satisfaction. The idea of instant gratification is very important here. If customers are able to quickly and easily resolve issues, they are more likely to continue using your service and tell a few friends they are happy. If they have to run in circles and never receive answers, they will likely tell everyone, friends and the Internet – Google, Facebook, Twitter, YELP, etc., how horrible your service is and customer loyalty will plummet. Develop a planAs a Web Analytics Consultant, it is your job to aggregate data and form plans that will allow your clients to increase their customer satisfaction rates and profits. It is important to determine how long the marketing strategy will be implemented, what you are going to do, who is going to be doing what and how much it will all cost to implement.Let’s look at an example using a bride that is going to be married in four months. Her goal is to lose at least five centimeters at her waist before her wedding day, as she wants to look stunning in her wedding dress. She has set a goal and is going to diet and go to the gym daily in order to succeed. As she is aiming to reduce her waist size, not her weight, she will follow a different method than someone that wants to lose weight. In this case, we can equate a reduction in waist size to KPI. Rather than run or lift weights, she will focus on her abs and core muscles, she will also measure her waist regularly to make sure that her methods are helping her reach her goal. If she is not seeing the results she wants, she will need to change her approach. She is evaluating her KSF in order to achieve her KPI. When gathering data for web analytics, KPIs can be seen as user sessions or session duration, and KSFs can be interpreted as the action of providing users with desired content. Consider the KPI as an index necessary to achieve KGI. Use a value necessary to achieve KGI as the KPI. KSF is a factor necessary to achieve KGI and KPI. It is important to set KGI, KPI, and KSF correctly in order to lead web analytics to business results. When you are programming your analytics software, you can set KGI data to represent your client’s business objective. From there you can follow previously described patterns and break the data gathered into representations of KPI and KSF. For example, assume you are analyzing a website where the number of sales increase in proportion to the quantity of ads published. For this website, KGI is the sales from ads, KPI is the click count or conversions from ads and KSF is the ad acquisition activity or article planning for increasing conversions. Overall, KGIs, KPIs and KSFs offer an excellent opportunity for businesses to target specific areas of desired growth to achieve maximum results. On the stage of planning, if you set the plan to achieve KGI through any process and KPI beforehand, you can measure and evaluate whether you are approaching the goals as planned. Planning based on the purpose of the projectDetermine the KPI by calculating back from the purpose of the businessYou must look at the purpose of your client’s website to determine the best method of attracting new and return users. Ask yourself, does the website need to be improved? How long will it take to improve? What do we need to do in order to improve it? The process may be long or short depending on what is necessary, but you should always look at the following categories: Identify Your Business PurposeEvery website has a purpose. It might be to encourage visitors to inquire about a service, sign up for a newsletter, download a file or watch a video. This purpose is the KPI.Average Spending Per CustomerMake sure to take the amount of money customers spend, and how to increase that amount, into account before implementing your improvement strategies.Inflow RateIncrease the inflow to your website through emails, ads, SEO, social media and newsletters. An increase in your inflow rate will usually mean an increase in conversions.Sales GoalThe sales goal varies according to the purpose of the website.An e-commerce website’s sales goal can be calculated by multiplying conversion numbers by average spending per customer. A lead generation website’s sales goal can be calculated by multiplying the order numbers by the average amount of money that customers spend. Media sites base their advertising revenue according to how many people they can attract. The sales goal of a customer support site is determined by their operating costs and its effect. Use the data you calculate to help determine how long you can afford to take, and how much you can spend, on improving the website during the planning stages. Conversion RateImprove your website and your conversion rate (CVR). Use both online and offline marketing strategies to increase leads/referrals and decrease your bounce rate.Goal Conversion TrackingYour client company might mark a conversion successful if their customers make a purchase, register on their website or send in requests for information. In some industries a successful conversion might be based on user actions (they download or play a file, for example), or counted when a user visits a specific target page.Make sure you have set your analysis program in accordance with your client’s business and website goals. Note that you might need to measure your success after conversion has occurred. For example, let’s take a look at a company selling a networking system: This company has calculated that their sales goal is $600,000 and the average spending per customer is $40,000, how many customers will you need to gather from the website? This company has designated a “request for information” from the company’s website as a conversion. However, the actual result for the company is the “monetary value of orders received” and this conversion on the website is not the goal. This company cannot say whether they are meeting their current business objectives until the number of inquiries, number of orders, and the value of said orders has been calculated. Therefore, it is very important to measure the course of events after a conversion on the web. If the CVR is 1%, the inquiry rate is 30%, and the order rate is 50%. You can calculate the number of sessions by counting backward from the sales goal. If you want to improve sales by 10%, you can only do so by increasing CVR, improving the inquiry rate, improving the order rate, or increasing the average spending per customer. Where to improve every month becomes the KPI. As you can calculate future projections based on past numbers, you will be able to plan ahead and achieve your sales goal. E-Commerce Marketing StrategiesWhen planning an EC campaign, consider the sales goal as your KGI. In order to achieve the KGI, you will need to figure out how to increase inflow, reduce the bounce rate and calculate your advertising budget by calculating backwards from the final sales goal.Planning an E-Commerce Campaign That Will Help You Reach Your KPIBefore you move ahead with your marketing campaign or website improvement strategy, define the metrics that are important to your client. Knowing what to monitor will help you identify progress toward marketing, sales, and customer service goals. There are several KPIs that e-commerce businesses should consider tracking.Marketing KPIs include: session duration, PVs per visit, leads and referrals, social media followers, site traffic, inflow, bounce rate, unique visitors vs returning visitors and email or newsletter subscribers. Sales KPIs include: the shopping cart abandonment rate, conversion rate, average order size and monthly sales. It is important that you aggregate daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly data for each period in order to improve KGI and make sure that your plans are bringing in profit. Calculating Sales AmountsSales can be calculated by adding the total amount of money made through conversions.Sales amount ÷ conversion number (order completion number) = average spending per customer In order to calculate backwards from the sales amount, it can also be converted into the following formula: Average spending per customer × conversion number (order completion number) = sales amount If you want to further subdivide the number of conversions: Average spending per customer × visiting numbers to the website × conversion ratio (order completion rate) = sales amount Remember that individual sale amounts vary. Note that occasionally the term sales = orders when doing accounting. The term sales is used to indicate the phase where an invoice is issued after shipping and before any goods are returned. The definition of orders and sales can be different according to the accounting standards and system specifications of the company. Double check with the client to see what terms they want to use. Define KPIs to achieve your sales goalFor example, in order to achieve sales of $1,000,000, when each order is worth $10,000, you must have 100 conversions. If your conversion rate is 1%, you have had 10,000 people visit your website.In this case, assume that there have only 8,000 inflows to the website this quarter, how many more do you need in order to achieve the sales goal? Can you increase the percent of visitors to conversions? How much should you set the average spending per customer? These three questions can be converted into improvement plans. Improvement Plan 1 involves increasing the inflow number by 2,000. Improvement Plan 2 involves improving the conversion rate percentage to 1.25%. Improvement Plan 2 has you trying to increase the average spending per customer to $12,500 instead of $10,000. After trying each plan, use web analytics to study the results and find the best way in which to proceed. Advertising Budget & AdsKeyword advertising and product listing ads (PLA) are two of the most popular types of ads online today.Wikipedia defines keyword advertising as “a form of online advertising in which an advertiser pays to have an advertisement appear in the results listing when a person uses a particular phrase to search the Web, typically by employing a search engine. The particular phrase is composed of one or more keyterms that are linked to one or more advertisements. The most common form of keyword advertising, focused on payment methods, is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, with other forms being cost-per-action (CPA) and cost-per-mille (CPM) … Google AdWords is the most well-known keyword advertising platform. Google displays search ads specifically targeted to the word(s) typed into a search box on the results page, and these keywords cause targeted ads also appear on content sites based on Google’s system’s interpretation of the subject matter on each page of the site. This is known as contextual advertising. Other search engines offering keyword advertising include Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft AdCenter, and Looksmart, along with many others.” Google uses the term cost-per-click (CPC) when referring to PLAs. PLAs don’t use keywords, they require you to use the settings in their merchant center product feed to define product data targets. It is possible to add negative keywords to PLAs if you want restrict queries that aren’t applicable to your goods, but you can’t bid on keywords. After you define the targets, you can set the daily limit that the service can spend on bids. As with AdWords, they will bid the minimum amount necessary to outbid the ad ahead of you so that you will not have to pay the maximum bid. Bidding aggressively is encouraged as the data you will generate will help you flesh out your target customer groups. Remember to set your daily budget high enough that you will be able to continue bidding throughout the day. You can modify the budget allocated if necessary, but do not go over what you budgeted in your planning session with you clients. AdWords allows you to set up alerts that will tell you if you have used up your daily budget. Google shopping does not yet offer this feature. Even if you do set up the alert feature, you will want to check the settings every few days to monitor your daily spending records and see how long your listings run for during a twenty-four hour period. For example, suppose you want to create a keyword ad that will be used in conjunction with search results. You want to increase your website’s inflow by 3,000, and expect that each click will cost you $1. You will need an advertising budget of $3,000. Let’s look at another example: A company that has sold goods valued at $1,500 is planning a paid ad campaign to increase their sales to $2,400. From past experience we know that order unit price is $300 and the ad expenses will be 1¢ per click. In order to calculate the necessary paid ad investment, we back-calculate from the target sales amount. Each value is as shown below.
Lead GenerationMost businesses have income from both online and offline sources. In marketing, lead generation is defined as being the method in which a business creates interest or inquiries into its products or services.In the past, lead generations were primarily created offline, at events like trade shows. Prospective customers would walk up to a company’s booth, fill out an inquiry card, and receive an information packet or call from the sales team. Nowadays, it is generally recommended that business utilize many different lead generation methods at the same time. One of those methods is paid advertising, another is their website, and a third could be a newsletter. Search engines also provide lead generation options. Any business with a website can appear on a search results page for related searches. Lead Generation KPIs: What to MeasureOne way to measure and rate conversions is through monitoring a series of KPIs to see what needs to change and what works. Here are a few KPIs to watch out for in offline lead generation:Unique visits, click patterns, shares from a social media platform, inquiry rate, order number, conversion rate, etc. There are a number of formulas you can follow to calculate rates relating to lead generation. Conversion number × inquiry rate = number of inquiries If there are 100 conversions and the inquiry rate is 30%, there have been 30 inquiries made. Number of inquiries × order rate = order number The formula for calculating the sales is: Average spending per customer × order rate × inquiry rate × conversion number = sales Here is an example: Your website’s average customer spends $10,000. There is an order rate of 10% meaning that 100 people have converted. Your website’s inquiry rate is 20%, which means that there have been 20 inquiries made, and two orders placed. Therefore, your company made $20,000 in sales this week. It can also be described as follows: Avg. spending per customer × order rate × inquiry rate × conversion rate × session number = Sales Another example: If your average customer spends $100,000, the inquiry rate is 20%, the order rate is 10%, the conversion rate is 1%, and there have been 10,000 sessions, with 20 inquiries, and an order rate of two, your company has sold $200,000 worth of product. Divide lead generation into phasesUsers that visit websites can be categorized by the phase of conversion they enter. There are users who bounce but return, users who browse webpages but never request more information on the provided forms, users that fill out forms but do not convert and users who do convert. Through this classification system, you will be able to assess problems and formulate the best ways to interact with the users in your target market.For example, your goal is to sell $80,000 worth of products. If your average customer spends $1,000,000, you will need eight conversions. If your company receives a 20% rate of inquiry with a 1% conversion rate, your website needs an inflow of 80,000 users. To date, your website has only received 8,000 inflows and you are looking for ways to reach your goal. What are three plans you can come up with to achieve your target sales of $80,000? Well, let’s take a look at this table: Improvement Plan 1 has you working to increase your CVR to 1.25%. Improvement Plan 2 is to improve the inquiry rate to 25%. Improvement Plan 3 is to increase the order rate to 62.5%. So how can we improve this order rates and inquiry rates? Look at the inquiries that are being made, their sources, types and if they converted or not. Work on responding to more inquiries, sending out special notices or sales alerts, improve your response time and make sure that you are using both online and offline methods to communicate with potential customers. Advertising vs Improving Your WebpageThis company wants to increase their sales from $100,000 to $150,000. Their advertising expenses are $1 per click.How much should the advertising budget be in order to reach the sales goal? Let’s take a look at improvement plan 1: Calculate backwards from the target sales amount in order to figure out the advertising budget.
How Should We Prioritize Ad Investments?Is it better to spend money on advertising or improving your bounce rate or the inquiry rate?The answer can depend on the case. If you choose to improve your inquiry rate, you will only have to make an investment once. In the short term, you might have to spend a lot to improve your website, but in the long term, your advertising costs will be drastically reduced. On the other hand, ads will always result in inflow. Your website might not produce as many leads as you were hoping for and may need to be supplemented by PPC and CPC ads. There is always that risk of SEO failing you. It will be more expensive, but hopefully, equally rewarding. Use the data you gain from web analytics KPI dashboard to help you pick your path. via Blogger http://ift.tt/2e9TTr6 October 30, 2016 at 09:20AM
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Business Analysis and Web Statistics Analysis
Effective web analysts need to be able to perform business Analysis. http://ift.tt/2eZb2mrYou may think that knowing how to create reports, update websites, improve ads and use web statistics analysis tools is enough, but in reality a web analytics consultant needs to be a business person first, an analyst second and a skilled technician third. The ability to communicate with clients in senior management positions as well as those in marketing, services, sales and IT departments is imperative. Web analytics consultants must be able to look at the data from the client’s point of view, and use that perspective to create clear, concise reports and marketing strategies that, when put into practice, create positive, profitable results. Web Analytics Starts with Business AnalysisWeb analytics consultants must be able to work with their clients to develop ways to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and profits. You will need to collaborate with people in various departments, conduct user tests and analyze user feedback. In order to work effectually with your clients, you will need to be very familiar with the way that their business functions. To do this, you will need to perform an in-depth business analysis. Find out what business model the company uses, what condition the business model is in, how strong their competitors are, if the demand for the product or service the company provides is in high or low demand, and what type of users purchase said products or services. Not only will the information you collect allow you to work with people in different departments, it will help you understand their target customers and the way that the two interact with each other. Use the results of your analysis to create hypotheses and marketing strategies that will allow your clients to achieve their goals and increase their profits. Methods for Understanding a Business EnvironmentIn general marketing, business analysis is roughly classified into management environment Analysis and financial Analysis. Web marketing is mostly comprised of different forms of management environment Analysis.The Purpose is Not Analytics but ActionsBeing able to create a marketing strategy that will successfully complete a PDCA cycle before starting the cycle over again is a skill that you, as a web analytics consultant, will need to cultivate. Any analysis you perform is just a single stepping stone on your pathway to success.Business ModelsBusiness models are useful market analysis tools. A business model is an “outline of an idea” created by management scholars and consultants to analyze various aspects of business. There are various types of business models used for many purposes, including marketing and strategy planning.When you begin a new project, choose a suitable business model to use as a base for the work you are doing. As there are a number of different models for you to choose from, we recommend doing a bit of research on the most popular models and choosing the one most suited to your situation. Using a marketing business model will help you keep all of your work organized. Associate Web Analytics Consultants are taught about some of the more popular business models available. These include the 3C by Kenichi Ohmae, 4P i.e. The Marketing Mix, and the 5F (Forces) by Michael E. Porter. Dr. Porter is a well-respected author, an economics and business scholar, and a professor at Harvard Business School. Other popular business models include PEST, which organizes macroscopic environmental factors, and PPM (Product Portfolio Management), used to properly evaluate products and determine how various resources should be allocated. Associates generally focus more on learning how to utilize their business models as forms of communication, customer journey maps and concept diagrams. Senior Web Analytics Consultants will use and learn about the same business models, but instead of focusing on communication, they focus on how to use them to improve various business scenarios. Seniors will also be introduced to the 9-sell method and marketing business models like AISAS. They will lean more towards refining persona than communication. Personas, or user personas, are fictional characters that marketers create to represent different user types. Personas are generally developed by combining data collected from data and interviews with real users. They are used to help marketers determine how hypothesized marketing strategies will be received by their target users. A business model can be considered a “common language”There is another advantage to using a business model as a web analytics consultant: You can create a common language with the client. The business model you will create will facilitate communication between you both, especially if the client is well acquainted with the business model.In many cases, clients seem to ask what is web analytics? are not familiar with the web. They know about their business, but not the web, so they want you to help. In this case, never forget that “a project cannot succeed without cooperation from the client” and “you need perfect communication with the client without any misunderstandings.” For instance, if the client can understand the meaning of your advice “I recommend that you conduct an in-depth interview to check the customer element in the 3C analysis again to see if it matches your understanding,” communication will become smoother. Or, it would be nice if you can say, “I did not find any problem with your product and its price but it seems that the customers are not well informed and the place in 4P may be the problem. I think the product should be exposed more via the search engine.” While some of your clients may not be familiar with the specific business model you choose to use, they will be able to better understand the concept you are presenting due to the recognizable format. The 3C analysis business model was originally created by Kenichi Ohmae, a management consultant. It has been used as a strategic business model for many years and is often used in web marketing today. This method has you focusing your analysis on the 3C’s or strategic triangle: the customers, the competitors and the corporation. By analyzing these three elements, you will be able to find the key success factors (KSFs) and create a viable marketing strategy. Many variations have been derived from this method because of its simplicity. You can start with any of the 3 “C”s, but it is recommended that you analyze the customers first, then the competitors, and finally the company you are working for, as understanding the customer’s viewpoint is the most important part of marketing. If you analyze the corporation first, you will wind up using company data as your standard for analyzing and competitors and customers. Remember, first get to know the customer, then the competition, and finally the company. The First C – Customer AnalysisDoing in-depth consumer research is the best way for you to figure out how to appeal to your target market. Being able to create catchy catchphrases and creative ads is going to be your bread and butter.Psychographic data also plays a huge part in this analysis. Figuring out the customer’s desires will drastically improve the success rate of your marketing strategies after they are put into circulation. Data such as disposable incomes, likes, dislikes, where they get information, if they make impulse buys or not, and even how they respond to the client service or product already available is invaluable. Use answers from in-depth interviews, questionnaires and user tests to gain insight into the consumer mind. Use that insight to create concept diagrams, communication designs and personas that will boost your company’s popularity and hopefully help you spread your product or service into the world. If they know and trust the corporation you’re promoting, their response will be much more noticeable. There are several tools on the Internet you can use to analyze customer responses. You can see answers posted on popular blogs and forums or look on FAQ sites to find clues about customer concerns and questions that customers have. But you must be careful because there are also decoys from the provider. Enter the service name or product name, or its category name, plus words like “concern” or “question” as the search phrase to find postings that can be clues. For example, if the company handles snowboards, you can search for questions and concerns about the company’s brand or snowboarding itself. If it is difficult to conduct a survey in the real world, you can do it on the Internet using a questionnaire service provider or by using a market research company. You can also use a cloud sourcing service for charged questionnaires, although the user segments may become biased. Social networking sites can be valuable sources of information as well. The Second C – Competitor AnalysisYou can use the aforementioned websites and search engine results to discover rival brands and companies in addition to the list of data your employer offers. Comparison websites are popular in every industry and make investigating their products and services quite straightforward.It’s important to note that, a hamburger shop for example, is going to have competitors in not only the fast food industry but in the restaurant industry and supermarket industry as well. You’ll have to narrow down your results so that you can put more emphasis on how to compete with the top three to five rival businesses. After determining the main competitors, analyze them. How much effort do they put into their website? What catchphrase do they mainly use? What do they provide? What tools (e.g., newsletters and social media) do they use to invite users to their website? What is their overall marketing plan? Ideally, you’ll want to investigate the competitors from as many angles as possible so that their marketing activities can be completely understood. Competitor analysis is mainly done by visiting their websites, subscribing to their newsletters, visiting their stores and/or receiving the service they offer. In addition, you can perform a user test to compare your client company with their competitor. It’s best to use an SEO tool to find out how the competitor is talked about on the web as well as to obtain the SEO-related information. For large-scale websites, you can use a competitor website analysis tool such as SimilarWeb to obtain useful information. Analyzing competing businesses in this manner will allow you an inside look into what their customers experience. This knowledge is invaluable. You’ll be exposed to the good and bad decisions the rival marketing department made and you’ll be able to utilize that knowledge in pursuit of success and profit. The Third C – Corporation AnalysisThe last step you’ll want to take with this method requires you to analyze your own client’s corporation. You’ll want to know what marketing strategies have worked for them in the past and what ideas have failed. The best way for you to do this is, again, from the customer’s viewpoint.From the results of the customer and competitor Analysis you have done so far, enumerate the company’s strong points and resources. If you are having trouble finding them, ask real customers for their opinions. By asking why they prefer your client’s product, you can get points to compare with the competitors and how customers are responding to current marketing activities. If you can check web analytics data with a tool like Google Analytics, it will also help you. Contents you think attractive tend to have high values for the average session duration and PV. Based on such data, find out which pages of the company’s website the users are interested in and which pages they are not. This can be a clue about products and services matching the needs of the existing users. Referrer information is also helpful. See which websites link to the client’s website, and in what context, to discover third party opinions of how the client’s website is regarded. The referrer URL can be used for this purpose. Business Models can be used to Understand CustomersCommunication Design is a business model used to understand customers.This model is mainly concerned with figuring out how various forms of media interact with people. Using this model helps you figure out answers to the questions: Who is your customer, what does the customer value, and can you deliver value at an appropriate cost? Communication design is a mixed discipline between design and information-development. If you choose to use the communication design model you will need to be familiar with ways of combining communication with both technology and visual communication. It is particularly helpful when designing web pages. Developing Communication Design SchematicsCreating a communication design:Target User DefinitionFirst, you have to clearly define prospective customers by using broad characteristics. You do not want to use this method for specific targets.Figure out which forms of media your broadly defined targets use frequentlyAnalyze your target audience and figure out the online and offline media that they connect with. Use the data to help define target personalities and form a concrete plan of action.Use data on your target audience’s personal relations and methods of communication Look at the webs that form when one person communicates with other people they know.The groups of people they interact with include family, lovers, friends, classmates, coworkers, friends-of-friends etc. Ask yourself: Do those people know each other? How do they interact? Do they talk over the phone? The internet? Do they use Facebook? LinkedIn? Mixi? Do they text or prefer to get together for tea or coffee or do they only interact at work functions? Use all of the data you can gather to create a design that will reach your target group on as many different forms of media as possible.Increase target-user touch pointsThis type of communication design schematic aims to present to the client a comprehensive view of the target user’s points of contact with information sources. The term touch point refers to the time and place that the target user made contact with the media or information you created.You will want this number to increase exponentially over time. You can make a graph showing the increase of touch points that will be shown to the client to confirm that your design is working as expected. Using Communication Design to Bring about Positive ResultsMake sure that you do not narrow your perspective in order to bring about positive results. Consultants often put too much focus on web conversion, but there are times when answers cannot be found only using access analysis. This is because access analysis data is considered limited data.Your goal is to help your client company turn a profit both online and offline. Communication design illuminates the points of contact between the users and the products or services. Knowing these touch points can help you figure out ways to turn users into paying customers. You might choose to create a focus group that will help you observe user activity, you might also want to conduct group interviews or surveys, you might also choose to assign a specific landing page, email address or phone number to the ads you create in order to track user activity in real-time. Let’s look at an example of a Wedding Planner that chose to put specific phone numbers and a specific landing page link on their flyers at train stations and on trains. Wedding planners often receive an overwhelming number of new applications during January, May and August. These three months hold long holidays that can also be used to facilitate travel for both the couple and their guests and by couples returning to their home towns tell their families the good news. They want to know where people are calling from so that they can increase their ads in the off-months. Why did they choose these locations? Because weddings and travel are often linked together. There are also a number of people who use their time waiting for their train to make phone calls. They might see an ad and call their significant other with the information or even call the company directly. Using the data gathered, the company can choose the most effective locations to display their advertisements. Using Web Analytics Tools in Industry AnalysisThere are a number of tools that you, as a web analyst, can use to acquire the data you need when performing a business analysis. For example, Google Trend is a tool that can see the changes in popular search keywords in every region.Even though business analysis often requires support data in order to conduct an accurate analysis, using web marketing analysis tools will allow you to gather a lot of data in a short amount of time. Other tools you should learn how to use include: Micro Analysis Tools and Competitor Analysis Tools. Macro & Micro Analysis ToolsAccess analysis is process in which log data is collected from website over a chosen period of time.Macro & Micro AnalysisGenerally, a macro analysis is used to understand traffic and user trends. It usually focuses on demographic (quantitative) data. Micro analysis is a type of access analysis that focuses on individual users or organizations. It generally aims to understand the browsing route of a specific user on the website and other psychographic (qualitative) data.Primary analysis indicators in macro analysis include: the number of sessions, page views, exit rate and abandonment rate. Although this information is very important and can be used by a webmaster to improve a website, for the staff in other departments, this type of data may not be very useful. Micro analysis needs to be done with the support of people throughout the client company. Everyone needs to be at least somewhat aware of the impacts that they are faced with in regards to the way their business operates. Promoting interest in web marketing within each department will help build an atmosphere that will, in turn, help the entire company become more successful. How to Introduce Micro AnalysisAs of August 2015, Google Analytics, a free analytics tool, does not perform micro analysis. Therefore, you will need to choose a different tool that does include this function. Some web analytics tools that have an excellent micro analysis function are Visionalist, Rakulog Analytics and User Insight.A Micro Analysis ExampleBuilding a business strategy from organization name analysis (industry analysis)Since the access log includes IP addresses, an analyst is able to examine the names of the organizations visiting the client website as well as the pages and user browsing methods from each respective organization. If you were to conduct micro analysis of every organization using the names of said organizations, you would be able to use the information you gather at your next business meeting. For example, “Last month Company A looked at Product B’s webpage and bought a month’s supply. However, they also looked at the page introducing Product C, an upgrade to Product B. As we are going to be promoting Product C in lieu of Product B in the future, we should tell them more about Product C during our next round of negotiations with Company A.” Or: “I exchanged a number of business cards during our latest exhibition. Somebody from Company D used the link from the card to visit our webpage, so we should prioritize interactions with them.” Or: “Company F is visiting our website more often than usual. They also seem to be spending a longer time on our product webpages recently. There also seems to be a higher number of unique users visiting from Company F. This may be because they are discussing our business during company meetings. It may be productive to send Manager A to their company with a proposal.” Or: “Since there have been a lot of accesses from the food industry, we should try to strengthen the attraction of new customers by setting up a special page geared towards the food industry.” Or: “Recently, we have been unexpectedly receiving a lot of accesses from the electrical industry. It is possible that there was a hidden potential need in this industry. We should try to have our product development department cooperate with them in order to develop a product geared towards this industry.” Route analysis of customers with inquiries will increase your ability to negotiate effectivelyMicro analysis will yield more positive results in businesses that handle products with long decision making processes. For this reason, your ability to effectively negotiate can increase exponentially if you have the right micro analysis data.With just the data from micro analysis, you cannot determine the specific user that you are following. If you combine your micro analysis results with data from the conversion page, (it collects name, date and time records), you can identify users from their submitted inquiries. If you can find out specific user activity, you can anticipate their needs and desires and then present products that will fit their needs during negotiations. Your presentation will go much smoother if you know exactly what your client or prospective customer wants. It is also nice to be able to confirm that the customer actually visited your website after the first stage of negotiations are completed. If they visit the site that focuses on the product or service you presented, you will know that they are interested and will most likely follow through and purchase said product or service. If so, you will be able to use this as a basis for creating a quote or a proposal geared towards acquiring a new contract. Anticipating customer needs is the best way to successfully complete a negotiation. Improving the Quality of Emails, Magazines and AdvertisementsMicro analysis and advertising analysis can be combined to measure exit rates, conversion rates and average conversion prices from users visiting a website from referring emails, magazines and ads. The combination of data allows you to follow the user’s browsing history to figure out where they saw your ads and therefore optimize your advertising process.The Implementation of Micro AnalysisA micro analysis is conducted by using the following procedure:Design sampling conditionsChoose specific users to be analyzed. Set conditions like “Users who converted” or “Users that work for an electronics manufacturer and have visited the same page.” Select which user will be analyzed from the various users available.Select target micro analysis usersBased on the sampling conditions, list your micro analysis targets. Look at trends within user browsing paths and then select the users you want to analyze.Analyze browsing routes then hypothesize points for improvement Analyze the pages viewed, the length of each session and their viewing environment. Then consider ways to guide the user to completing a conversion based on the products or services they are interested in. Create and implement improvement strategiesUse micro analysis to determine what products and services are popular or need improvement. Work directly with the departments in charge of said items in order to increase overall profits.Verify that your strategies are successfulAfter executing your strategies, verify their effects. As the results will influence the website as a whole, you should verify the effect in combination with the micro analysis.Users and Micro AnalysisAnalyze the psychological transformation of users by combining a user test and micro analysisOne of the typical qualitative research methods other than micro analysis is a user test. User tests are time intensive and can be expensive. Look at other options like PopInsight, Inc.’s remote-user test.Data from a user test can be used in conjunction with a micro analysis to help you focus on both psychological and emotional factors involved in the purchase of the product or service you are trying to sell. Identifying usersMicro analyzing tools that can identify users based on their IP address include List Finder, Mail Sonar, and SATORI. This data can be used to help improve user-friendliness and optimize the user experience.A Data Management Platform (DMP) can also be used in conjunction with micro Analysis to improve marketing automation.Important Points to Remember When Implementing a Micro AnalysisComply with laws, regulations, and your client company’s privacy and security policies
When you use a tool for access analysis and micro analysis, you will be obtaining private user information. Before you begin, be sure to confirm that the tool you have chosen will follow the laws of the country you are working in to the letter and comply with your client company’s privacy and security policies.
You may run into discrepancies between the data you obtain and reality
Many micro-analysis tools use third-party cookies to distinguish users. This cookie data can cause discrepancies in your data. For example, if a user visits your website on their smartphone and their PC, the cookie information will be logged twice instead of once. If they set their browser to disregard third-party cookies, the log data will record different users each time they visit.Furthermore, you can only get the name of the accessing organization if said organization has a fixed IP address. If a company without a fixed IP address accesses your website, you can only find out the name of the provider displayed instead of the organization name.Make sure to note these discrepancies in your analysis report.
Internet Audience Measurement Methodologies
Please note that access analysis only shows your client’s data. It does not take their competitors’ data into consideration. This can be detrimental to your marketing strategy as having access to competitors’ data facilitates the analysis of your client’s website.One of the ways to get competitors’ data is an Internet audience rating survey.Internet audience rating surveys differ from TV surveys in that they make various cross analyzes possible. With the data gathered from these surveys you can get a glimpse into trends the current market is experiencing and as well as data on unique users and unique visitors.
Other data you can gather includes:
There are several methods you can use to gather and portray data. They include the panel method, the unified digital measuring method, indexes and bubble charts.
The Panel Method
An Internet audience rating survey is conducted as a sample survey, not a complete survey. It tracks Internet user’s habits by developing and recruiting a diverse panel of participants that are representative of the population of online users and then installing software on the panelists’ computers that tracks their online presence. Participants can provide demographic data and help eliminate duplicative traffic (hits from both work and home). This method is your best bet for gathering data from large sites with vast audiences.
There are some downsides to this method that you need to be aware of. Firstly, the panel method tracks accesses from computers only; it does not track hits from mobile devices. You might also need to filter out any at-work activities if your participant uses their computer for both work and recreation. It is also important to note that the size and diversity of your pool of participants is imperative for accurate numbers.
The Unified Digital Measurement MethodThe online audience measurement service provided by comScore across AsiaPac uses the hybrid method, aka the unified digital measurement method, to gather information. They offer data which has migrated (i.e., transferred and converted) access logs obtained from access analysis tags embedded by portal or e-commerce website operators in addition to data obtained by the conventional panel method.comScore’s software Media Metrix offers global coverage, reporting on more than 250,000 entities worldwide with audience measurement in 44 countries and 6 regions as of 2015. The biggest advantage of the unified digital measurement method is that you can understand and make decisions based on how consumers use different devices, such as TVs, mobile phones and computers, as well as the communication environment information from Wi-Fi hot-spots. Notes on Internet audience rating measurement methodologiesIn general, the number of unique users is different from the value obtained by an access analysis tool used by the client. This is because the Internet audience rating is an estimated value. Each Internet audience rating survey service naturally uses average values excluding abnormal values, resulting in differences of four to five times of the value obtained by the company’s analysis.IndexesIt is helpful to use an index as the standard to judge if the value indicated in the Internet audience rating survey is high or low. Indexing is a method used to compare “a value obtained from a survey” with “a value obtained from the overall market.”Index = (ratio of each item [share]) ÷ ratio in overall market [share]) x 100 For example, a survey on the demographics of a web service showed that the ratio of teens was 10% while the ratio of people in their forties was 15%. It seems that this service is attractive to middle-aged people. However, if the age distribution of the Internet users over the entire society is 5% for teens and 20% for people in their forties, the index for teens is 200 while the index for people in their forties is 75. This shows that this service actually is attractive to young people. Using an index, you can objectively judge website data as compared with trends in the market. Using a Bubble ChartBubble charts are often used to help visualize the Internet audience rating data. A bubble chart indicates distribution statuses using bubbles with certain sizes and positions, and can represent mutual relationships between various comparison targets.For example, by indicating the unique users tracked this month and last month with different size bubbles, taking the visit count on the vertical axis, and taking the session duration on the horizontal axis, a bubble chart can represent the number of visitors, visit count, and session durations for the website of each company with a single graph. You can use various elements on the vertical and horizontal axes such as PV or average number of use days. If your findings show that the visitor count is high but the PV is low or the session duration is short, you’ll be able to fix problems as they come up. These charts can help you discover glitches in the company’s website including unattractive content, difficult usability and even pages that take too long to load. Competitor AnalysisConduct a Competitive AnalysisNew companies and websites are constantly being launched. In order to stay ahead of your competitors, you need to be aware of what they are offering their customers. Performing a competitive analysis will help you create a strategy that will allow you to compete, and hopefully surpass your online and offline competitors.What is a competitor?A competitor can be either online or offline. You can have competitors that are rivals in the same industry like Coke and Pepsi, and you can have competitors that come in the form of websites that appear ahead of you on a search results page.The purpose of a competitor analysisYou can learn a lot from a competitor analysis. By comparing content, design, ads, and their target audience, you can modify your own methods to outshine your competition. This may mean changing your methods, but it may also give you new ideas that you can turn to your advantage.What kind of websites should be analyzed?You should choose websites from the two different categories described above when you are going to do a competitor analysis.For example, you own a business that sells coffee shop downtown. There are many other businesses in your industry that you must compete with. You will want to compare your website to larger corporate websites like Starbucks as they will appear before yours on a search engine results page. You’ll also need to compare your website to websites from smaller café’s that are located in the same area as you. Three categories you should analyzeOnce you have listed the websites to perform the competitor analysis upon, analyze each from the following perspectives.Analyze the target audienceAnalyze the customers that visit your website and your chosen competitor websites. Analyze keywords, the age and the gender of customers. Use the data you gather to compare it with your target audience.Evaluate content qualityLook at their design, user-friendliness, shopping cart, content, navigation, sitemap, blogs, social media profiles and advertisements.Investigate the quantity of contents published. How many times have they posted to a social media site? Have they posted case studies? How frequently do they post or add new content? What kind of topics do they discuss? Are there any holes in their content that you can capitalize on? If you can determine topics that you can add to your content, you might be able to overtake them on the search engine results page. Evaluate their content quality. How accurate is the content they are posting? Are there spelling and grammatical errors? Do they structure their content in a user-friendly manner? Do users share or interact with posts? Also examine how well their website is optimized. You can perform SEO on a competitor website to see what they are doing right and wrong. Use the knowledge to improve your own website. Look at the inflow routeAnalyze how your target customers arrive at competitor websites. You may find a route to attract new customers to your website. For example, if a competitor is successfully increases inflows from social media sites, you might want to focus on introducing or improving your own social media profiles.How to take advantage of web marketing analysis toolsWe will discuss useful web marketing analysis tools in depth. Each one is different and can affect your decision making process; make sure you pick the tool that will give you the data that you need. Here is a brief overview of some of the most popular tools:Google Trends and Keyword Planner will be able to tell you the number of searches, trends, and seasonal variations on search phrases. Please note that the results you will receive from Google Trends come in relative numerical values, and that the numerical values from the Keyword Planner are estimates. Social media analysis tools allow you to analyze trends in comments on blogs and social media websites. Remember that comments are personal opinions and should always be analyzed with a grain of salt. There are also a variety of survey tools that are useful. They can show you the numerical values of searches and Likes on Facebook and what types of articles those users are viewing. They can show you popular and trending search words and phrases on Twitter, see how users are transmitting the words and the context in which they are being utilized. You can also analyze descriptions on websites by looking at proper nouns. Please take advantage of the many resources available to you when performing web marketing Analysis and business Analysis. via Blogger http://ift.tt/2fgeJHS October 29, 2016 at 10:40AM
Guidelines for Web Analytics Consultants
Web analytics consultants, help client businesses achieve their goals. In order to become a certified consultant, students need to attend certification courses, pass certification exams, and submit reports. http://ift.tt/2ez71o4Something that we want to stress, is that becoming a Web Analytics Consultant is just a stepping stone on your path to success. Using the knowledge you gain from attaining your certification, skills in accounting and marketing, and the subsequent business experience that will come your way, you will be able to achieve an effective and sustained business performance. In the section below, some ideas that every new Web Analytics Consultant should keep in mind are explained. The Philosophy of Web Analytics ConsultantsWeb Analytics Consultants are qualified by the General Incorporated Association of Web Analytics Consultants Association (WACA). What makes the WACA different from other qualifications for online marketing and web analytics professionals is its philosophy.Your output should be market-outputThe concept of market-output is not just creating what is desired by users, but developing new technology or services after thoroughly considering what can maximize user satisfaction. Output from a web analytics consultant should be market-output. In the past, corporations explored user needs after developing a new technology or product (product-output). Then they shifted to a new idea of exploring the market first and then creating a product desired by the users (market-input).For this purpose, listening to the users’ voices is essential, but simply accepting them at face-value should be avoided, because users are not always correct. There can be no opinion for a service that does not yet exist. You must be conscious of the intent of users’ voices or even “silent” voices. One of the tasks of a web analytics consultant is to improve client websites, but that is just one piece of their contribution. You must offer proposals from various viewpoints with no restrictions in order to maximize the client's satisfaction. For example, what kind of smartphone does each user want to buy? There were no concrete ways of answering this question before Apple introduced the iPhone to the world. They helped raise the iPhone to the top of the digital trend list by observing users carefully and proposing products or services which met their needs exactly. In web analytics, each Web Analytics Consultant should conduct a close analysis and identify important factors that explain why their users like particular products or services, and what they are expecting. Your job is not just to look at numbers, but to seek ways in which to satisfy user requirements. Have a viewpoint focused on on-site activitiesA Web Analytics Consultant must do their job from a viewpoint focused on on-site activities. Data analytics has been considered a job for an expert with special skills. However, basic and practical data analytics done by an on-site person will contribute more to business results than theoretical data analytics done by an analyst who does not know the company.Take the following work-place examples: People on a production site analyze data during their free time between regular tasks and utilize the results to create higher-quality products. In convenience stores, the manager of each store analyzes what is sold when, and replenishes the items that sell-out at the times when customers want to purchase them, therefore increasing their profit margin. Timing is everything when considering more efficient sales management. In both cases, the people who are analyzing data do not have any expertise but use their experience regarding their workplace to improve their profits through simple and basic analytics results. A Web Analytics Consultant acts as a bridge between the website and the management via analyzed data. They put the highest priority on voices from the customer service pages and the people who directly contact the company via email or through other methods of communication. Using these voices, the consultant can analyze data and determine how the users are thinking and feeling about the company. Web analytics does not teach the latest marketing method to the client but communicates thoughts from the site along with useful data. Of course you need techniques, but do not forget that the site is most important. Push everyone forwardDevote yourself to the role of the axis that turns the improvement cycle. Turning the PDCA cycle may seem like the task of the client or web director, but they tend to focus on planning (P) advertising and production (D), disregard the analysis check (C) and counteraction (A).A Web Analytics Consultant needs to take charge in the facilitation of a meeting (to expedite the progress and agreement). As the axis of the improvement cycle, you’ll help the client find areas of improvement and promote any plans they might suggest. You’ll want to try to draw opinions from people who are offline too, for example, management and production site employees or customers. Learn web analytics to improve your methodologyDo you want to open a business or get a job as a Web Analytics Consultant once you are qualified? There are some people who work as professional web analytics consultants, however, realistically, there are only a few companies that hire professional web analytics consultants.If you’re wondering if becoming a qualified web analytics consultant is worth the time and effort, it is. You’ll be able to use the web analytics qualifications you earn as an indispensable tool for the benefit of your business. They will help you learn how to create and present proposals to clients and will contribute to your overall business results. Without these skills, it would take you an enormous effort to apply individual improvement methods one by one, sorted from several thousands of pages of websites or tens of thousands occurrences of search phrases. With these skills, you’ll be able to use the correct software to find important issues and improve them; saving you both time and money. If you go into a non-Internet based field such as sales, you’ll be able to boost your company’s business planning and use web analytics to increase their profits. Gain as much experience as you canEvery web designer and web programmer needs a talent or specialization that will make them stand out in their chosen field. A web designer who learns illustration, design or animation will be able to create more refined websites while a web programmer who can think logically and mathematically will create better programs. Productivity differs greatly between people who strive to succeed and those who do not.In the field of web analytics, specializations and talents take a backseat to experience. You need to understand the four basic operations of arithmetic to learn how to be a successful web analytics consultant. After you gain your beginner qualifications, take up analytics jobs for a variety of websites. The more jobs you take and the more analytics you do, the more you’ll improve. Take all of the data presented to you with a grain of saltWeb analytics deals with data. Huge amounts of data. Data is the basis for everything you’ll do in this field, but is not always accurate. Sometimes important data may be missing or an abnormal value may be acquired. Due to these fluctuations, your hypothesis test results might not yield the results you were expecting. If this happens, question the validity of the data you’re analyzing first and foremost. If you’re not 100% sure that the data is correct, figure out how to change the software settings so that the correct data can be acquired to test your hypothesis. Question everything and do your level best to avoid careless mistakes. You can always consult the people who work at the client company as well; they often know more than you’d expect.Facts Regarding Web AnalyticsThe number of websites drastically increased with the spread of the Internet at the end of the 20th century.
When you preform web Analysis, you will be dealing with lots of data. Make sure to take into account any errors that appear so that you can go back and double check areas that might be causing issues. You will always need to perform the following three tasks:
Data AggregationData aggregation is any process in which information is expressed in a summary form for purposes such as reporting or analysis. Present the data in a manner that will be easily understood by all involved.Please take care with the following three things:
Add comments to your reportsAfter aggregating the data from the web analysis you have performed, read over the data and add comments that you think will add to your report. The ability to arrive at a conclusion after getting something from the data is a web analyst's special skill.
Report your findingsWeb Analytics Consultants must report their findings to their clients in order to receive feedback and permission to implement any suggestions or marketing strategies they suggest.You must adapt the contents of your report to compliment the people you are reporting to. If you are talking with business owners or managers, focus on ways to achieve goals, if you are talking with a marketing team, focus on ways to improve marketing strategies. It is also best to avoid using technical terms when giving your report.
Meeting preparation and planning
Important points to remember when facilitating meetings:
Web Analyst’s Issues in Ethics: ConfidentialityProtecting user dataA web analytics consultant has an obligation to keep the data they use confidential. Web analytics data, especially access log analysis data, is generally considered non-invasive as a consultant must obtain a court order to find out a user’s identity from their Internet service provider. If you do receive more personal information, like the user’s name or date of birth, it’s best to check with the client to see if the data can be processed and converted into non-identifiable data. For example, the date of birth may be handled as year or month, and the name may be handled as an ID. Whether or not private data is included, be sure to clearly explain how long the data will be stored and how to erase it to the client in advance.Protecting client dataThe majority of clients will not want their company name, industry or web analytics data to be seen by their competitors or users. When using data available to anyone using the correct software, (e.g., Internet audience rating or keywords), let the client know that you’ll be using such data. This is to prevent trouble if a competitor uses the same data.Search phrases may include private data such as phone numbers or names. There has actually been a case where a class action suit was filed against disclosure of such private data. Be very careful when handling web analytics data. It’s best to discard data as soon as it becomes superfluous. Clarify how data is handledBe sure to determine who is going to have access to data, how it is going to be stored and how it is going to be disposed of at the end of the project in advance. Clearly indicate these details in written form to the client.Note that the NDA covers not only web-related data, but also business data like sales. It may also cover the various strategies developed and implemented by web analytics consultants after they complete their web analytics. Always double check how data is handled before it is acquired. Disclosing your marketing strategyYou will be requested to present your experience and results outside the company. In this case, you need to obtain approval from the client in advance.Clearly indicate to the client the scope of the presentation and who can view or use the information. Also, check the scope of publication including the contents and retention of the built logic and data. Tell the client about the details of the contents and obtain approval. Confirm if there is any data the client does not want to publish. If the client requests, submit the list of third-party companies which can view the contents to be published and the list of individuals in charge of browsing the contents. Avoid publication to companies and individuals the client disapproves. Non-Disclosure AgreementsBe sure to exchange an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with the client even if the client does not request it. As web analytics consultants handle confidential data, you’ll want to have this security net in place before you begin a job.Note that the NDA covers not only web-related data, but also business data such as sales. The NDA may also cover the policies conducted as a result of web analytics. Be sure to always check without fail. Presenting your License Card (Senior Web Analytics Consultants only)A Senior Web Analytics Consultant must present their license card to the client before accepting a job offer. They must also introduce the WACA site and explain to the client that they can notify the WACA of any problems in the consultation business.Clarification of data handlingBe sure to determine who handles data and how the data is stored and discarded after completion of the project in advance, and clearly indicate these in a written form to the client. Note that the NDA covers not only the web-related data, but also the business data such as sales. The NDA may also cover the policies conducted as a result of web analytics. Be sure to always check without fail.Web Analytics Consultant’s Issues in Ethics: Code of ConductEvery web analytics consultant must follow the following code of conduct:The cycleA Web Analytics Consultant shall create a cycle where:
Generate business results and promote client industriesThe role of Web Analytics Consultants is not “to improve websites,” but “to contribute to business success via web analytics.” Deepen your relationship with your clients so that you can share both success and failures with them and appreciate mutual growth.The web analytics consultant may do a job for free in order to gain experience, however, they shall do it as professionally as they would a paid job. As a professional in the field of web analytics, they must contribute to society. Stick to the “customer-first principle” and act accordinglyA Web Analytics Consultant’s job is to act as a bridge between unheard user “voices” and the client company. As such, it’s important to interpret the data, form hypothesis based on the data and then act upon the results. Web analytics without any action has no value.Treat all data equallyAll data is important to a consultant. You should analyze data from both online and offline sources and not limit yourself to the data gathered from your client’s website. A Web Analytics Consultant should be able to use the data they analyze to help transform an organization. If you’re doing your job correctly, you’ll give a voice to the users and ears to your client. Being able to hear what users want will help establish a healthy relationship. We believe that this will push society in a positive direction.Participate in both business and education to give opportunities to everyoneThe web analytics consultant shall provide everyone with an environment to learn, teach, perform analysis or be analyzed. Ensuring reality in business and conforming to a marketing strategy in education leads to useful results and fostering talent. Rotating both the wheels of business and education brings an important sense of value to the web analytics consultant.Protect the customer data while sharing business experiencesThe web analytics consultant handles confidential data so they should manage it according to a contract or data management scheme in order to ensure that the users and clients are risk-free. On the other hand, the web analytics consultant should actively share experiences with other consultants. Through active sharing, Web Analytics Consultants can improve the quality of their analysis.Various data from users and clients will be visualized in the future. The web analytics consultant should learn up-to-date technology and methodology to make use of every type of data. But, do not forget that the mission of the web analytics consultant is to bring business results to the clients. Certification Program for Web Analytics ConsultantsThe WACA offers three levels of certification courses and certificates for:
This person is certified by attending a set number of lectures (1, 2, 4, 6, 10 or 15 chosen at their own discretion), or through a self-study course and qualification CBT (Computer Based Testing) exam. After passing your exams, the WACA will issue you a certificate that will show any prospective client that you have gained the skills and experience necessary to fulfil your duties as an Associate Web Analytics Consultant. Senior Web Analytics Consultant (SWAC)The senior web analytics consultant performs business analysis. A qualified senior web analytics consultant has learned how to define KPIs (Key Performance Indicator - an index created to show the performance of a business. See Chapter 3 for more information), create online marketing plans for their clients, offer concrete consultations and be actively involved in professional consulting.Criteria for qualification includes the ability to use web analytics software to design web analytics reports and propose marketing strategies. Each senior web analytics consultant is issued a license card and listed in the directory of consultants. To retain their qualification, each senior web analytics consultant must attend an update course, conduct a case study presentation and attend a follow-up course at least once every two years. Web Analytics Master (WAM)Each Web Analytics Master is required to organize a report and establish a plan to improve business results. In addition to being a first-rank business consultant, a Web Analytics Master can teach a course to train and instruct Associate and Senior Web Analytics Consultants.The Membership SystemOnce you pass Associate Web Analytics Consultants exam, you will be registered as a member of the Web Analytics Consultants Association.Members are classified into three different categories at the WACA. You can become a full member, a free member, or a supporting member (admission is $100 before tax plus an annual fee of $60 before tax). Each category enjoys respective and varying privileges. Note that qualified web analytics consultants can only become full or free members and that membership fees will not be refunded for any reason. You can resign from the WACA by notifying the office of your choice. Please give at least one month notice and remember that if you resign, your Senior or Master certification will be invalidated. If you want to improve as a Web Analytics Consultant and establish personal connections you should become a full member. Full members (paying members)The first year of membership to the WACA is free for everyone, or rather, the membership fee is deducted from the certification fee. You will not have to pay annual fees until your second year. When you renew your membership, you will be charged $60 (before tax). Annual renewals are processed on December 31st, regardless of the date you originally received your certification.The money collected from membership fees will be used for various purposes, like raising awareness regarding WACA certifications and managing memberships. After you begin paying your membership fees:
The Web Analytics Consultants AssociationThe Web Analytics Consultants Association (WACA) was established in April, 2012.The WACA’s “… mission is to promote and raise the overall level of the web analytics industry by continuously creating opportunities for people to learn what is web analytics?, discuss, and pass on their web analytics knowledge. We aim to create a community through web analytics which will drive business success, research and development, personal career development, and employment opportunities.” The WACA’s current projects include: “educational projects for human resource development, R & D and information provisions, employment support, business matching (business referral and placement), training courses, seminar planning and management, magazine and book editing, issuing, and publishing, an academic study society, seminar planning and management, as well as other projects necessary to achieve our purpose.” via Blogger http://ift.tt/2eno1SR October 24, 2016 at 04:58PM
What is web analytics?
The use of web analytics is indispensable to businesses looking to gather and analyze data for later use in marketing strategies. As online marketing skyrockets in popularity, designing websites that fully utilize the various types of web analytics is one of the most important things a person in the web industry can learn. The following explains how web analytics is important. http://ift.tt/2cIKmbqThe Professional Image Required for the Future of the Web IndustryWhile it is true that having a website is imperative for a business to reach and communicate with a continually increasing Internet population, many businesses see online marketing as a superfluous expense. Justifying marketing costs is a challenge for any business and the price competition among web production companies is intense. Why is this the case? Do the people in charge of online marketing just lack the correct knowledge?No. Knowledge isn’t the issue, the difficulty of measuring the impact of online marketing and the fact that it’s a recurring expense is. While business owners can easily see the results of a sales promotion and recognize its impact on their business, they don’t want to spend much, or any, money on something that is unpredictable and has little guarantee of visible success. The most serious problem lies in the gap between the returns expected by clients and the results achieved by the web industry to date. Currently, it’s easier to measure results and make improvements in online marketing than other marketing method, but the web industry has primarily been proposing new technologies without emphasizing this simplicity. People who work in the web industry must be able to understand how to meet demands made by those who desire web solutions and utilize results from data Analysis. They need to be able to analyze data from a website, look at customer trends and preferences, create a sound marketing strategy from said data, and be able to adjust that strategy according to its results. The Significance of Web MarketingBeing able to build a website that will draw customers in is one of the most important roles website designers fill today. Each page created has a purpose, for example, to attract visitors who want to purchase goods, register for a membership, or request information. The catch is attracting customers in the first place. No matter how great a website looks, it’s useless without visitors.Web marketers i.e. online marketers are responsible for bringing prospective customers to a website and encouraging them to convert. In the next section we will be discussing web marketing. MarketingMarketing is the umbrella term that covers the method through which goods and services are transferred from the producer to the consumer. This includes various forms of advertising, selling, and delivering products to their purchaser. You need to know each of these processes and activities.AdvertisingYou will need to know the ins and outs of online advertising, how to charge for the ads you create, and the various transaction methods. Currently, there are new types of ads which require knowledge such as re-marketing and ad-technology. You may also need knowledge of how advertising works in newspapers and on TV. Finding that balance between online and offline advertising could be the thing that drives your marketing efforts into the realm of success.Search engines (SEO, SEM, etc.)There are many popular search engines available on the Internet today including Google, Bing and Yahoo. You will need to know how to utilize search engines, their mechanisms, and how they determine website rankings. It is also imperative that you are familiar with both keyword ads and product listing ads (PLAs) as they are two of the primary methods you will use when advertising online.Web design, web system design, applications, and usabilityUnderstanding how to create and use websites, the web system, smartphone and PC apps, mobile networking and how to implement easy-to-use websites will be invaluable to you in the future.Social mediaUnderstanding social media sites like Facebook and Twitter is extremely important to online marketing. The knowledge of how they work, their reach, the specific characteristics of each website, and how users behave on each site will help you create marketing campaigns that will appeal to your target market.What is Web analytics?Web analytics gathers data on consumer behavior that can help determine performance and ways to optimize your marketing strategies. The addition of data from offline sources can offer even more insights into consumer preferences and trends.The Significance of Web AnalyticsThe ability to use web analytics to their fullest extent is one of the most important skills for online marketers to have.Web analytics can measure online marketing resultsThe final goal of web analytics is not creating a neat report or learning how to use specialized software. By correctly understanding and performing web analytics, you can discover various problems and points for improvement, measure how much each online marketing activity contributed to business results and establish new marketing strategies. It can also be used to analyze organization-wide activities including those undertaken at physical stores, improve them and lead to actual results.Profit is necessary if a company wants to stay in business; the use of accounting and web analytics increases revenue. Web analytics in online marketing is similar to accounting. To determine whether an online marketing strategy has succeeded or failed, you’ll need numerical data that shows just how many customers were attracted by the sale, an ad, etc… Numerical data is used by accountants to measure profits, losses, to calculate sales and costs, to determine what to sell in order to make a larger profit, and to decide what costs need to be reduced. Web analytics needs to keep up with the evolution of online marketing. There are a number of ways that businesses can create marketing campaigns. Some like to use marketing automation programs that utilize web analytics data to design and distribute ads. These programs were designed as ways to mitigate the burden on online marketers. While they are becoming more popular, they will never replace specialists that can read and extrapolate data in order to determine effectiveness and implement changes in their marketing strategies. Web analytics is a field that is always evolving. Web analytics consultants are constantly seeking to improve their knowledge in order to create innovative strategies that will fulfil their client’s goals. One way of doing this is by using the web data they gather and analyze to optimize websites. Being able to utilize knowledge gained from user activity logs and user purchase histories allows a consultant to figure out ways to appeal to a specific target or target market. By transforming their knowledge into a way for clients to profit, they are able to fill the role of both the analyst and online marketer. Web analytics is necessary as a common languageIn the world of web marketing, new techniques and services are constantly being created. No matter what techniques and services are available, the definition of terms such as PV or conversion do not change and the root of web analytics remains the same.Since results must be measured in all marketing methods, web analytics can be a common language in various situations. By learning web analytics first, before other marketing methods, you will be able to judge the effect of each method properly. Web AnalyticsAs online marketing is sometimes referred to as digital marketing, web analytics is sometimes referred to as digital analytics. Web analytics picks up users’ voices from data they’ve left behind and uses calculated figures as a common language for improvement. Note that web analytics is different from access analysis.Web analytics consultants should be able to figure out what roles a website is expected to play and what goals it is expected to achieve by first understanding their client’s business objectives. When looking at the results of web marketing campaigns, consultants should be able to look at user behavior and the data gathered from text Analysis to determine whether advanced Analysis should be performed. Just getting requests for materials via the website is not enough. The problem is whether or not an applicant passes the credit check and if they will use the card regularly. Narrow down the issues to discover what problem needs to be solved first. Is it the number of applications? The number of applicants passing the credit check? The number of regular users? You need to know what to focus on in order to focus the scope of your analytics and build a successful marketing campaign. When performing web analytics as a consultant, do not forget to break down the process starting from the business goal. Bringing Business ResultsWeb analytics is used to improve business results. In order to become a successful web analytics consultant, you’ll need to be familiar with the following three topics: marketing and business management, the Internet, and statistics and data analysis.Marketing and business managementTo achieve successful results, you’ll need to understand your client’s business model and marketing style.The InternetYou must understand how websites and online marketing affect your client’s business.Statistics and data analysisYou’ll need to be able to utilize the data gathered from both online and offline sources in order to determine the best ways to improve your client’s online presence and help them achieve their overall goals.Listen to Your Users’ VoicesYou can think of data obtained through web analytics as the voice of your target market users. The phrases they search for, the pages they browse, and the links they click tell you exactly what they desire. Web analytics consultants can listen to what users are telling them and respond with websites and advertisements tailored to fit their needs.Consultants can also use results from various Analysis to determine their client company’s performance levels and user satisfaction. Access AnalyticsAnalyze search phrases, PVs, ad effect measurement results, etc. to help you understand ways in which you can help your clients improve their business.Online Marketing Analytics Utilize data from competitor Analysis, keyword planner software, user testing results, web master tool data, and the Internet audience rating. Business AnalyticsBusiness analytics is generally performed offline. It focuses on looking at financial statements, sales and profits, sales activity estimates, inquiry histories from call centers, inquiries from phone or fax lines, and questionnaire responses.Data from online sources can include PVs, user motivation for visiting the website in question, and postings made to social media sites. Each web analytics consultant must define their own scope of analysis. The PDCA Cycle What is the PDCA cycle? PDCA is an acronym for “Plan, Do, Check, and Action” and was originally born as a concept to facilitate production control and quality control. Plan: Create a business plan based on past performance and the future forecast. Do: Follow your plan and put your marketing strategy into practice. Check: Make sure everything is satisfactory. Action: Take an action if the results you are getting are unsatisfactory. You need to be successful in your endeavors. The end of a single PDCA cycle is connected to the start of the next cycle so that quality continually increases. In web marketing, repeating this cycle leads to improved results. However, you can’t start a large-scale, long-term enhancement program when you’re first starting out. It’s more productive to aim for a small-scale and short-term cycle, gradually expanding it to larger and longer cycles. In web analytics, completing this cycle quickly and accurately is more important than ensuring the viability of a specific strategy. Keep trying out small ideas and solutions; you will eventually figure out how to succeed. Ideas and solutions can be suggested by virtually any source of inspiration ranging from a walk in the park to brainstorming sessions at meetings where you are presenting your report to your clients. As such, communication across the entire organization is essential to success. Since web analytics data is used as a common language for this communication, every person involved must understand the results of your Analysis and how the results affect them or the department they represent. When creating a report or making a proposal:
The Future of Web AnalyticsData to UnderstandDigital marketing is a term that encompasses the application of a broad range of means, not limited to web services, to online marketing. Digital analytics measures the performance of digital advertising campaigns.As analytics tools and target environments change, web analytics consultants must look for new sources of information. Offline dataYou may need to analyze data from call centers and physical stores in addition to the data you gather from the web.Understanding how devices, applications and browsers interact. There are a number of methods you can use to understand the ways that users behave across multiple platforms. For example, you can consider the various user environments. Look at how they access the Internet and what kinds of platforms they use. The offline measurement method and the integration methodIn order to track orders received at a call center, it’s common to design the system so that order ID’s are checked both on the website and at the call center (single sign-on). The staff at call centers often use the ID’s to check the caller’s purchase history. They can then tell the caller about similar products that they may be interested in buying. This method often results in an increase in the average amount spent per customer.Please note that when using digital analytics, the measurement methods and units are the same as in web analytics. The new methods being developed for web analytics are also useful for measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns performed offline and on multiple devices. You must also remember that if the users are not using the platforms you want to analyze, you will not be able to capture any data. Future ConcernsWeb analytics is a field that is growing in strength and necessity. There are, however, issues that can be foreseen and must be resolved in order to improve results.Communication across departmentsThe future of web analytics depends on communication and cooperation. Once a company decides how it wants to engage with customers, it needs the organizational capabilities and communication skills to deliver. They might have to add staff or new departments and will most likely have to alter their reporting structure. Team members far removed from web marketing (e.g., public relations, sales promotion, shop, and sales) often have important roles to play, so being able to explain the importance of marketing activities in ways easily understood by all is vital to the success of the company.Managing personal informationPrivacy laws are in place around the world. While being able to track and associate user behavior, histories and personal information is great for companies using web analytics and developing marketing strategies, individual users may feel that their privacy is being infringed upon. Each user has the right to protect his or her own personal information. A way for the user to protect their privacy, such as a log out or opt-out option, is required when constructing a web page.There have been companies that disregarded these laws in the past, for example a company designed a toolbar for browsers that collected user information. They were punished for their infraction and their story is now used to remind web analytics consultants that they should never collect marketing data in a way that impairs the dignity of the customers. Movement toward DNT (Do Not Track)Users who want their privacy insured can enable the DNT (Do Not Track) setting on their browser. A window that has DNT enabled blocks the ability of websites to collect personal information and cookies. Web analytics consultants must be very careful to insure that their marketing strategies will not trouble users and make them want to promote the DNT movement.Ad BlockersWhile ad and content blockers have been available on PCs for many years, AdBlocker Plus being one of the most popular, the very first smartphone content blocker was released with Apple’s iOS9 update in 2015.via Blogger http://ift.tt/2dltCFk October 01, 2016 at 10:32PM
Approaching Web Analytics
Consumers today want to see targeted, short, specific, sharable content that also allows for speedy responses to inquiries. As society today becomes more diverse and immersed in technology, business must fill the needs of their prospective customers and realize that their content needs to be able to reach the consumers, not the other way around. That is where web analytics comes into play. http://ift.tt/2dhQtTcWeb Analytics Consultants use web analytics to read the digital advertising activity of users and interpret its value. Data from web analytics can help marketers create shareable, attention-grabbing, innovative content and it can help a business create a website that will allow them to promptly follow up with users in order to deepen relationships, earn trust, drive engagement, and maximize their marketing conversion rate. It can also help businesses analyze activity from a single user and, with the help of specialized software, create that targeted experience users today are really looking for. Learning Web Analytics from Advanced Web AnalyticsOur goal is to help you become the most successful web analytics consultant you can become with the information provided in this textbook. We have done our utmost to compile information that will help you become an asset to the web analytics field.We will be focusing on ways that you, as web analytics consultant, can become prepared to step out into the world and take on jobs with confidence. Our goal is to make sure that you are thoroughly prepared, both in your mind-set and in the methods you will use to perform your job. We will be discussing the various methods available for your use, the role you will be filling as a consultant and the future of web analytics as a whole. Does the web have a bright future?The reach of today’s technology and social media allows consumers to interact with an immediacy that was not possible for the Baby Boomers and Generation Xers. The people using technology today have changed the face of consumer marketing, forcing businesses to rethink and change the way in which they market their products and services.The Internet has created a platform in which businesses can reach out to consumers on a much larger scale but still allows them to develop trust and build customer loyalty. Consumers today often use their devices while in-store to look up product information, check prices and read reviews from other customers who have actually used the product. This availability of information, advice, opinions and feedback create new situations that marketers must take into account when creating webpages, mobile pages and advertisements. Recognizing the importance of marketing strategies that work across multiple devices, channels and media venues is key. As this is the case, businesses are investing in media and data analysis tools that will allow them to create that personalized experience that consumers desire while measuring the true effectiveness of their marketing strategies. These tools and programs also help businesses use the data gathered to adapt their efforts as necessary. With all of these programs and tools available to businesses do you think that a bright future lies ahead of you? Is the field of web analytics going to continue growing in the future? Business Management and the InternetBusiness managers can be categorized by the way they utilize the InternetWhile most business are stepping into the future and doing their best to change with the times, there are still those that choose not to. Or rather, their managers choose not to. This type of business manager is known as an outsourcing-type manager. They are characterised by the way they believe that while the web might be important to their business in the future, it currently does not provide a good connection with their customers.Another type of manager is known for choosing to apply examples of successful marketing that they are exposed to on the TV or through word-of-mouth. They generally pass any web-related work off to their IT department or hire web production companies and ignore what is right in front of their noses. Managers that ignore the Internet are falling intodisfavor As we have been discussing, the Internet has a truly substantial impact on marketing in today’s world. Whether these managers like it or not, the fact is that consumers look at their smartphones around 1,500 times a week. The smartphone is an integral tool for the consumer, which has surpassed the television, newspaper and even word-of-mouth. The power that the Internet holds over companies can be seen everywhere and managers that bury their heads in the sand are going to be replaced by others that will use every method available to them to increase their profits and know how to react when something goes very wrong. there have been cases where even one post on a social media outlet like Twitter can cause millions of dollars in damage to the company. For example, a user posts a photo that features an insect inside their cup of ramen and then tweets about it. This person will have impacted the company in a negative manner and cause a decrease in sales. No matter how much a company ignores the web, it will always pose a risk. Managers that choose to copy marketing strategies that they have heard about run the risk of huge failures as well. They forget that implementing a strategy that worked well for someone else might not work well for their business. There are so many factors to take into account that just trying out an idea will most likely lose their company money rather than gaining them the profit they were hoping for. Web analytics consultants help managers create strategies that will result in profits. B2B Marketing and the InternetBusiness-to-Business i.e. B2B or BtoB Marketing is another important step that must be considered when creating marketing strategies. B2B marketing focuses on meeting the needs of other businesses, allowing them to fill the demands of their customers.For example, we have a clothing store that wants to sell a specific brand of shirt. The shirt does not just appear in a box for them to hang in their store and sell to customers. They must source the clothing from another business that in turn source from places that sell the raw materials needed. In this case, we can follow the chain from the cotton farm (if it is a cotton shirt), to the business that spins the cotton into yarn, to the business that weaves the yarn into fabric, to the business that designs, creates and distributes the finished product, to the final business that stocks the product and sells it to customers. Each one of these businesses is trying to turn a profit and must advertise and communicate with other businesses while considering various factors. They must remember that buyers are looking for products that will be of low cost and high quality. Therefore, creating websites that will promote the idea that they can provide exactly what the other business is looking for is vital to completing the purchasing cycle. B2B companies will always refer to websites before engaging in transactions. Websites Affect Your BusinessBusiness managers must take a variety of factors into account when deciding how to promote their business. Will they have a website created? Will they publish ads online? Will they publish ads offline? Will they hire a web analytics consultant or assign the work to their in-house IT department? Will they use cross-media promotions? Will their company become active on social media sites? The questions go on and on and how they are answered affects the company and its profits.In most cases today, business managers will choose to create a website. The type of website depends on the company, but even the smallest online presence will be positive. This website is the face of the company. With the vast amount of people doing research online, creating a great first-impression is vital to attracting potential customers. Making sure that their experience on your website is quick, smooth and productive will help turn those visitors into customers. There are occasionally situations where a company website might be put under a microscope for other purposes as well. For example, your business may need a loan from a bank. During the initial assessment, the bank will go to the company website and what they see will affect their decision. Marketing to Consumers in Different Parts of the WorldConsumers today are reshaping the way advertising is handled both online and offline. When creating marketing strategies, you will need to take into account the fact that not only will prospective customers actually use their smartphones to compare prices while in a store, they might end up choosing to purchase the item online and have it delivered to their door if the information they find is better than what might literally be right in front of them. This type of choice is different for shoppers in different areas of the world.Let’s look at a customer computer shopping in Japan and a customer computer shopping in America. Something that online marketers must take into consideration is that people from around the world have different methods of shopping for goods. Since we are looking at people shopping for computers, we need to look at the types of electronic stores available and their websites. The definition of an electronic store is very different in Japan than it is in most other countries. Japan has stores like Yodobashi Camera, Yamada Denki and Bic Camera, huge electronic megastores that stock almost every available type of technology available, from smartphones to refrigerators, on their sales floors. Most western countries do not provide the same kind of shopping experience to their customers. It is hard for westerners to imagine, but these chain megastores can be up to twelve stories tall and carry everything. They have full floors the size of a Super Target just for computers, TV’s, video games, toys, home electronics, cameras, bicycles, even suitcases… truly everything. A Japanese consumer will see ads online, or on the TV or train and most likely do some research online to try and narrow down their options before going to their local electronics store. With the help of a sales agent they will then pick out the computer they want from the thousand or so that are on the sales floor and take it home that day. Even the smaller electronic shops have more options available than stores in North America and Europe. A shopper in North America will have a completely different experience. They might go into their local electronic store hoping to buy a computer they saw advertised online or on TV, see the ten options available and then pull out their smartphone to look at more options yet again. They will then most likely choose to purchase their new computer from an online store rather than their local shop and have it delivered to their home. American consumers often run into the problem of going to a store like Best Buy and finding signs that actually send them to the store website to buy technology rather than being able to see, touch and feel the items that are for sale. It can be rather frustrating for western consumers to shop for new technology, but the stores are succeeding in getting more people to their websites. Many stores even offer in-store pick-up for items purchased online. In fact, the American shopping mind-set has changed drastically since the Internet and e-commerce websites appeared. People often choose to hit the Internet and do a bit of research when they want to make a purchase. American-based websites and web marketers are fully aware of this trend and use it to their full advantage. It is important to note that consumers will often switch between sites to find the best deals available to them in terms of price, options available and shipping costs. Many people are joining Amazon Prime for the deals, selection and delivery speed they offer. Web Analytics and the InternetPeople choose to buy products that suit their preferences or lifestyle. Consumers today demand new types of marketing that meets their needs. Web analytics follows digital footprints and browsing histories in order to help businesses target consumers that will want the goods or services they offer.Web analytics consultants take the data gathered from the websites that consumers visit and transform it into marketing strategies that will attract potential customers and websites that turn them into paying customers. They can use web analytics software to perform advanced analysis of a business audience, manage data, track e-commerce data, perform multichannel campaign Analysis and a huge variety of other services that are profitable for their clients. Traditional advertising strategies i.e. push/pull advertising is not enough anymore. While it is still a good idea to push products towards customers using big ads and attention-grabbing claims, consumers today need more interaction and instant gratification in order to help them trust a company. The relationships built through social media, email and interactive marketing help businesses expand the number of consumers that are loyal to their brand. Consumers that are loyal, will often recommend the business to friends or family through word-of-mouth or post about products, services or even reviews that other people on the internet can read and take into account when they are shopping. Web SpecialistsThere Are Multiple Types of Web SpecialistsWeb specialists fall into a few different categories: There are those who are knowledgeable, but as they work under managers who choose to out-source, do not get to utilize their skills. There are those who have no idea what they are doing and are bound to fail. There are those who are so over-worked that they cannot do their jobs properly as they tend to focus on the work and work flow rather than the content and how it will contribute to the business as a whole. These specialists are kept busy performing frequent web updates, devising new website services, planning new services and introduction support, and dealing with demands from inside and outside the company. Whenever there are new trending technologies or techniques, during meetings, they always have to think about how such things can be used to the company’s advantage. While it is impossible for them to deal with everything, they find the willpower to negotiate and strike compromises with their manager. None of the specialist types mentioned above utilize their skills properly. In order to really do their jobs to the best of their abilities, web specialists must find the balance between knowledge, work, presentation and creating profits. A truly successful web specialist will use their skills to:
Consider the kind of information they want to present in sales advertising using the web and digital advertisements or on multimedia devices such as smartphones. It can be challenging for one person to do all of these things, plus more that are not listed above. That is one of the reasons the Web Industry exists as it does today. The Web IndustryJob Categories in the Web IndustryThe web industry encompasses so many different facets that many different types of jobs are needed to cover everything. These positions include, but are not limited to:
Paid and Free ServicesPeople who work in the web industry are often paid using the man-month calculation. However, with the use of social media among others, applying man-month calculation as it is makes it hard for the client to understand. It is important to change the point of view in capturing the consultants or vendors’ contributions to the results as well as the method of remuneration such as only charging the ratio contributed in the results. It is important to note that having clients work directly with coders and designers can end badly because most clients have no appreciation for the type of personality and work ethic it takes to get good at coding or proper design.Since almost anyone can enter the web industry, both freelance outsourcing and offshoring development (where projects are outsourced to an individual contractor or subsidiary company in another country) have become common. It is also important to note that both design and program development costs have been minimized or made free. Open-source software (a type of software with a source code publicly available is usually free) and freeware (free-to-use web programs) are directed towards beginners who want to start creating websites for free. Web designers can use HTML, CSS and clip JavaScript from thousands of free sources. A common technique that does not use owned media to advertise, is to utilize free social media venues such as Facebook and social media apps such as Line. For example, in Thailand, as Facebook pages have taken the place of websites their website production costs have rapidly declined. Websites and MarketingWeb designers are responsible for creating the look and feel of a website while web developers are more focused on the way a website works than how it looks. A webmaster is the person who maintains the web server, keeps the website running on a daily basis, makes content updates, and bridges the gap between the user, the development team, and the company.The best kind of website a business can create is one that is user-friendly and designed with SEO and conversions in mind. The optimal website will not only fit every screen size, from a mobile to a PC, but will return help promote traffic and sales. A website can help your customers find you. You can provide contact details, a map to your shop, tell consumers about your products or services and promote special offers. You can improve customer service by giving out useful information and enabling customers to offer feedback. The marketing opportunities that the internet presents go much wider and deeper than this. Attracting consumers to your website is vital. You must have customers to have sales and earn profits. Simple things like email marketing campaigns, promoting your website, and including your web address on business cards can help. One of the best ways to get visibility is to appear high up in search engine rankings. Search engine optimization and pay per click advertising are generally considered the best ways to get people to your site. Social media marketing is often used by businesses to build up their brand and reputation, engage with customers, and ultimately boost sales. via Blogger http://ift.tt/2dhRQ4w October 01, 2016 at 06:42PM |