One of the issues we focus on in our consulting practice at Web Analytics Demystified is the relationship between page performance and key site metrics. Increasingly our business stakeholders are cognizant of this relationship and, given that awareness, interested in having clear visibility into the impact of page performance on engagement, conversion, and revenue. Historically speaking tying the two together has been arduous, and, when the integration has been completed, possible outcomes have been complicated by the fact that site performance is usually someone else’s job.
Fortunately both of these challenges are becoming less and less of an issue. Digital analytics providers are increasingly able to accept page performance data, either directly as in the case of Google Analytics “Site Speed” reports, or indirectly via APIs and other feeds from solutions like Keynote, Gomez, Tealeaf, and others allowing the most widely used digital analytics suites to meaningfully segment against this data on a per-visit and per-visitor basis.
Additionally, thanks to Web Performance Optimization and the recent emergence of solutions that allow for multivariate testing of different performance optimization techniques, business stakeholders and analysts are increasingly able to collaborate with IT/Operations to devise highly targeted performance solutions by geography, device, and audience segment. Recently I had the pleasure of working with the team at SiteSpect to describe these solutions in a free white paper titled “Five Tips for Optimizing Site Performance.”
If you’re thinking about how you can better measure and manage your site’s performance we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line and we’ll walk you through how we’re helping clients around the globe get their arms around the issue.
If you follow me you know I’m a huge fan of digital measurement, analysis, and optimization. I’ve written books about it,I’ve given talks about it all over the world, and for the last five years I have been building a rapidly growing company around it. The Web Analytics Demystified brand, at least according to Google, has become more or less synonymous with the subject, and for that my partners and I are grateful.
What you may not know is that I’m also a huge fan of basketball.
This time of the year, when the NBA playoffs are in full swing, is my favorite time of the year. Spring is coming in Oregon, summer vacation is approaching for my kids, and some of the greatest athletes in the world are hammer the boards and performing acts of acrobatic magic, all in an effort to get to the next round.
During last year’s playoffs I started thinking about how similar digital analytics is to basketball and running a championship NBA franchise. Both require great owners, leaders, and coaches. Both depend heavily on star talent. And both have the potential to become transformative for businesses, shareholders, and customers.
A few months back I went with that theme and put together a short presentation. I had the pleasure of giving that presentation at our recent ACCELERATE conference, and I have embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. It’s only about 20 minutes long, so just in case you’re not a fan of the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, well, you only have to listen to me extol their greatness for 20 minutes …
If you agree with me and think that analytics is a lot like basketball, but if you struggle in your company to meet some of the criteria I outlined, go ahead and give me a call. I’m always happy to talk about analytics and basketball, and who knows, maybe my company can help yours!
I am incredibly excited to let all of you know about something that Adam, John, and our friends at Keystone Solutions will be doing this coming September that builds on our long-standing commitment to local web analytics communities and our more recent efforts to support nonprofits around the world … something we are calling “Demystified Days!”
For years we have been helping local web analytics communities around the globe connect with each other as part of Web Analytics Wednesday, and by every measure, Web Analytics Wednesday works. Thanks to current and past sponsors — great companies like I.Q. Workforce, Coremetrics (an IBM Company), SiteSpect, and hundreds of other companies who have hosted regional events — Web Analytics Demystified has brokered more personal introductions (and served more beers) than any other organization or group in our industry.
This past year we have been trying to leverage our connections in the industry to do something truly good and solve bigger problems. The result was, of course, the Analysis Exchange — the world’s only effort to provide free analytics support to nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations — which thanks to the efforts of great people like Wendy Greco, Emer Kirrane, Jason Thompson and our mentors and students has changed how people learn how to tells stories with data.
Now we are taking it to the next level, one city at a time.
Starting September 12th in San Francisco we will be bringing a day long educational and networking event to cities across the globe. The format will be one you are all familiar with — great presentations in the morning and great conversations in the afternoon, of course followed by drinks and networking at Web Analytics Wednesdays in the evening.
We could easily do these events for free … but we aren’t going to. Instead we are going to find awesome sponsors to help us offset costs and ask everyone who participates to buy a $99 ticket to the event. Then, at the end of the day, we are going to add up all of the revenues, subtract out all of the costs, and donate every penny that is left to two local charities decided on by the event participants.
Our hope is to be able to donate a total of $50,000 to six charities in the United States. You can help us achieve that goal by doing three very easy things:
Helping us spread the word about Demystified Days within your social network. We have created a short URL http://bit.ly/demystifieddays and you can tag tweets about these events with #demystifieddays.
Joining us in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Boston. We are finalizing venues right now and will post ticket purchasing information in the next few weeks so watch for that!
On behalf of the teams at Web Analytics Demystified and Keystone Solutions we sincerely hope you are excited about what Demystified Days can become. We welcome your questions in comments or directly via email.
Wow, I just got done looking more closely at the Web Analytics Demystified team calendar for the next few months and it is a doozy! Chances are if you live in the U.S. and do any type of digital measurement, analysis, or optimization professionally we are going to see you between now and the end of March.
If that is the case, we’d like to buy you a drink!
Despite each of us presenting, often multiple times, we are always happy to make time for our clients and potential clients when we are out-and-about. If you realize you’re going to be at one of the following events why not drop us a line and we’ll see if we can connect. Who knows, maybe we’re planning a great party or something …
On Wednesday, February 16th, Adam and I will both be in Minneapolis at a special Web Analytics Wednesday event at Glueks downtown. If you’re in the Twin Cities register here to join us for drinks!
Given the considerable buzz in the marketplace regarding Tag Management Systems and vendors like Ensighten, TagMan, and BrightTag I wanted to call your collective attention to a free webcast I am participating in next week on “The Myth of the Universal Tag.” On Tuesday, January 25th at 1:00 PM Pacific timeI will presenting with Josh Manion, CEO of Ensighten and Brandon Bunker, Senior Manager of Analytics at Sony, detailing some of the advantages I see in the adoption of a tag management platform.
What’s more, the nice folks at Ensighten have taken the registration form off of my white paper on tag management systems and so everyone is free to read all of my thoughts on Tag Management without prompting a sales call. How cool is that?
Spread the word:
“The Myth of the Universal Tag” free webcast sponsored by Ensighten
Tuesday, January 25th, 1:00 PM Pacific / 4:00 PM Eastern Register online now at GoTo Meeting!
Fortunately both of these challenges are becoming less and less of an issue. Digital analytics providers are increasingly able to accept page performance data, either directly as in the case of Google Analytics “Site Speed” reports, or indirectly via APIs and other feeds from solutions like Keynote, Gomez, Tealeaf, and others allowing the most widely used digital analytics suites to meaningfully segment against this data on a per-visit and per-visitor basis.