Web Analytics 2.0 – How to Get over Information Intoxication November 18, 2007

Information intoxication – it’s that state we find ourselves in today where we have miles and miles of data about our site visitors. We’re swimming in an ocean of data, drinking it in as fast as we can. But the real question is:

Is the data any good?

Site owners are beginning to realize that the quality of their data is directly linked to the quality of their web analytics implementation, and is directly impacted by site quality factors such as broken links, search optimization problems and duplicated information, and compounded by compliance issues like accessibility and privacy-related concerns.

These three things – data quality, site quality and compliance – are the inextricably linked gears driving your online engine. Organizations are beginning to understand that changing vendors is not the answer. Whether you use Omniture/Visual Sciences, WebTrends, Unica, Coremetrics or any of the other vendors, the underlying issues remain the same. Only by addressing them will you be able to have confidence in your data.

Data Quality

Organizations that take the step from log file analysis to page tagging make a commitment, not only in dollars, but in human resources as well. While your vendor of choice will do everything they can to ensure a successful implementation, the responsibility ultimately falls on the site owner to know if the pages are tagged, and if the beacons are functioning. And your site is constantly changing. Untagged pages and malfunctioning beacons result in systemic errors in the data, meaning you are missing traffic information about those pages 100% of the time. Your assumptions about the resulting traffic patterns will be incorrect because your data is incorrect.

Site Quality

Even if your web analytics implementation is perfect, you can have site quality issues that show up – or don’t as the case may be – in your traffic data. A broken link is a path that can’t be taken. Pages missing from your internal search are destinations that can’t be arrived at. Inadequate search optimization for search engines like Google result in less traffic. Is there anybody that would say, “I’m happy with the amount of traffic I’m getting and don’t want any more, thanks”? Of course not – sounds ridiculous. But sites missing opportunities to optimize for natural search placement are settling for less.

Compliance

Site owners can’t know the impact of poor accessibility or the insecure collection of personally identifiable information (PII) by looking at traffic patterns. When these issues result in visitor departure, the result in the data is absence – “raise your hand if you’re not here”. The assumptions made by reviewing traffic patterns will be flawed, and the actions taken as a result will be misinformed.

Compliance issues impact the visitors use of the site, as well as putting the company at risk. Accessibility and privacy continue to attract attention as the web continues to mirror the bricks and mortar world, where you can shop, bank, research, catch up on the news, secure government services, arrange travel, communicate and socialize with others. Many governments have already implemented legislation, and the focus on these issues will continue to grow. People following the Target lawsuit will have already noted that the National Federation of the Blind is not looking to federal legislation; rather they are pursuing legal actions in state courts, where accessibility has been addressed.

Bottom Line

The good news is that this is a manageable environment. Data quality, site quality and compliance are three pieces of the same puzzle, and must be treated that way, with an automated solution that frees the web analysts to have confidence in the data and the assumptions, conclusions and recommendations they make as a result.

If you haven’t seen it, take the time to read Avinash Kaushik’s blog post titled “Multiplicity – Succeed Awesomely at Web Analytics 2.0″.

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