Archive for 'Interviews'

Kevin Hillstrom is one smart dude. President of MineThatData, author of Online Marketing Simulations, and prolific contributor to the Twitter #measure channel. Kevin spends a huge amount of time in Twitter challenging web analysts to think and work harder on behalf of their “clients,” 140 characters at a time.

A few weeks ago I asked Kevin “what five practices learned in the offline data analytics world would you like to see web analytics professionals adopt?” The following contributed blog post has Kevin’s answers which are, unsurprisingly, awesome. Near the end Kevin says “The Web Analyst has the keys to the future of the business, so it is a manner of getting the Web Analyst to figure out how to use keys to unlock the future potential of a business.”

Brilliant. We are the future of business … so what future will we be helping to create?

Kevin Hillstrom, President, MineThatData

In 1998, I became the Circulation Director at Eddie Bauer. Back in those days, Eddie Bauer printed money, generating more than a hundred million dollars of pre-tax profit on an annual basis.

One of the ways that Eddie Bauer generated profit was through the use of discounts and promotions. If a customer failed to purchase over a six month period of time, Eddie Bauer applied a “20% off your order” offer. The customer had to use a special promotion code, in order to receive discounted merchandise.

We analyzed each promotion code, using “A/B” test panels. Customers were randomly selected from the population, and then assigned to one of two test panels. The first test panel received the promotion, the second test panel did not receive the promotion. We subtracted the difference between the promotion segment and the control segment, and ran a profit and loss statement against the difference.

In almost all cases, the segment receiving the promotion generated more profit than the control segment. In other words, it became a “best practice” to offer customers promotions and incentives at Eddie Bauer. Over the course of a five year period of time, the marketing calendar became saturated with promotions. In fact, it became hard to find an open window where we could add promotions!

Being a huge fan of “A/B” testing, I decided to try something different. I asked my circulation team to choose two customer groups at random from our housefile. One group would receive promotions for the next six months, if the customer was eligible to receive the promotion. The other group would not receive a single promotion for the next six months. At the end of the six month test period, we would determine which strategy yielded the most profit.

At the end of six months, we observed a surprising outcome. The test group that received no promotions spent the exact same amount of money that the group receiving all promotions spent. After calculating the profitability of each test group, it was obvious that Eddie Bauer was making a significant mistake. It appeared that we would lose, at most, five percent of total annual sales, if we backed off of our promotional strategy. Eddie Bauer would be significantly more profitable by minimizing the existing promotional strategy.

In 1999, we backed off of almost all of our housefile promotions. At the end of 1999, the website/catalog division enjoyed the most profitable year in the history of the business.

This experience shaped all of my subsequent analytical work.

Just because we have the tools to measure our activities in real-time doesn’t mean we are truly optimizing business results. In the Eddie Bauer example, we had the analytical tools to measure every single promotion we offered the customer, and we used existing best practices and “A/B” testing strategies. All of it, however, was wrong, costing us $26,000,000 of profit on an annual basis. Simply put, we were measuring “conversion rate”. What actually happened was that we “shifted conversions” out of non-promotional windows, into promotional windows! Had we measured non-promotional windows, we would have noticed that demand decreased.

So, by measuring customer behavior across a six month period of time, we made a significant change to business strategy, one that dramatically increased annual profit.

What does this have to do with Web Analytics?

The overwhelming majority of Web Analytics activity is focused on improving “conversion rate”. Our software tools are calibrated for easy analysis of events. Did a visitor do what we wanted the visitor to do? Did a promotion work? Did a search visitor from a long-tail keyword buy merchandise when they visited the website? All of these questions are easily answered by the Web Analytics expert, the expert simply analyzes an event to determine if the event yielded a favorable outcome.

Offline analytics experts (often called “Business Intelligence” professionals or “SAS Programmers” if they use SAS software to analyze data) frequently analyze business problems from a different perspective. They use whatever data is available, incomplete or comprehensive, to determine if the individual actions taken by a business over time cause a customer to become more loyal.

With that in mind, here are five offline practices I wish online analytics experts would adopt.

Practice #1 = Extend the Conversion Window: Instead of analyzing whether a customer converted within a single visit or session, it makes sense to extend the conversion window and learn whether the customer converted across a period of time. For instance, when I ran Database Marketing at Nordstrom, we learned that our best customers had a 5% conversion rate, when measured on the basis of individual visits, but our best customers nearly achieved a 100% conversion rate when combining website visits and store visits during a month. By extending the conversion window, we realized that we didn’t have website problems, instead, we had loyal customers who used our website as a tool in a multi-channel process.

Practice #2 = Measure Long-Term Value: Offline analytics practitioners want to know if a series of actions results in long-term profit. In other words, individual conversions are relatively meaningless if, over the course of a year, individual conversions do not yield incremental profit. This is essentially the “Eddie Bauer” example I mentioned at the start of this paper, we learned that individual conversions (customers purchasing via a promo code) yielded increased profit during the promotional period, but generated a loss when measured across a six month timeframe. A generation of Web Analytics experts were trained, largely because of software limitations, to analyze short-term business results, and have not developed the discipline to do what is right for a business across a six month or one year timeframe. Fortunately, Web Analytics practitioners are exceptionally bright, and are easily able to adapt to longer conversion windows.

Practice #3 = Comfort with Incomplete Data: I recently analyzed data for a retailer that was able to tie 70% of store transactions to a name/address. During my presentation, an Executive mentioned that my results must be inaccurate, because I was leaving 30% of the transactions out of my analysis. When I asked the Executive if it would be better to make decisions on incomplete data, or to simply not make any decisions at all until all data is complete and accurate, the Executive acknowledged that inferences from incomplete data are better than inaction caused by data uncertainty. Offline analysts have been dealing with incomplete multi-channel data for decades, and have become good at communicating the benefits and limitations of incomplete data to business leaders. The same opportunity exists for Web Analytics practitioners. Don’t hide from incomplete data! Instead, make confident decisions based on the data that is available, simply communicating what one can and cannot infer from incomplete data.

Practice #4 = Demonstrate What Happens to a Business Five Years From Now Based on Today’s Actions: Believe it or not, this is how I make a living. I use conditional probabilities to show what happens if customers evolve a certain way. Pretend a business had 100 customers in 2009, and 44 of the 100 customers purchase again during 2010. This business must find 56 new customers in 2010 to replace the customers lost during 2010. I can demonstrate what the business will look like in 2015, based on how well the business can retain existing customers or acquire new customers. This type of analysis is the exact opposite of “conversion rate analysis”, because we are looking at the long-term retention/acquisition dynamics that impact every single business. I find that CEOs and CFOs love this type of analysis, because for the first time, they have a window into the future, they actually get to see where the business is heading if things remain as they are today. Better yet, the CEO/CFO can go through “scenario planning” to identify ways to mitigate problems or to capitalize on favorable business trends. The Web Analytics practitioner has the data to do this type of analysis, it is simply a matter of tagging customers or shaping queries in a way that allows the analyst to make inferences that impact long-term customer value.

Practice #5 = Communicate Better: This probably applies to all analysts, not just Web Analytics experts. Executives are frequently called “HiPPOs” by the Web Analytics community, a term that refers to “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion”. The term can be used in a negative manner, suggesting that the Executive is choosing to not make decisions based on data but rather on opinion or gut feel or instinct or internal politics. I was a member of the Executive team at Nordstrom for more than six years, and I can honestly say that I made far more decisions based on opinion than I made based on sound data and analytics … and I am an analyst by trade!! Too often, the analytics community tells an incomplete story. Once, I witnessed an analytically minded individual who made a compelling argument, demonstrating that e-mail marketing had a better return on investment than catalog marketing. This analyst used the argument to suggest that the company shut down the catalog marketing division. On the surface, the argument made sense. Upon digging into the data a bit more, we learned that 75% of all e-mail addresses were acquired when a catalog shopper was placing an online order, so if we discontinued catalog marketing, we would cut off the source of future e-mail addresses. This is a case where the analyst failed to communicate in an appropriate manner, causing the Executive to not heed the advice of the analyst. Too often, analysts fail to put data and customer findings into a larger context. Total company profit, long-term customer profitability, total company staffing strategies and politics, multi-channel customer dynamics, and Executive goals and objectives all need to be taken into account by the analyst when communicating a data-driven story. When this is done well, the analyst becomes a surrogate member of the Executive team. When this is not done well, the analyst sometimes perceives the Executive to be a “HiPPO”.

These are the five areas I’d like to see Web Analytics experts evolve into. The Web Analyst has the keys to the future of the business, so it is a manner of getting the Web Analyst to figure out how to use keys to unlock the future potential of a business. Based on what I have witnessed during the past forty months of multi-channel consulting, I am very confident that Web Analytics practitioners can combine offline techniques with online analytics. The combination of offline techniques and online analytics yields a highly-valued analyst that Executives depend upon to make good business decisions!

Following up my interview with Bill Gassman a few weeks ago I realized that I would be remiss if I didn’t build on Forrester’s recent Web Analytics Wave report with an interview with John Lovett. John, like Bill, totally, totally understands the web analytics industry, and in that understanding is able to clarify the marketplace in a way few others can. Don’t believe me? Check out his response to possibly the worst article about web analytics, ever. Measured, polite, even complimentary … that’s John.

I am personally honored that John accepted my invitation to return to the X Change this year and both lead the huddle on “Industry Standards (or a lack thereof)” and co-lead a huddle on technology with Bill Gassman. If you haven’t met John personally, and if you are able to join us at the X Change, I strongly recommend you make a point of introducing yourself to him.

Finally, before my questions and John’s answers, I wanted to point out how incredibly deft Mr. Lovett really is: in response to a high-and-hard fastball question about “which vendor is really the best,” John knocked the ball clear out of the park with his answer: none of them. I’ll let you read the rest for yourself …

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Your recent Wave report really emphasized a lot of conventional wisdom about the web analytics vendors but had some surprises for folks.  What surprised YOU the most about the Wave results?

Well Eric, I like to say that surprises are for birthdays and not for business. So in terms of actual surprises, there weren’t any big bombshells for me. I was however pleased that the vendors demonstrated innovation in a number of areas (like social media measurement) and that despite my attempts to develop extremely challenging criteria, the vendors continue to improve year over year.

One comment people have made to me is that they question the validity of comparing fee and free solutions in a single matrix due to the fundamental differences in their business model.  How would (or do) you respond to that challenge?

That’s preposterous! I respond by saying that it’s negligent not to compare free vs. fee based solutions. In today’s economic environment if you’re not watching expenses by understanding the cost to benefit ratio of your Web analytics solution, you are acting irresponsibly. Free tools have merit for many organizations as both primary and secondary tools, while fee based solutions are more appropriate for others based on their capabilities. Organizations must do their diligence to understand what they need in a Web analytics solution to decide what’s right for them, which is really the insight the Wave attempts to provide.

I asked Bill Gassman from Gartner a variation on this question recently, but do you now or see in the near future a situation where you as a Forrester analyst are advising your clients to actively consider these free solutions in addition to “traditional” web analytics solutions from Omniture, Coremetrics, and Unica?  As a follow-up, how do you see free tools impacting the market in the next 12 to 24 months?

I advocate that a single system for measurement is always the best way to go, yet recognize that this isn’t always feasible. Duality of Web analytics tools is a reality for myriad reasons. Thus, company’s need to manage their data dissemination practices to ensure comprehension and mitigate doubt. This is tricky, but certainly possible. I often help clients determine which solution is best suited to meet their needs and financial implications are always a part of that discussion.

With regard to how free tools will impact the market: we are just witnessing the beginning of the incoming tide on this one. By this I mean that “free” will continue to disrupt the market by placing pressure for improvement on all vendors. Just look at the recent Webtrends product upgrade announcement – the majority of press around it cited a “look out Google Analytics” slant. Why the comparison…they’re worried! Fee-based vendors have even more to fear now that Yahoo! Web Analytics opened up its partner program.

Another comment I hear about the Wave results, and forgive me this, is that they’re lame because they do nothing to differentiate the “market leaders” who appear as a tight cluster.  The evidence cited is that all four vendors issued press releases declaring their “market leadership” which appears technically correct based on the Wave but as the Highlander said, “There can be only one.”  First, how do you respond to this and second, who is the real market leader in web analytics?

Here’s the dirty little secret – the real market leader is the wildly talented Web analytics practitioner. It’s not the tools that differentiate it’s the craftsman. Any company that believes the Web analytic technology alone will make them incredibly successful is delusional or just plain out of touch. There is no get rich quick scheme here. Each of the leading vendors on the Wave offers a highly customized solution that can be tricked-out to meet nearly anyone’s individual needs. But this takes a great deal of work. For those organizations that are looking for the far-and-away winner in this technology category, guess what: the tools will only get you so far – you need talented people to really make it happen.

Rumors are that Omniture has a bunch of “800 lb gorillas” hanging in their offices right now.  Clearly they’re proud of their position, but last quarters results highlighted that there are clear risks to their business that are beginning to manifest.  What do you think are the greatest risks to Omniture’s business over the next 18 months?

Well, I don’t buy into rumors and sure don’t know where I left my crystal ball. But things are tough all over. As I stated earlier, free solutions are threatening all fee-based vendors and forcing them to work harder. I can tell you that measurement technologies are an imperative for executing on digital marketing endeavors. Solutions like Omniture’s, Webtrends’, Coremetrics’, Unica’s and everyone else’s will continue to play an important role in the evolution of organizations conducting business online. I believe that Web analytics is increasingly becoming an integrated service and expect to see things evolve to easier access to data through new and alternative means. The leading vendors, including Omniture, will play a role in this evolution.

What’s your taken on the current hype cycle around “open”?  Omniture bangs the Genesis drum, Coremetrics connects, and now WebTrends appears to have decided that “open” will be the foundation of their future success (or lack thereof) … but some people think that “open” is a check-box requirement, not a competitive differentiator.  What do you think?

Open is not a feature, it’s a philosophy. The ability to get data into and out of a Web analytics solution is the crux of the issue and leading vendors facilitate this through bi-directional API’s, other import and export functions and data dissemination capabilities. Webtrends is currently doing this as well as anyone, but “open” also means talking to your customers about development plans, listening to criticism and demonstrating a willingness to change. These qualities aren’t unique to Webtrends, they’re characteristics that all vendors should exhibit. Webtrends is just marketing around them and if that’s causing people to want open, then it appears to be working.

As a previous attendee to the X Change what do you like best about the conference and what would you like to see us change this year or next?

I appreciate the intimate conversational format of X Change. The huddles really facilitate deep thought, controversial leeway and provocative discussion. As someone who attends a number of conferences, it is refreshing to engage in dialogue with individuals who are passionate about what they do and to initiate a true collaborative thinking environment. As far as change goes, I really hope to be able to guide the huddles that I’m leading toward resolution. Within our industry, all too often we surface problems and issues without identifying solutions. I’ve taken your challenge to heart and hope to walk away with some tangible results from my huddles.

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John will be joining Bill Gassman, Gary Angel, June Dershewitz, and over 100 expert users, consultants, and vendors at the 2009 X Change conference in San Francisco on September 9, 10, and 11. Registration is currently underway and we’d love to have you join us! For more information please visit:

http://www.xchangeconference.com

Bill Gassman from Gartner is one of those guys that just “gets” what we’re trying to do in the web and digital analytics industry. Perhaps because he’s been covering this space for nearly as long as I’ve been around, or perhaps because he has a deep business intelligence background and sees where all this is going. I dunno, but Bill gets it.

Recently Bill, who is incidentally coming to the 2009 X Change and leading a huddle on organizational issues and co-leading a huddle on technology with John Lovett from Forrester, published a short brief on Google Analytics that I thought really hit the nail on the head. Clear, honest, and fully taking the Enterprise into account, Bill’s report clarified a lot about how companies should be thinking about Google’s analytics solution.

Since I could not get permission to republish Bill’s report I did the next best thing — I came up with some questions and put them to the man himself. The following are my questions and Bill’s responses. Incidentally, if you want to follow-up on this interview Bill graciously said he would monitor the comments and respond there (so comment away!)

Or, you could just come to San Francisco on September 9, 10, and 11 and debate the goodness of Google Analytics with Bill in person.

Regarding your recent note on Google Analytics, can you characterize how the companies who are asking you about “free” analytics have changed in the last 12 months?  Is any one thing driving that change, do you think?

Since Google Analytics improved last October, most client inquires about Web analytics touch on Google Analytics.  That is why I published the note “Is Google Analytics Right for You?”.  (Gartner account required to access)  Marketing departments ask if it is all they need, purchasing agents wonder why they should spend money on commercial tools and corporate lawyers wonder about Google’s terms and conditions.   The economy and budget constraints trigger the questions, but the major driver to Google is its simplicity.  Many organizations do not have the processes in place to make use of the high-end products or have Web sites that do not need the sophistication they offer.  They perceive Google Analytics as good enough and “free” is a tempting offer.

If Google asked you which three things were most important to add to their functional set to be considered “Enterprise” what would those three things be?

Getting to functional parity with the commercial tools is not enough for Google Analytics to be considered enterprise class.  Google should charge for an enterprise class offering, because a lot is required as is the accountability that goes with the exchange of money.  They must also provide enterprise class support and address issues with the terms of service policy.  The key function missing is a visitor centric repository, so users can define complex multi-session segments and export visitor information to campaign and content management tools.  Google would also have to extend personalized service from customers with significant AdWords accounts to those willing to pay for it.  Finally, the terms of use policy has no service level guarantee and users must look for a FAQ to find assurances of privacy.

On the subject of “Enterprise-class” analytics … Google appears obsessed with this designation, regardless of their clear dominance from a deployment standpoint and the gains they’ve made within larger companies.  What do you think is behind their obsession?

Google appears to be fighting an asymmetric war with IBM, Microsoft and others, investing relatively little yet forcing competitors to take notice.  We see this especially for office applications and cloud computing.  Google is looking for products that give them credibility at the enterprise level, and Google Analytics is part of that story.  Other parts of the story include the recent news about the Chrome OS, Google Search Appliance, Google apps (premier edition), Geospatial Solutions, and Google App Engine for cloud computing.  While many large organizations are using some or all of these offerings, with few exceptions, only the Search Appliance has gained strategic status.  Google still brings in 97% of its revenue through advertising.  They might be showing obsession because of where they want to be, but then again, they could be throwing up a smoke screen to keep the competition too busy to attack Google on advertising.

What do you consider the single greatest risk to Google’s analytics business in the next 24 months?

There is no threat to Google’s analytics business, because Web analytics is not their business, yet.  Out of 72 million active Web servers (as reported by Netcraft), about 20,000 organizations pay for Web analytics.  Google gives away Google Analytics so that millions of Web site owners can see the impact of AdWords and buy more Google ads.  If there is a threat, it is Yahoo Web Analytics, who is using a similar tactic to go after Google’s advertising revenue.

Are you now, or do you see in the near future, a situation where as a Gartner analyst you are advising your clients to actively consider free solutions from Google and Yahoo alongside “traditional” web analytics solutions like Omniture, WebTrends, and Coremetrics?

Running two sets of tools on the same Web pages can be a recipe for trouble, because reported numbers will not match, reducing respect and therefore value for both tools.  There are situations however where two tools make sense.  It would be great if all organizations had the leadership, investment, skills and processes to use commercial tools to meet everyone’s needs, but for too many, it has not worked out that way.  When analytic resources are limited, it is pragmatic to focus commercial tools on the high-value parts of the site and let other site stakeholders use free tools. Analysis is a critical part of a customer centric Web strategy.  If some departments are happy with the free tools and a central group cannot support them, it is OK to let chaos reign until the business justification, investment and leadership are available to do things right.

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.

If there was once clear statement made this past Tuesday with the election and overwhelming mandate given to President-elect Barack Obama it was that people around the world are concerned about the economy. In fact, it feels as if we’ve gone well beyond President Clinton’s “It’s the economy, stupid” statement back in the early 90′s and have arrived at “It’s the economy, period.”

Given the number of conversations I have had with web analytics professionals lately about layoffs, offered severance packages, buying slowdowns and the like I wanted to check with a friend who works directly on the front lines of the web analytics economy: Corry Prohens from IQ Workforce.

Corry is giving a presentation at Judah Phillip’s Web Analytics Wednesday event in Cambridge on November 12th and in since I can’t make it to Boston for the event I recently asked Corry a handful of questions about web analytics, the practitioner market, and IQ Workforce’s new Contractor Exchange. Corry is a great guy and I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions about his responses if you want to pose them in the comments section following this post.

My questions are posed in bold and Corry’s responses follow:

Corry, one thing on people’s minds is how investment and use of web analytics is being affected by the economic downturn. What are you seeing out there?

We are seeing a shift in the market away from hiring and toward contract / interim talent.  Many companies have official or unofficial hiring freezes in place.  Those that don’t have added steps to the approval process for new hires, making recruiting processes much longer than a year ago.  In the meantime, the work has to get done and there is a pretty consistent drum beat out there for more measurement, accountability and improved ROI.  The result has been an explosion in the contract / freelance market.

At the same time, supply is increasing.  The web analytics community is maturing, so there are more and more practitioners that have reached the point in their career development where they are qualified to “go independent”.  Even people that are gainfully and “permanently” employed are looking for part-time freelance gigs on the side in this economy.

This is creating a perfect storm of both supply and demand.  It is tying up more than 50% of my team’s time these days, whereas contract work used to be about 15% of our business.

On the perm side things are steady and unspectacular.  Demand is still strong, but there are snags and delays and fits and starts with almost all of our jobs as our clients reevaluate and redefine their needs repeatedly before making hiring decisions.  I don’t think you would find a huge drop in the number of web analytics jobs out there, but there is no doubt that the average time-to-hire has skyrocketed.

Do you have any bold predictions about how the market will change in 2009 for A) experienced web analytics practitioners looking for new jobs, B) web analytics consultants and C) companies looking to hire experienced web analytics talent?

I don’t think these are very bold, but here goes…

1. The market for interim talent will likely continue to grow and thrive;
2. The permanent market will likely stay relatively strong.  It will not be anything like the mania that was out there for the last few years, but make no mistake about it – web analytics is still a hot skill set.  Demand will far outpace the rest of the job market;
3. Remote / virtual office positions will continue to grow more popular;
4. Convergence between site analytics, optimization and offline analytics (and mobile analytics??) will continue in jobs and practitioners’ skill sets.

The rest will depend on how quickly and how sharply the rest of the economy improves.

Speaking of practitioners, there is an odd conversation going on in the Yahoo! group about qualifications for web analytics practitioners.  What are the top five things YOU are looking for when you get resumes?

I can understand why this is a major debate because there is a lot of variation in web analyst jobs. Depending on where web analytics resides in the organization, the structure, the size of the company, the culture, the tools, etc. the top 5 will shift quite a bit.  There are not that many vanilla web analyst jobs – many of them are tied in with testing & optimization, offline & customer data analysis, search marketing, ad serving, database skills, etc.  In general, the smaller the company the bigger the job (the more things skills they are looking for / hats the candidate will wear).

Companies also look for specific vertical market expertise, or experience in their “type” of site (subscriber, free media, ad driven, Internet retail, lead generation, etc.)

Unrealistic expectations are common.  Many companies still don’t get web analytics.  If they are relatively new (as a company or as individuals) to web analytics, there is a tendency to lump hard-to-find skills together into a mountain and create impossible-to-fill positions.  We try to be good consultants on this issue, but sometimes a job has to stay open for 6-months before a company reevaluates their requirements.  HR people, in particular, seem to have a hard time distinguishing between requirements and wish lists.

In general we look for someone that has tool expertise, communication / interpersonal skills (these jobs are increasingly front-office), analysis & presentation skills and some complimentary kicker (testing, SAS, SQL, search marketing, development skills, search marketing skills, etc.) based on what our clients need at the moment.  One of our biggest gaps to bridge is location – not skills.  There are lots of great people out there and we are often working out ways to get them relocated or set up in virtual office jobs.

If you had to pick only two criteria likely to help practitioners land great jobs in this economy, what would those criteria be?

If I were a web analyst I would learn how to use SAS to manipulate data & models.  I would also try to pick up experience in  testing/optimization.  Having one (or both) of these would open a lot more doors than a straight WA skill set.

I keep getting email about rates for consultants out there.  I know what I charge, but what are you seeing in the market on an hourly and daily basis?  Does that change by geography or experience?  Or if you blog are you able to charge more?

If blogging enabled me to charge more I wouldn’t have to work anymore.

There is a big difference between consultants and contractors.  What you do and what we do should not be compared.  In fact, we are  careful not compare ourselves with any web analytics consultancy.  If you look companies like Stratigent, Technology Leaders, or the interactive agencies, they are approaching the client’s problems in a very different way.

If a client knows what they need and they have somewhat of a plan for how to get it done, they can hire a contractor / freelancer that has the expertise to execute.  This person will work on a time & materials basis and there will not be any guarantee for deliverables.

If a client doesn’t know what they don’t know and they need a company to perform a broader range of services, such as:  conducting an assessment, creating a roadmap and a strategy, specking out a project, etc. They should use a full-service consulting company and pay the freight.  Their resources are theoretically backed-up by expertise in the rest of the firm and they provide some kind of a guarantee around deliverables.

The contractors that we currently have on billing range from $55/hour to $110/hour.  From what I have seen, the full service consultancies and pro services groups charge anywhere from $125 – $300/hour for equivalent expertise along with all of the value-add that I mentioned above.

You just launched a contractor’s exchange at IQ Workforce.  Tell me about that?

We had to do something to streamline our contracting business.  The volume of candidates and requirements that we were getting was becoming unmanageable.  The Contractor Exchange is basically our way of more efficiently marketing our inventory of interim talent to the community.

We ask our contractors to post their credentials on our website.  Our team approves the postings and then we market the profiles to the marketing and analytics executives in our network.

One of the biggest problems for contractors is staying billable – it is very hard to sell and deliver at the same time.  The Contractor Exchange is a free way for contractors and freelancers to gain visibility to an extremely relevant audience so that we can generate opportunities for them.

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Thanks to Corry for taking the time to answer my questions. Please check out the IQ Workforce web site if you’re looking for help hiring web analytics talent (IQ Workforce sponsors the Web Analytics Demystified Job Board and we’re mighty grateful for that!)