Archive for April, 2009

It’s almost amazing to consider that it has been a full year since the last Emetrics “West” event in California — what with so many changes and little Luca Dechamps Otamendi turning one — but it is again time to gather together and bask in the glory of Mr. Sterne’s excellent event. I am again honored to be presenting to a combined track, this time on Wednesday, May 6th at 11:00 AM, and will be giving an update of my “Competing on Web Analytics” presentation that resonates so well with, well, pretty much everyone who has seen it.

The update is important and stems from a bunch of research I have been doing for the past six months. Given the launch of Yahoo Web Analytics 9.5 today and the recent opening up of the Google Analytics APIs I am busier than ever talking with companies who are trying to find the “right” balance of technology, people, and process.

Also, as I do from time to time I have a really big announcement that I will be making at the beginning of my talk. Last time I quit my job at Visual Sciences to start Web Analytics Demystified … this time? Come to the talk and be the first to find out!

I hope you’ll drop by and see my talk, again: Wednesday, May 6th at 11:00 AM.

I am also speaking briefly in the “Softer Side of Metrics” panel with Mr. Stephen “Recently Elected to the WAA Board” Hamel and folks from BT Buckets and Firefox on Thursday, May 7th at 11:00 AM. This should be fun since I’ll get to introduce the larger web analytics community to the work I have been doing with Twitalyzer.

Also, don’t forget about the Emetrics edition of Web Analytics Wednesday which is, as always, open to conference attendees and the local community alike. We have something special planned to honor our recently deceased colleague Hosam Elkhodary so I hope you’ll sign up (so we can get a good count) and join us at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose.

Finally, as always I go to Emetrics to meet with as many people as I possibly can and operate under the “I can sleep when I get home” mentality. If you’ve read my books, read my blog, enjoy Twitalyzer, or just have always wanted to ask me something please feel free to reach out … literally if you see me passing by or by Twittering me at @erictpeterson and setting up a time to meet.

(If you can’t make it to San Jose the next big analytics event in the U.S. is the X Change Conference September 9, 10, and 11 in San Francisco. I’m a huge fan (and partner) in the X Change so I’d love to tell you more about it if you’re interested!)

I hope to see you in San Jose!

I have done hundreds of interviews with all kinds of media in my years in web analytics. Some of these interviews have turned out well, some less well, but rarely do I get to participate in a conversation about analytics that afterwards I think “Phew, that was cool.”

A few weeks ago I got to do exactly that thanks to Brent Leary at CRM Essentials.

If you have a few minutes and want to hear my recent thoughts on a variety of subjects including getting started in analytics, the impact of analytics on social media, and the work I’ve done recently on Twitalyzer, please take the time to listen to this interview.

Brent is a totally engaging interviewer and he pushed the conversation along in unexpected ways. I have been getting tons of good feedback already but, as always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Recently I have spent an awful lot of time thinking about and talking about data accuracy issues in the field of web analytics. The widespread use of cookies as a tracking mechanism and the underlying assumption that “one cookie = one visitor” is a big part of the problem, but cookies are not the only problem. Another problem, one that I actually believe to be more substantial than cookies and visitors, is  the challenge of campaign attribution.

Challenge? What’s hard about campaign attribution? You tag campaigns and web analytics tells you what works, right? You get pretty ROI graphs and click-reports and all that fun stuff? Campaign analytics is easy!

Wrong.

One of the best-kept secrets in online marketing is that most campaign attribution data is completely wrong and the models used to evaluate campaign performance are wholly inappropriate.  The relative nascence of digital marketing practices, combined with conflicting measurement systems and poorly understood interaction between online marketing channels, likely means that hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted annually on marketing efforts that don’t produce their intended results.

Companies are increasingly responding to this observation by re-examining their marketing measurement systems.  Even the most cursory analysis yields a great deal of information about the “campaign attribution problem.”  Popularized recently by Microsoft with their “Engagement Mapping” efforts as well as analysis published by Forrester Research and others, it is clear that the most widely used online campaign attribution model is inherently flawed.

To correct these flaws and begin to improve both the accuracy of measurement and the general understanding of how marketing really works online, Web Analytics Demystified recommends a new approach to campaign analysis.  Dubbed “Appropriate Attribution”, the approach leverages widely available but infrequently used data to triangulate towards the true value of online marketing efforts.

Given that the majority of online advertisers have direct response goals, and that most marketers are still generally unsatisfied with the campaign measurement tools at their disposal, Web Analytics Demystified believes that Appropriate Attribution is the first step towards improving companies’ collective understanding of their digital marketing efforts.

Eventually marketers will have access to robust warehouses of data detailing consumer interaction with online media and advertising, but the adage “you must walk before you can run” is as true in digital marketing as it is in life.  Before business owners and marketers become fully equipped to benefit from complex marketing mix analysis of online and offline channels, they are well advised to address the campaign attribution problem to increase the return on their valuable dollars spent for online marketing efforts.

Thanks to the fine folks at Coremetrics you can read all about Appropriate Attribution and learn how you can start to get a better understanding of your online marketing efforts today.

Download your copy of the Appropriate Attribution paper from Coremetrics today.

UPDATE: There is information at the bottom of this post about how to make a donation in Hosam’s memory from June Li in the Web Analytics Forum.

On Tuesday of this week the web analytics community lost a passionate advocate with the passing of Hosam Elkhodary. I had the pleasure of working with Hosam just after founding Web Analytics Demystified as well as spending time with him at many an Emetrics. There are many blog posts about Hosam out there but the most touching is Mike Sukmanowsky’s — Hosam clearly had the same impact on Mike as he did on many of us. I encourage you to read Mike’s post and comment there if you knew Hosam.

Hosam will be missed.

FROM THE WEB ANALYTICS FORUM:

Some additional information for those who are interested in contributing to the Heart and Stroke Foundation fund for Hosam. You can donate online here:

http://www.heartandstroke.on.ca/site/c.pvI3IeNWJwE/b.3581623/k.C08D/Donate.htm

In addition designating that the contribution is in memoriam of Hosam, please make sure you address the card as follows, which will doubly ensure the donation is directed properly:

Abdalla Elkhodary
7 Delaney Drive
Ajax, Ontario
L1T 4B2

I finally had a chance to look at the fine group of folks running for Web Analytics Association Board of Directors in this go-around and I have to say I am mighty impressed! Not that the WAA doesn’t already have an amazing group of Directors, but wow, some serious contenders each with a ton of experience in the sector running this time around.  If you haven’t already voted, have a look at the consultants, practitioners, and vendors running in this year’s election.

This is actually a unique election given that none of the existing Directors who have the ability to run again have chosen to do so. The few I have talked to about this have cited “time” as the major factor but no doubt the WAA will miss April Wilson’s passion, Neil Mason and Laura Paxia’s experience and European perspective, and Seth Romanow’s historical knowledge of the Association. Thankfully Jim Sterne will still be serving as Chairman of the Board (right Jim?)

I really like the approach the WAA took this time interviewing each candidate and putting the text and recording on the Association web site. It certainly helps us learn a little more about each candidate which will make a difficult vote a little easier. I also like that some candidates are actively campaigning in the Web Analytics Forum, in Twitter, at Emetrics, etc. This more than anything emphasizes the importance of these Board positions — and of the Association in general.

If there is any one question I would have posed to the candidates that did not get asked it would be this:

“If there was one thing you could go back in time and change about the web analytics industry, what would it be?”

Who knows, maybe some of the folks running for WAA Directorships will take the time to answer the question. I know what my answer would be ;-)

Best of luck to EVERYONE running in this election!