How to Leverage Web Analytics – Part III
Editor's Note: To see Part 1: People, go here. To see Part 2: Process, go here.
One of the speakers at this week's Internet Marketing Vancouver with interesting insight was Michal Lorenc of Google. He describes the internet as having 3 stages:
• Read, before 1998 where Google and Yahoo were introduced;
• Buy, between 1998 and 2003 where the eBays and Amazons of the world reigned supreme;
• and Talk, post-2003 where we have Skype, Facebook and Twitter.
IMC Vancouver was founded 2000 and it sure must have seen a dramatic change in the content being presented across these stages This year, IMC Vancouver was hosted October 4th and 5th with a variety of hot topics to be discussed.
The second day held a great amount of value in describing web analytics to leverage higher conversion rates. I want to start by defining analysis. Analysis can be defined as the breakdown of a complex topic into smaller parts to gain a greater understanding of the topic. Stéphane Hamel of Cardinal Path referenced the Wikipedia definition in describing analysis but made a small change. His definition of analysis is how a business arrives at an optimal AND realistic decision based on existing data.
Hamel specified 3 ingredients to any analytics: People, Process, and Technology. I’ll be roughly using this framework to recap the thoughts of IMC Vancouver. The following is a collage of what one can take away from the many speeches during the event. (Part 2 of 3.)
Technology
Leveraging the tools, technology, and data integration is the sixth and last area of Hamel’s maturity model. Note the word ‘leveraging’ as it isn’t just using these resources but being able to use them right. The maturity levels can be described as follows:
0) To be decided: there is no data or lack of tools
1) Clickstream/behavioural analytics: Simple surface level analytics with no customization
2)Defined outcomes, Key Performance Indicators/Dashboards are being measured.
3)Segmentation, merchandising optimization, A/B testing etc.: Data is being integrated with business goals
4)Multiplicity merging data: All data is being merged and utilized as one. All processes and toold are looked at for optimization
5) Predicative analysis: This is the proverbial crystal ball. Being able to use all the data and predict customer behaviour effectively realigning organizational strategy
What is both realistic and optimal for one’s organization?
This is by far the most interesting of all the areas. It is also where the model all comes together. Hamel’s 6 areas are based on fixing the process, business, and people behind analytics to tap into the complete potential of leveraging the tools and technology for what we need them for.
Shaping data to make it useful is very difficult to do. The pinnacle of web analytics is finding the right data to tell us what customers are trending towards.
Here are some of the tricks learned at IMC Vancouver on how to better use the tools available to us.
Advertising space on webpages used to be very small and rather restrictive. However, the introduction of banner advertisements has changed that. Statistically, a banner advertisement outperforms regular advertisements in all measures and provides great improvement across the marketing funnel (awareness, consideration, conversion).
Chris Goward of WiderFunnel had great insight in using the analytic tools to increase the conversion rates on WebPages. The first step was to create powerful hypothesis and then to test these hypotheses. A powerful hypothesis is testable, seeks to solver conversion problems, aims at improving marketing results, and builds on marketing insights.
He used the lift framework to structure his powerful hypothesis. The lift framework is based on increasing the value proposition a website or and channel provides to the customer. In order to increase the value proposition, one must focus on increasing:
- Relevance
- Clarity
While decreasing:
- Anxiety
- Distraction
- Urgency
If the focus is to increase people signing up for a website and there is a landing page to signup, don’t distract the reader with widgets, news feeds, or other unnecessary things. Simplify the interface.
By adding a security icon beside a payment, sometimes it increases anxiety as it brings up security in the minds of consumers which may not have even been there before.
Once a hypothesis is established, design a second interface and test the response against the original interface. This is the premise of A/B testing which is widely used to optimize conversion rates. Also, by tracking the conversion rates on both the original and new designs, one can truly start to understand what customers respond to.
Goward used the example of a hair loss website. One interface had mostly facts and statistics of success; the second had pictures of models. In this case, the facts won over the models.
A/B testing can be used to put any two designs against each other regardless of which platform it is. Email, Webpages, and banner advertisements can all be improved by this method.
Another tip from David Jenkins of Build Direct is the use of email. He states that email that is triggered after a response has a ten times higher conversion rate than simple blast emails. If you want your email to be more effective, make it automatically sent once an action is taken. He explains that 90% of leads on the web go cold in an hour which is why this trigger email system is so much more efficient.
