Eric Peterson's Blog at Web Analytics Demystified

Update: I should apologize to Adobe since I knew they had written to the FTC but didn’t mention it when I originally published this post. If you’re interested in this topic you should definitely download and read Adobe’s letter to the Secretary of the FTC regarding the use of Flash Local Shared Objects to re-spawn cookies. They cite my BPA white paper and do a great job outlining the company’s position on this particular use of their technology. I am writing to Adobe now to see if I can get someone on the phone to discuss in greater depth but if you know anyone there please ask them to email me directly.

A few weeks back we published a white paper with our client BPA Worldwide on the use of Flash Local Shared Objects in web analytics practices. The paper, titled “Flash LSOs: Is Your Privacy at Risk?” is available for download at BPA Worldwide and does require a tiny bit of information (name, company, email.) We wrote the paper with BPA Worldwide because we are seeing a resurgence in the use of Flash LSO as a back-up mechanism for browser cookies and frankly I personally worry about the practice.

Cookie deletion is what it is, and nothing anyone has done in the past five years has seemed to do anything to lessen (or worsen) the rate at which consumers clear cookie and history files. And yes, cookie deletion has a confounding effect on a variety of metrics web analytics professionals consider important, we’ve covered this more or less ad nasuem, although I certainly wonder how comScore’s recent reversal on the value of cookies will play out across combined web analytics + audience measurement efforts.

My concern is that companies are increasingly using cookies to over-ride consumer preferences regarding cookie deletion. Documented by Soltani, et al. in their paper “Flash Cookies and Privacy”, companies are actively using Flash LSO, which are much more difficult to block and delete than their browser-based counterparts, to essentially “reset” browser cookie values and thusly “remember” information that consumers are either implicitly or explicitly asking the web browser to forget.

If you’re doing this, or even considering this, I would encourage you to download the white paper as we provide what I believe to be sound guidance regarding the use of Flash LSO in a measurement practice.  You might also want to check out this post over at the Adobe web site which details how Adobe Flash 10.1 will begin to support the “private browsing” feature in most browsers. While I don’t blame Adobe particularly for how companies are using LSO in digital measurement practices, this update is an excellent response from the company and shows their commitment to consumer privacy.

As always your thoughts and feedback are welcome.

Posted Friday, February 5th, 2010 | 2 responses | Add a Comment | Share, Save or Email

By now you’ve noticed that we’ve completely re-done the Web Analytics Demystified web site, that is unless you only ever read my posts in an RSS reader in which case I would ask you to click-through and have a look. The new site is the culmination of nearly a year’s effort starting with convincing my good friend Aurelie Pols to join the Web Analytics Demystified and, more recently, convincing my other good friend John Lovett to leave his cushy job at Forrester Research to join Aurelie and I. Hopefully you find the new site more streamlined, easier to read, and a little more focused on the aspects of Web Analytics Demystified we are working to feature.

My own personal highlights include:

• Totally free copies of Web Analytics Demystified, The Big Book of Key Performance Indicators, and the KPI book’s companion worksheets. I made the decision to start giving my books away for one reason and one reason only: to continue to do everything humanly possible to educate as many future web analytics professionals as possible. The response today was good (see image below!)
• Totally revamped mini-site for The Analysis Exchange, including the ability for everyone to start to create their member profiles. The Analysis Exchange has exceeded every single expectation that I had going in, thanks to many people’s efforts. If you’re interested in helping the Analysis Exchange or learning more about the effort please visits http://www.analysis-exchange.com
• Partially revamped mini-site for Web Analytics Wednesday, with more features and updates coming in Q2. Web Analytics Wednesday has become such an automated delight, and with SiteSpect and Coremetrics renewing their sponsorship in 2010 we hope to do even more this coming year!
• All new look and feel for my, Aurelie, and John’s blogs, and the addition of our new Emerging Technology blog. So much of our traffic is driven by the blogs, and so many of our clients find us based on our writing here, we wanted to ensure that reading our blogs was as distraction free as possible. The Emerging Technology blog is something we think of as “TechCrunch for Web Analytics” and we hope you’ll check that out.
• We have also worked to clarify what the Web Analytics Demystified web analytics consulting business and Senior Partners do, when we’re not supporting the community at large. Perhaps a small point, but one that pays the bills, so if you need help getting your web analytics strategy defined, please give us a call.

One thing about my last point, our consulting business and giving us a call. On past sites there were dozens of calls to action and conversion points I was trying to get people to and through. On this site there is one: getting YOU to reach out to US. It may sound glib, but we are able to do more for people who simply email, call, Skype, or Twitter us than most folks can imagine, and often times our help comes without any kind of fee.

Put another way, if you need our professional help, we’ll help you and hopefully you’ll be satisfied with what we ask you to pay. But if you need our guidance, suggestions, or honest opinion, we’ll help you without ever bringing up fees or asking for money. Like the book giveaway, Web Analytics Wednesday, and The Analysis Exchange we have found that simply answering questions without expectation of compensation is often times better than getting paid.

In closing I am totally delighted with the traffic we had to the site today thanks to Twitter, the #measure channel, and the book offer. Based on my Omniture Insights reporting we were completely off the charts in Europe and this AM in the U.S. We’d love your help spreading the word about the book! If you can, tell people to click through on http://bit.ly/demystified-books or simply to check out the new web site.

As always I welcome your comments, critique, and feedback. Especially if you have nice things to say about the new site, of want to help me identify bugs (since not all of you use Chrome on the Mac … LOL!)

Posted Monday, January 18th, 2010 | 3 responses | Add a Comment | Share, Save or Email

When John Lovett joined Aurelie and I here at Web Analytics Demystified earlier this month an awful lot of people said, “Hey, nice job getting such nice guy on board,” “We love John, he’s great,” and “Man, what a great addition to your team!” Clearly John has the respect of the industry, but one thing that remained an open question in some people’s minds was “how will John make the transition from the ivory tower an analyst sits in to the ground floor where consultants actually do work?”

I admit, I wondered that too in a way, having made a slightly different transition myself years ago. It’s not easy to come away from a situation where you provide advice but are tasked with, honestly, doing very little real work. During my own tenure at JupiterResearch years ago I ensured my own connection to practical web analytics by writing my second and third books. But John had been an analyst for nearly 10 years … and so wondering how he’d hit the ground was a reasonable question.

Wonder no more.

While John has already contributed greatly to the businesses bottom line and helped out with one of our largest new retail clients, he absolutely floored me this morning when he published his post Defining a Web Analytics Strategy: A Manifesto. I asked him to elaborate on some comments he made at Emetrics where he essentially poo-pooed the use of so called “Web Analytics Maturity Models”, describing the almost religious zeal some people seem to have when talking about models and declaring himself as a “Model Atheist.”

Having written the original Web Analytics Maturity Model back in 2005, I have had first-hand experience with their failure to produce anything more than a generalized awareness that most companies simply don’t “get” web analytics, something that we more or less all know already. But honestly I was surprised when John took this position on the subject because, well, in my experience those that don’t do, teach, and models are a classic teaching tool.

I had assumed that as an analyst John was a teacher, not a do-er like I have been for years now in my capacity as a practice leader, consultant, and web analyst. Man was I wrong …

John’s “Manifesto” is perhaps the most lucid yet succinct explanation I have ever read detailing the steps required to make web analytics work for your business (as opposed to the other way around.) I almost asked him to edit the post for fear that he was opening our kimono too much, but if Social Media has taught us anything it has taught us that transparency is king. The fact that he managed to encapsulate what others have been trying to explain with long-winded speeches, tangential arguments, and downright rude behavior is a huge plus.

Some of you may read John’s manifesto and think “Gee, this seems to point to the need for outside consultants” which is a fair criticism. But before you react consider two things:

1. Consultants (like us) have a tendency to, you know, recommend consulting. Everyone’s perspective arises from their own personal biases, regardless of how many times they declare the contrary. We are consultants, consultants who want to feed their children. Forgive us our bias and we will forgive you yours …
2. Consultants in the Enterprise are like death and taxes, we are more or less inevitable. Often times an outside perspective is exactly what the business needs to actually start to act upon the message that otherwise great employees have been stating for years. Other times the business simply stops listening to their employees and won’t make a move until McKinsey, Bain, or Demystified come in and charge big money for insights that were already there. Either way, ours is the second (or is it third) oldest profession and it must be for a reason …

I would challenge you, dear reader, to spend some time reading John’s post and considering what he has to say. Think about how you could apply his ten insights to your business regardless of whether you turn to consultants for advice or not. Listen to your business partners needs, put away your models and roll up your sleeves, transcend mediocrity, establish your own waterfall and embrace change!

When I said “web analytics is hard” I meant it, I really, really did. But I wasn’t trying to box anyone in or establish myself as some kind of amazingly wonderful “guru”, I was simply telling you all the truth based on my dozen years of experience in the sector. Yes, getting started can be easy; yes, making Google Analytics do stuff can be easy; and yes, you can do an awful lot in an hour a day if you simply apply yourself to the task … but the problem is that within any business of size, complexity, or nuance — which is to say all businesses everywhere — the act of getting from raw data to valuable business insights that you can repeatedly take action upon is apparently so freaking difficult that almost nobody does it.

How is that “easy?”

You all know I love a good debate so if you disagree with my comments here please let me know. If, however, you have something to add to John’s manifesto, I would encourage you to comment on his blog post directly.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Posted Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 | 4 responses | Add a Comment | Share, Save or Email

UPDATE: The compliments and willingness to help just keep coming in.  Members of the Web Analytics Association Board of Directors, entire staffs from consulting groups around the globe, and too many individual students and practitioners to possibly mention. Thanks so much everyone!

Wow. Wow. Wow. I am at a total loss for words when it comes to the response from the web analytics community regarding our soft-launch for The Analysis Exchange on Tuesday.  We’ve had over 250 people, largely from within the measurement community, sign up to participate and have seen the nicest emails imaginable. Clearly this is an idea that’s time has come, and clearly the lack of training opportunities in the sector was a “raw nerve” for many people.

But don’t take my word for it. The following are excerpts from emails we received over the past few days. These speak for themselves and only serve to reiterate the need for the Exchange. The first email is from Bryce in Georgia:

“I really want to do web analytics as a profession but am having a hard time breaking into the field.  There’s not exactly anywhere to ‘get a degree’ doing this kind of thing and even with my business and accounting background, and decade of web development freelancing, my experience does not seem to be impressing any potential employers.

It would be awesome to get some real experience under the guide of professionals.  I’ve been reading Avinash’s books, following several analytics blogs and I’ve set up numerous GA sites with funnels, goals, and KPI’s that are being tracked.  The fact that we’ll be helping out non-profits and outreaches at the same time is super.

Please pick me, :)”

“I was reading Eric Peterson’s blog entry about the Analysis Exchange and I would like to be a mentor and help contribute to the success of a company by empowering them with the awesomeness of web analytics.”

“I am very grateful for a “student” opportunity you might generate for and with me as you defined in your clear video today.  Through WAW, your email kindnesses, and more, you have taught me “what I don’t know,” and what I do offer is a proven data smog to actionable wealth of knowledge capital “philosophy,” and an “attitude of gratitude of How May I Help You?”  These are far more than just nice words to me.”

“This a great initiative!!  Being an active student of web analytics, I encountered the same catch 22 when attempting to break into this industry.  I have signed up and look forward to participating!!”

“Just been through the site after receiving the email and seeing the twitter alerts and I wanted to firstly pass on my congrats for initiating such a cool idea, it’s long overdue and will be greatly needed if we are to push the industry forward, as I responded a while back on twitter – resource (and quality resource in particular) remains the biggest weakness in the industry, so anything that helps improve that is only good in my eyes.I have no idea how you intend to select mentors, but as a leading practitioner in the UK for over 10 years on both the client and vendor side if I can help in this capacity I’d be delighted to put my name forward, I promise not to be offended if you decide not to use me initially!

The application of web analytics, either in analysis or how to make it an integral part of a business is something I have done much work on over the last 2-3 years, so I’d like to think I have a lot to offer anyone new to the industry that’s trying to work out how to start pushing things forward

Anyone, good luck with exchange and hope I can help in any way.”

Finally, and this is the email that put a grin on my face for the entire day Tuesday, from Zach:

“I think this program sounds wonderful and wanted to be as early as possible in dedicating myself to this program.  I am a student of analytics -  I have taken courses at the University of British Columbia in Web Anlaytics, I’ve studied and will be taking the exam for Google Analytics certification soon, and I belong to the Web Analytics Association.  Unfortunately, I have little “real” world  application using web analytics tools and making sound recommendations using these tools.

I do have a career of experience as an advertising consultant so I am not a “traditional” student.  I hope I can apply some of the experience I have and use it to develop myself and a new career in web analytics.

I am excited to be involved in this great opportunity – I feel like it was created just for me.”

Furthermore Zach reminded me that he is one of the thousands of people I have been fortunate enough to offer some small amount of advice to over my years:

“I took your advice you offered me some time ago to take the UBC classes and it was good advice, but they really lack real world application – especially for hands on learners like me.  I’ve actually approached some Non-Profit organizations and boards that are willing to let me “practice”  and If I could gain the experience of a mentor to work with that would be great.  I know you will be sending out additional information in the coming year (right around the corner) but I am anxious to get started!”

Zach’s point is an excellent one — I have long been telling people who ask me “how do I get real-world experience” for years to reach out to their church, their kids school, their local animal hospital, or local charities.  While this is good advice (sorry) it is also somewhat unpractical I suspect and falls into the category of things that are easy for me to say and hard for people to actually do.

The Analysis Exchange solves that problem. We will bring the mentors, we will bring the businesses, and we will provide the system. Our sincere hope is that by lowering the barriers as much as humanly possible we will be able to create the maximum number of opportunities for everyone — mentors, students, and causes.

The email keeps coming in so I will leave you with two thoughts:

1. We’d love your help spreading the word about The Analysis Exchange! If you have a blog, a Twitter account, or just a bunch of like-minded friends in Facebook, please share the news about this effort by asking people to retweet this URL: http://bit.ly/analysis-exchange
2. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re excited about the effort and want to pitch in or just share your thoughts please feel free to email us at exchange@webanalyticsdemystified.com or leave your comments below

Thanks again to everyone who has signed up and reached out so far. Just like Web Analytics Wednesday and the Web Analytics Forum, if we all work together amazing things can happen.

Posted Thursday, December 17th, 2009 | One responses | Add a Comment | Share, Save or Email

A few weeks ago I started pinging folks within the digital measurement community asking about the work we do, the challenges we face, and how we got where we are today. The responses I got were all tremendously positive and showed a true commitment to web analytics across vendor, consultant, and end-user practitioner roles. What I learned was, well, exactly what I expected given my decade-plus in the sector: “web analytics” is still a relatively immature industry, one populated by diverse opinions, experiences, and backgrounds.

Those of you who have been following my work know that I have spent a great deal of time working to create solutions for the sector. As a matter of record I was the first to create an online community for web analytics professionals and explicitly point out the need for dedicated analysis resources back in 2004, and the first to publish a web analytics maturity model and change how web analytics practitioners interact with their local community back in 2005. I’ve also written a few books, a few blog posts, and have logged a few miles in the air working with some amazing companies to improve their own use of web analytics.

I offer the preceding paragraph not to brag but rather to establish my credentials as part of setting the stage for what the rest of this post is about. Like many in web analytics — Jim Sterne, Avinash Kaushik, and Bryan Eisenberg all come to mind — I have worked tirelessly at times to evolve and improve the landscape around us. And with the following announcement I hope to have lightning strike a fourth time …

But I digress.

One of the key questions I asked in Twitter was “how did you get started [in web analytics?]” Unsurprisingly each and every respondent gave some variation on “miraculously, and without premeditation.” While people’s responses highlighted the enthusiasm we have in the sector, it also highlighted what I see as the single most significant long-term problem we face in web analytics.

We haven’t created an entry path into the system.

As a community of vendors, consultants, practitioners, evangelists, authors, bloggers, Tweeters, socializers, and thought-leaders, we have failed nearly 100% at creating a way for talented, motivated, and educated individuals who are “not us” to gain the real-world experience required to actually participate meaningfully in this wonderful thing that we have all created.

Before the comments about the Web Analytics Association UBC classes or the new certification pour in consider this: The UBC course offers little or no practical experience with real data and real-world business problems, and the certification is designed, as stated, “for individuals having at least three years of experience in the sector.” Both are incredibly valuable, but they are not the type of training the average global citizen wishing to apply their curiosity, their precision, and their individual talents to the study of web data need to actually get a good job coming from outside the sector.

And while I have little doubt people have landed jobs based on completion of the UBC course given the resource constraints we face today, as a former hiring manager and consultant to nearly a dozen companies who are constantly looking for experienced web analysts, I can assure you that book-based education is not the first requirement being looked for. Requirement number one is always, and always will be, direct, hands-on experience using digitally collected data to tell a meaningful story about the business.

Today I am incredibly happy to announce my, my partners, and some very nice people’s solution to this problem. At 6:30 PM Eastern time at the Web Analytics Wednesday event in Cambridge, Massachusetts my partner John Lovett shared the details of our newest community effort, The Analysis Exchange.

What is The Analysis Exchange?

The Analysis Exchange is exactly what it sounds like — an exchange of information and analytical outputs — and is functionally a three-partner exchange:

• At one corner we have small businesses, nonprofits, and non-governmental organizations who rarely if ever make any substantial use of the web analytic data most are actively collecting thanks to the amazing wonderfulness of Google Analytics;
• In the next corner we have motivated and intelligent individuals, our students, who are looking for hands-on experience with web analytics systems and data they can put on their resume during when looking for work or looking to advance in their jobs;
• And at the apex of the pyramid we have our existing community of analytics experts, many of whom have already demonstrated their willingness to contribute to the larger community via Web Analytics Wednesday, the WAA, and other selfless efforts

The Analysis Exchange will bridge the introductions between these three parties using an extremely elegant work-flow. Projects will be scoped to deliver results in weeks, effort from businesses and mentors is designed to be minimal, and we’re working on an entire back-end system to seamlessly connect the dots. And have I already mentioned that it will do so without any money changing hands?

Yeah, The Analysis Exchange is totally, completely, 100 percent free.

John, Aurelie, and I decided early on, despite the fact that we are all consultants who are just as motivated by revenue as any of our peers, that the right model for The Analysis Exchange would be the most frictionless strategy possible. Given our initial target market of nonprofits and non-governmental organizations, most of whom our advisers from the sector warned were somewhat slow to invest in technology and services, “free” offered the least amount of friction possible.

Businesses bring data and questions, mentors bring focus and experience, and students bring a passion to learn. Businesses get analysis and insights, students gain experience for their resume, and mentors have a chance to shape the next wave of digital analysis resources … resources the mentor’s organizations are frequently looking to hire.

More importantly, our mentors will be teaching students and businesses how to produce true analytical insights, not how to make Google Analytics generate reports. Our world is already incredibly data rich, but the best of us are willing to admit that we are still also incredibly information poor. Students will be taught how to actually create analysis — a written document specifically addressing stated business needs — and therein lies the true, long-term value to our community.

Too many reports, not enough insights. This has been the theme of countless posts, a half-dozen great books, and nearly every one of the hundred consulting engagements I have done in the past three years. The Analysis Exchange is a concerted effort to slay the report monkeys and teach the “analysts” of the future to actually produce ANALYSIS!

A few things you might want to know about The Analysis Exchange (in addition to the FAQ we have up on the official web site):

• Initially we will be limiting organizational participants to nonprofit and non-governmental entities. We are doing this because we believe this approach simultaneously provides the greatest benefit back beyond the web analytics community and provides a reasonable initial scope for our efforts. Plus, we’ve partnered with NTEN: the Nonprofit Technology Network who are an amazing organization of their own;
• Initially we will be hand-selecting mentors wishing to participate in the program. Because we are taking a cautious approach towards the Exchange’s roll-out in an effort to learn as much as possible about the effort as it unfolds, we are going to limit mentor opportunities somewhat. Please do write us if you’re interested in participating, and please don’t be hurt if we put you off … at least for a month or two;
• With the previous caution in mind, we are definitely open to help from the outside! If you have experience with this type of effort or just have a passion for helping other people please let us know. Just like with Web Analytics Wednesday, we know that when The Analysis Exchange gets cranking we will need lots and lots of help;

Because this post is beginning to approach the length at which I typically tune out myself I will stop here and point readers to three resources to learn more about The Analysis Exchange:

1. We have a basic, informational web site at http://www.analysis-exchange.com that has a nice video explaining the Exchange model in a little greater detail;
2. You can email us directly at exchange@webanalyticsdemystified.com for more information or to let us know if you’re willing to help with Exchange efforts;
3. You can follow Exchange efforts in Twitter by following @analysisxchange

As you can probably detect from the post I’m pretty excited about this effort. Like I did when I co-founded Web Analytics Wednesday, I have some amazing partners on this project. And like I did when I founded the Yahoo! group, I believe this effort will satisfy an incredible pent-up demand. Hopefully you will take the time to share information about The Analysis Exchange with your own network, and as always I welcome your thoughts, comments, and insights.

Learn more at http://www.analysis-exchange.com

Posted Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 | 13 responses | Add a Comment | Share, Save or Email