Web Analytics - It's more than just numbers
I'm a member of the Yahoo web analytics discussion group and I closely monitor the day to day exchanges of the many discussions concerning the challenges members face as web analytics specialists. What strikes me most about this group is the total fixation members have on thinking that by analyzing data spit out by their web analysis tools, be it, Webtrends, Websidestory or any other behavioral analysis tool, they can adequately understand the drivers of such key strategic issues as abandonment, conversion, loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Wake up folks and smell the cookies. There is more to life than debating the difference between a page view and a page impression and the implication of either on a visitor's overall web experience.
It was with this in mind that I read with great interest and satisfaction a Clickz feature article written by Neil Mason and want to share some of his thoughts with my collegues in the web analytics sector.
Just observing behavior doesn't give you the complete picture. The fact someone visited a specification sheet doesn't tell you whether someone found the information they were looking for or not. In my car-buying example, I was looking for the capacity of the boot (or trunk) of a certain model of car to compare with some other models. I clicked all over the place, spent loads of time reading certain pages. In many ways my behaviour might have been considered valuable with many pages viewed and long dwell times on key pages. But I never found the information I was looking for.
If there's to be more progress in the measurement of success of non-transactional Web sites, then the role of surveys and other visitor feedback devices must be strengthened as part of the overall mix. The success of a visit where there's no transaction involved needs to be defined almost on the visitor’s own terms. The only people who can tell you whether their visit was successful or not are the visitors themselves.
Non-transactional Web sites are generally harder to measure. Recent debates in the Web analytics world are around the development of new metrics and strategies for measuring concepts such as "engagement." It's great the debate is going on. We also need to step outside the box and recognize that the behavioral data will always have to be interpreted in the context of visitor perceptions and feedback. I suggest that organizations that are looking to measure success on sites that have little or no transactional activity should be looking to invest as much time and effort in developing a consistent and managed program of visitor feedback as they do in getting their behavioral data sorted.
Enough said - As a member of the Web Analytics Association, I know they will come around to recognizing the value of integrating attitudinal data in the form of customer feedback and online customer research with behavioral data. Maybe not immediately but for sure sometime this year we'll see movement in that direction. Let me hear what you have to say.
