Web Analytics- The Steering Wheel of the Web
Beyond a certain point, as your digital marketing flywheel sets into motion, everything from what goes where on your website to creating an investment strategy for digital marketing should be driven with the steering wheel of web - analytics.
Web Analytics, unlike Social Media or SEO is not another marketing channel. Rather, it is the real paradigm shift of the web. Get your analytics right and you’ll (eventually) get everything right. Neglect your analytics and you’ll be working on “opinions”. Opinions, even those coming from your agency, technology service provider or Board of Directors don’t really matter much unless they are backed by scientific testing, considering we’re operating in a time and space that allows for it.
Digital Marketing- Still a Faith-based Initiative
Access to Data is Cheap. Insights are Not.
Despite the fact that access to data is cheap, and in many cases (Like Google Analytics) absolutely free, data alone is of no use. The goal is driving action from the insights that you can derive from analytics software. The problem is, despite all this easy access, “web analytics” hasn’t really gotten the popularity it deserves with respect to its potential.
While “big data”, “data-driven decision making” “actionable insights” have all become popular buzz words, in practice the majority (whether agencies or organizations) have failed to move beyond analyzing click stream data and making lame metrics the measure of success. Facebook Likes, Twitter followers, video views, impressions, click-throughs and page views are not the kind of data that will allow you to make game changing decisions on the web.
Thoughtful web analysis requires you to take two steps back from the tool and create a well-structured Marketing and Measurement model first and then requires you to look beyond the standard lousy metrics. Again, in practice, everyone has Google Analytics installed on their website but very few are going any deeper than the default dashboard.
So why is digital marketing still (largely) a faith-based initiative? Its primarily because there is little investment in this direction- from organizations as well as agencies. Web Analytics doesn’t sell like Social Media! How many brands do you know that avail “web analytics” services per se. Even more interesting; how many agencies do you know that actually offer web analytics services as a specialized value-creating service. Not many. Most are busy selling social media and reporting on likes and shares.
Warning: You May be Getting Fleeced
If you’ve settled for lousy metrics as the measure for success, (or been tricked by your agency to do so) then you are probably getting fleeced. What defines a successful website? The programming language? The aesthetics? No, the business impact! But your web development agency is not bothered with the business impact of your website. They want to you give you something that works well and looks good. Looks good? Seriously? Does that even matter as much as converting your next customer? It’s easy to get away with a website that appeals to the Board of Directors but is it optimized for conversions? When everything, from the position of the eyes of that model on your home page banner to the color of the call to action buttons of your website can make a BIG difference in your website’s conversion rate-and when all of this can be tested- why should you settle with anything lesser?
Does the agency you’ve retained for the past one year deliver monthly reports that allow you to pull back investment in a particular marketing channel and divert it to another because it gives you such powerful and clear insights? If not, chances are, you’re being fleeced!
Does the technology service provider you’ve retained to provide you “web maintenance” services ensure that your website is getting better and better at converting visitors into customers every month? If not, you are being fleeced!
Solution: Embarrass Management. Embarrass Your Agency!
