Guest Post: Web Analytics in a Recession?

This is a guest post from Corry Prohens of IQ Workforce. Corry is a sponsor of the Web Analytics Demystified Job Board and one of the most plugged-in folks I know in our industry. He’s helped some great companies find talent, and some amazing talent find great companies which is, as we all know, one of the hardest things of all about web analytics. Thanks to Corry and IQ Workforce for sponsorsing the job board and I hope all of you have either a safe and relaxing 4th of July or a nice respite from U.S.-based email, depending on where you live in the world!

Without further comment, Corry Prohens:

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This past spring I was growing concerned with the condition of the economy. Skyrocketing oil and food prices, plummeting real estate values, an unprecedented credit crunch, investment banks folding and teetering…

The lead question for business publications and programs shifted from “Will there be a recession” to “How long and how awful will the recession be?”

In a previous life I lived through the dot com surge and bust as a technology recruiter. I did NOT want to go there again. The last few years have been very kind to our community / career landscape and my paranoia was growing that the good times were going to end.

As a coping device and because I assumed that my colleagues shared my interest/concern, I decided to poll the community on the issue in our Summer 2008 industry survey.

It turns out that while most economists say that the United States is either experiencing or entering a recession, web analytics practitioners in the US are overwhelmingly optimistic about their career prospects in the short and intermediate-term future.

A sneak preview into the survey results shows that individuals and departments around the country are downright bullish:

74% of practitioners expect that spending on web analytics will increase at their company during the recession (40% said it would increase a bit / 34% said it would increase significantly)
60% of practitioners said that the recession would either increase the likelihood of hiring additional web analytics resources or have no impact
17% said that their company was either somewhat or very likely to reduce web analytics headcount during the recession
2% thought that the recession would have a major negative impact on their career

Thank goodness! And just to prove that these folks are answering with their heads and not their hearts, my team is literally busier right now than we have ever been. Entering the short July 4th holiday week, we have been absolutely inundated with new requests from clients for permanent and contract web analytics resources.

As a longtime LinkedIn fan, I decided to throw the question up there last week to see what kind of response I would get. Eight people – all web analytics practitioners – answered in a single voice: “What recession?”

The only concrete difference / pattern that we have seen in our business over the past several months has been the exploding demand for web analytics contractors. A year ago we were working on one contract position for every eight permanent positions. Now contractor requests make up over a third of all new requests for resources. I am not sure if I am ready to draw a direct correlation between the economy and the rising demand for contractors since there are several other viable explanations.

Here is the link to participate in the current survey (or to view results of previous surveys):

http://www.iqworkforce.com/survey.asp

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Thanks again to Corry for his support of Web Analytics Demystified!

Posted Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | 11 responses | Add a Comment | Share, Save or Email

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Steve Jackson

The same or better in Europe. The marketplace has never looked better right now for a web analytics specialist. I am busier than I’ve ever been consulting wise and am currently getting one head hunter a week contacting me. So the demand is definitely there.

eric

Steve: Yeah, I don’t hear many people complaining about a slowdown, yet, especially given the number of open positions on my job board and that Corry is trying to fill. I wouldn’t say web analytics is recession-proof, necessarily, but it is good to feel wanted, huh?

Thomas Molitor

e-commerce is the only bright spot in retail at the moment, matching the double digit grow rates in online ad spending. Marketers are moving more and more budgets over to the web and, accordingly, will move more and more staff over to the web measurement and analytics side of the house. There’s a gravitational pull right now in companies to pervasive BI throughout the enterprise and marketing analytics is fast becoming a highly regarded member of that solution stack. In 2008, a web analytics resume smokes a direct mail resume big time.

Jeff Campbell

With high gas prices and less money for frivolous purchases, people are shopping around for the best price – ONLINE. All of a sudden, conversion rates are not what they were last month or quarter or year due to the high amount of comparison shopping. Measuring online behavior (web analytics) is now more important as it’s the 2nd and 3rd visits that are getting the purchase – and with tightening of corporate budgets, media investments need a heck of a lot more data to prove the case (enter WA gurus).

A few weeks ago, I blogged that this recession is actually an OPPORTUNITY for savvy data marketers, PPC/SEO, and page testers: http://www.findresolution.com/2008/06/recession-online-marketing-opportunity.html

Web Analytics Pune

Analytics is very crucial in corporate world and is a must for data driven decision and web analytics being way more budget friendly than media investments are gaining popularity like never before.

Bryan Cristina

Considering I just got a job back in the original web analytics group I help build up a year ago, and it’s one of the few jobs in the company that they were allowed to try to fill, I’d say the recession hasn’t hurt me yet. I asked them how they felt the company was doing, and while they were getting hit in other areas, the analytics area was still trying to grow and the company saw its value despite a tumultuous economy.

I’m pretty happy about it.

eric

Bryan: Congrats on the new (old) job! I think the data Corry reported is evidenced in a lot of places but that is nice and personal.

Thanks to Jeff, Thomas, and everyone else who has commented!

Corry Prohens

I kind of knew all of this when we launched the survey, but I would be lying if I said that I felt secure. I had asked a lot of people and got a lot of arguments like the ones that Jeff and Thomas give above – all very valid.

But I was also around for the dot com boom where we were told by some very credible people in industry and on wall street that the old math no longer applied. Those arguments kind of sounded valid to me at that time, as well.

In any event, it seems that we all pretty much agree: so far so good.

We will be releasing the results of the full survey after Labor Day Weekend.

If you have not yet participate in the survey, please do: http://www.iqworkforce.com/survey.asp

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