Reenergizing Your Web Analytics Program & Implementation
Those of you who have read my blog posts (and book) over the years, know that I have lots of opinions when it comes to web analytics, web analytics implementations and especially those using Adobe Analytics. Whenever possible, I try to impart lessons I have learned during my web analytics career so you can improve things at your organization. However, much of what I have written in the past has been product-related, covering features, functions and implementation tips. Obviously, there is much more than that involved when it comes to success in web analytics.
As some of you may know, the last role I held when I worked at Omniture (prior to Adobe acquisition) was one in which I was tasked with “saving” accounts that had gone astray. I encountered many accounts that had either a dysfunctional web analytics program or implementation. One way or another, they were not getting the desired value from their investment in SiteCatalyst. In my time serving this role, I came to see many common characteristics of those who were having problems and identified specific ways to address them to get clients back on track. After I left Omniture, I joined Salesforce.com as the head of web analytics. In that role, I encountered similar issues, as the Salesforce.com implementation and program had many of the same problems I had seen while at Omniture. Over the next few years, I had the opportunity to test out my “client-saving” techniques in a real life setting and had some great success in turning around the web analytics program at Salesforce.com.
While at Analytics Demystified for the past three years, I have continued my mission to help ailing web analytics programs and had the good fortune to work with some great clients. These clients have entrusted me to show them how to bring their web analytics programs back from the abyss or to improve good things they are already doing. Working with the great partners at Analytics Demystified, I have been able to learn and improve upon things I have done in the past. Last year at the Chicago eMetrics conference, I documented my lessons learned into a forty-five minute presentation entitled “Bringing your Web Analytics Program Back from the Dead!” I was a bit worried that no one would actually show up to my session, since coming was an implicit admission that things weren’t going so well. But to my surprise, there was standing room only! Jim Sterne informed me that I had about 95% of all attendees in my breakout session! I was excited to share my experiences and afterwards, received a great response from the crowd, as well as a rush of people attacking me at the stage with follow-up questions. Apparently, I had hit some sort of nerve with the topic (Note: This summer I will be presenting a follow-up session at Chicago eMetrics on the topic)!
Since then, I wondered how I could share this information with more folks who may be interested in improving or re-energizing their web analytics programs and/or implementations. I considered writing a book on the topic, but having recently written a book, I knew that this was a massive undertaking and that my busy schedule wouldn’t allow it. Instead, I decided to partner with my old friends at Adobe to create a new white paper on the topic. In this white paper, I have tried to get down to the core tenants of my approach to reenergizing web analytics programs and synthesized it to under twenty pages of content. While most of the concepts in the paper were learned working with Adobe clients, I believe that the principles will apply to any web analytics technology or program. In fact, I believe that the white paper would also apply to non-web analytics programs, as much of it goes back years to by time working at Arthur Andersen in the nineties.
Therefore, without any more preamble, I am pleased to announce the immediate availability of this new Adobe-sponsored white-paper entitled “Reenergizing Your Web Analytics Program.” I hope that you will take the time to read it and take advantage of some of the lessons and techniques I have learned over the past 10+ years so that you and your organization can improve your program/implementation. As a young industry, I think it is the responsibility of us “old-timers” to pass on what we have learned so others don’t have to “reinvent the wheel.”
Click here to download white paper
A big thanks goes out to my friends at Adobe for sponsoring this white paper and making it happen. Enjoy!
