Measuring up: a primer on web analytics.

• Author: Plothow, Brad
• Position: Techknowledge

Management guru Peter Drucker once said, "What gets measured gets managed." Or something like that. As with most notable quotes, Drucker's exact words have likely been twisted to fit this or that context, but in any event, his meaning is clear: good information informs decisions and sharpens performance.

In today's digital landscape, web analytics can provide the most concrete and granular marketing data in the history of business. It can also bury decision makers in mounds of sensory overload.

Experts in the rising realm of online data are developing a set of benchmarks to guide managers and executives in their marketing efforts and help maximize the potential of powerful analytics software packages.

Deciphering the Data

"Analytics give you the opportunity to measure how effective your marketing really is in a much more precise way than in the past: says David Cree, technology manager at the Utah-based marketing firm Rare Method.

With traditional media, marketers have relied on projections of how many people read a newspaper or watch a TV station, with proof of performance limited to anecdotal evidence in most cases. Analytics, on the other hand, allow precision in gathering and interpreting data. Digital measures aren't turnkey, though. Firms have to invest not only in software, but in people to make it work.

"Most people just install some code and watch their website traffic: Cree says. "That really tells you nothing."

The first step, then, is to designate someone to nurture a firm understanding of the vast and varied capabilities of analytics, which cover everything from tracking page views to detailed segmentation of customers, and integrate the data into key company decisions.

Most software programs are intuitive enough for just about anyone to watch the tide of visitors ebb and flow, but the learning curve can be a little steeper when it comes to tracking data across web platforms and identifying the variables that actually affect the business, so the point person ought to be tech-savvy while possessing enough business sense to point the data at what really matters to the firm.

"Until you can actually act on the data, the insights you get don't really mean much," says Brent Dykes, evangelist for analytics products at Adobe and author of Web Analytics Action Hero.

Dig Deep

Web data can be like competitive cycling or running: the challenges and payoffs get bigger the deeper you get. There are plenty of thoughts about how to categorize...