Want to Debate Standards?

One of the biggest problems we face in web analytics today is our industry’s lack of standards and common definitions. And while a great number of incredibly bright folks have put a ton of energy into solving these problems, in my humble opinion we are more or less where we started years ago — agreeing politely to disagree. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know that I’m not shy about disagreement — perhaps more than anything my analyst’s mind loves a spirited debate — but I also am somewhat anxious about creating tangible outcomes.

To this end I am incredibly excited about two huddles at X Change 2009, one that was just added! The first is Forrester’s John Lovett’s “Web Analytics Standards (or a Lack Thereof)” in which John will be leading us through the current state of industry standards, proposed definitions and our collective understanding of analytics terminology. The second, and one just added to the X Change, is Jim Hassert’s “When is a Visitor Not a Real Person?” huddle in which Jim will take John’s huddle one step further and drill-down into the often irreconcilable differences found in the seemingly harmless “visitor” metric and dimension.

Last year I was forced to miss a lot of good huddles. This year a team of wild horses couldn’t keep me from missing these two.

While I have little doubt that both of these huddles will live up to the spirit of the X Change my hope is that they will go one step further. I would love to see both produce some kind of actionable outcome, something that we can carry forth into our careers and the wider conversation about our industry. Given that some serious talent is already signed up for the X Change — including some of the brightest minds in the practitioner and vendor community — I have little doubt that we have the brain power … now all we need is the resolve to do something and not just push words around on paper.

If you’re a reader of this blog and want to join us at the X Change I’m happy to help you out. If you act before July 31st I am offering a 15% discount on the registration (a $300 savings!)

Come to the X Change. Agree to do more than “politely disagree” — take a stand, defend your ideas, and help shape tangible and positive outcomes.

Posted Sunday, July 12th, 2009 | 5 responses | Share, Save or Email

http://www.waomarketing.com/blog Jacques Warren

The now understood uselessness of the visitor metric is one of the most interesting questions in WA these days. Anyone who’s looked at usage reports know the signal-to-noise ratio on the Web sucks badly. There is so much noise, so much disengaged, superficial activity on a site.

We need to better understand what’s behind that unique visitor number. We shouldn’t care about those 50,000 visitors this week, but ask how many real prospects there were amongst them.

Imagine: if there were 0, how would you see those 50,000 visitors then? That number wouldn’t seem so sexy after all, would it?
http://www.analyticsevolution.com John Lovett

Eric – I too am looking forward to this huddle since this topic is extremely important to our industry. Although…you just upped the ante dramatically by requesting an actionable outcome from the session!

In true X Change style, we’ll rise to the challenge!
http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com eric

Jacques: Indeed, the metric is messed up. But more and more my chagrin arises from the smart people in our community who prefer to turn away from this problem rather than tackle the challenge head on. That’s why I’m so excited that Jim and John are willing to lead these important conversations.

You can say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not willing to accept that the best answer we will always have is “well, we need a standard that everyone agrees upon.” We CAN do better, and I have tremendous faith that Jim, John, and the X Changers will push this conversation forward.

Thanks to both of you for your comments. I have become a very bad blogger (I blame summer) but knowing that influential members of the community are still listening motivates me greatly!
http://multichannelmetrics.com Akin Arikan

In my observation, criticism for the highly commendable work of the WAA’s standards committee has often stemmed from differing expectations as to what these standards should accomplish.

If two people want to go to two different places with the standards they can only agree to disagree.

I think it would be super exciting if these huddles at XChange could formulate a recommendation as to the goals that the WAA should be shooting for with the standards process.

It would be awesome to get alignment around a road map of realistic goals.

* What should the standards do for us in the short term vs. the long term?
* Should they be standards for base metrics or best practices?

I get to go to XChange myself this year. It will be awesome to witness this discussion. Thanks much for organizing it!

Akin
http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com eric

Akin: So awesome to hear you’re coming to the X Change this year! The entire conference will be better for your participation so I’m psyched!!

And while I agree that the WAA’s work is highly commendable I believe it is fair to say that the WAA has failed to achieve consensus on definitions with the larger community. But, I do agree that one excellent outcome from these huddles would be some type of guidance for the WAA (or IAB, or whatever else emerges similar to the WAA!)

Anyway, glad you’re coming … now if we could just get Jodi and Judith and Angie on board as well ;-)

E.