Archive for 'Web Analytics Demystified Partners'

I am very sorry to say that our European partner Aurelie Pols has decided to leave Web Analytics Demystified and pursue other goals in her life. While I am very sad to announce this, I have certainly enjoyed working with Aurelie over the past year and on behalf of myself, my family, and our partner John Lovett we wish Aurelie, Rene, and little Luca all the best.

Anyone who has read my blog for long knows that I am passionate about two things in web analytics: process and people. Process is the glue that holds all the hard work we do as analysts together and allows our effort to translate into tangible business value. But without a doubt it is the people who are absolutely critical to any businesses ability to compete and succeed on web analytics.

Unfortunately people, especially really good ones, are incredibly hard to find. So much so that my partners and I have invested heavily in creating an entirely new way for novice and veteran analytics practitioners alike to gain valuable “hand’s on” experience using data to answer business questions, The Analysis Exchange.

While the Analysis Exchange has exceeded every single short-term milestone we have established for the effort, it has long been clear to my partners and I that training alone is not enough to satisfy the immediate needs of businesses working to take advantage of their existing investment in web Analytics. Companies need analytical talent now, not a year from now, not in six months, right now.

Why the urgency? Myriad reasons. The money has been spent on technology, the clock is ticking, the promises have been made, offline revenues are in decline and the company’s digital channels are the hope and future and difference between profitability and not.

The web analytics promise is real — companies that have become adept at generating analytically-driven insights and then translating those insights into sound business decisions have staked a clear competitive advantage. The giants of our industry — brilliant people like Joe Megibow, Dylan Lewis, Shari Cleary, and Lynn Lanphier <plug>all of whom are coming to the X Change conference in September, are you?</plug> — have not only determined the value of people but have also figured out how to convince management of that value.

Have you? Most companies have not.

Most companies persist in their belief that web and digital analytics is something that they can do “part time” and still have the successes that Intuit, Expedia, MTV, Best Buy, and others gain by hiring brilliant people, giving them clear direction, and recognizing the value of the analytical output they produce. Despite being well-intentioned, far too many managers still believe that software alone will provide insights and make recommendations.

But I digress.

Because we at Web Analytics Demystified believe in people and process so strongly, and because we are pretty confident in our consulting as it relates to process, we have decided to put our money where our mouths are and start helping companies fill their open positions for “web analyst, senior.” Today we are extremely proud to announce our first-of-it’s-kind partnership with the web analytics community’s leading recruiting firm, IQ Workforce.

Working directly with Workforce CEO Corry Prohens and his team, Web Analytics Demystified has crafted a “one-two” punch to help speed the process of finding, vetting, and hiring the kind of deep talent and teams required to take complete advantage of any investment in digital measurement technology. The Demystified partners and IQ Workforce will help you determine exactly which roles you need to fill, what strengths the ideal candidate will have, and how hired resources will fit into the organization that both creates business value and a satisfying experience for the analyst (which has a surprisingly positive impact on retention!)

In essence Web Analytics Demystified with our 30+ years of experience in web analytics will sit on your hiring panel and help you find and hire the critical difference between “web analytics as a cost center” and “web analytics as a profit center.”

Did we mention we will do it for a fixed price and in a way that allows most companies to circumvent HR’s aversion to “outside help?”

If you’re looking for an analytics guru for your organization, give us a call. We are more than happy to explain how this partnership creates a dramatic advantage for most companies, and would love to talk with you about our business and our partners at IQ Workforce. In the meantime please have a look at our press release on the announcement and more details about the offering:

• Read the press release about this partnership
• Read about our Staffing and Resource Allocation offering

Thanks to Corry and his team for making this idea a reality. On behalf of IQ Workforce and the Demystified Partners we look forward to helping you with your staffing needs.

Now that Emetrics West is behind us, and what an Emetrics it was this year, Web Analytics Demystified and Semphonic officially start to ramp up our efforts to get the best of the best of you to join us for three days in Monterey September 20, 21, and 22. While I am excited about the entire event, I am particularly excited about our keynote offering this year titled “A Conversation with Management.”

Because the X Change draws so many expert practitioners, managers, and directors of web analytics my general feeling has always been that we should be programming for “lifers” in the field, looking for opportunities to help participants expand their career horizons. Our “Conversation with Management” keynote is a conversation with three of the most successful web analytics professionals I personally know:

• Shari Cleary, Vice President of Digital Research at MTV Networks
• Joe Megibow, Vice President of Global Analytics at Expedia.com
• Steve Bernstein, Vice President of Analytics at Myspace

I have personally known Shari, Joe, and Steve for years and have had the great honor of watching each progress up the management chain, taking an increasing amount of responsibility with each step. Now all three of our keynote participants represent web analytics at the highest levels within each of their organizations, an incredible feat when you consider the footprint MTV, Expedia, and Myspace have on the Internet.

During our keynote I will be leading the panel to explore common “lifer” challenges including staffing, vendor management, the balance between reporting and analysis, their relationship with senior-most management, and the importance of business process to each of their jobs. My goal will be to get each to share details regarding their own career path in hopes those insights will help X Change attendees accelerate their own goals.

You can learn more about the 2010 X Change on our micro-site for the conference:

• The 2010 X Change conference schedule
• Hotel information for the Monterey Plaza Resort and Spa
• Details about Web Analytics Demystified’s Think Tank offerings
• Our X Change Frequently Asked Questions document
• Registration for the 2010 X Change in Monterey, CA September 20, 21, and 22

If you have questions about the conference please don’t hesitate to give any of the Web Analytics Demystified partners a call or email. Remember that the conference is limited to the first 100 people who register and registration has already started.

See you at the X Change!

A few weeks ago I started pinging folks within the digital measurement community asking about the work we do, the challenges we face, and how we got where we are today. The responses I got were all tremendously positive and showed a true commitment to web analytics across vendor, consultant, and end-user practitioner roles. What I learned was, well, exactly what I expected given my decade-plus in the sector: “web analytics” is still a relatively immature industry, one populated by diverse opinions, experiences, and backgrounds.

Those of you who have been following my work know that I have spent a great deal of time working to create solutions for the sector. As a matter of record I was the first to create an online community for web analytics professionals and explicitly point out the need for dedicated analysis resources back in 2004, and the first to publish a web analytics maturity model and change how web analytics practitioners interact with their local community back in 2005. I’ve also written a few books, a few blog posts, and have logged a few miles in the air working with some amazing companies to improve their own use of web analytics.

I offer the preceding paragraph not to brag but rather to establish my credentials as part of setting the stage for what the rest of this post is about. Like many in web analytics — Jim Sterne, Avinash Kaushik, and Bryan Eisenberg all come to mind — I have worked tirelessly at times to evolve and improve the landscape around us. And with the following announcement I hope to have lightning strike a fourth time …

But I digress.

One of the key questions I asked in Twitter was “how did you get started [in web analytics?]” Unsurprisingly each and every respondent gave some variation on “miraculously, and without premeditation.” While people’s responses highlighted the enthusiasm we have in the sector, it also highlighted what I see as the single most significant long-term problem we face in web analytics.

We haven’t created an entry path into the system.

As a community of vendors, consultants, practitioners, evangelists, authors, bloggers, Tweeters, socializers, and thought-leaders, we have failed nearly 100% at creating a way for talented, motivated, and educated individuals who are “not us” to gain the real-world experience required to actually participate meaningfully in this wonderful thing that we have all created.

Before the comments about the Web Analytics Association UBC classes or the new certification pour in consider this: The UBC course offers little or no practical experience with real data and real-world business problems, and the certification is designed, as stated, “for individuals having at least three years of experience in the sector.” Both are incredibly valuable, but they are not the type of training the average global citizen wishing to apply their curiosity, their precision, and their individual talents to the study of web data need to actually get a good job coming from outside the sector.

And while I have little doubt people have landed jobs based on completion of the UBC course given the resource constraints we face today, as a former hiring manager and consultant to nearly a dozen companies who are constantly looking for experienced web analysts, I can assure you that book-based education is not the first requirement being looked for. Requirement number one is always, and always will be, direct, hands-on experience using digitally collected data to tell a meaningful story about the business.

Today I am incredibly happy to announce my, my partners, and some very nice people’s solution to this problem. At 6:30 PM Eastern time at the Web Analytics Wednesday event in Cambridge, Massachusetts my partner John Lovett shared the details of our newest community effort, The Analysis Exchange.

What is The Analysis Exchange?

The Analysis Exchange is exactly what it sounds like — an exchange of information and analytical outputs — and is functionally a three-partner exchange:

• At one corner we have small businesses, nonprofits, and non-governmental organizations who rarely if ever make any substantial use of the web analytic data most are actively collecting thanks to the amazing wonderfulness of Google Analytics;
• In the next corner we have motivated and intelligent individuals, our students, who are looking for hands-on experience with web analytics systems and data they can put on their resume during when looking for work or looking to advance in their jobs;
• And at the apex of the pyramid we have our existing community of analytics experts, many of whom have already demonstrated their willingness to contribute to the larger community via Web Analytics Wednesday, the WAA, and other selfless efforts

The Analysis Exchange will bridge the introductions between these three parties using an extremely elegant work-flow. Projects will be scoped to deliver results in weeks, effort from businesses and mentors is designed to be minimal, and we’re working on an entire back-end system to seamlessly connect the dots. And have I already mentioned that it will do so without any money changing hands?

Yeah, The Analysis Exchange is totally, completely, 100 percent free.

John, Aurelie, and I decided early on, despite the fact that we are all consultants who are just as motivated by revenue as any of our peers, that the right model for The Analysis Exchange would be the most frictionless strategy possible. Given our initial target market of nonprofits and non-governmental organizations, most of whom our advisers from the sector warned were somewhat slow to invest in technology and services, “free” offered the least amount of friction possible.

Businesses bring data and questions, mentors bring focus and experience, and students bring a passion to learn. Businesses get analysis and insights, students gain experience for their resume, and mentors have a chance to shape the next wave of digital analysis resources … resources the mentor’s organizations are frequently looking to hire.

More importantly, our mentors will be teaching students and businesses how to produce true analytical insights, not how to make Google Analytics generate reports. Our world is already incredibly data rich, but the best of us are willing to admit that we are still also incredibly information poor. Students will be taught how to actually create analysis — a written document specifically addressing stated business needs — and therein lies the true, long-term value to our community.

Too many reports, not enough insights. This has been the theme of countless posts, a half-dozen great books, and nearly every one of the hundred consulting engagements I have done in the past three years. The Analysis Exchange is a concerted effort to slay the report monkeys and teach the “analysts” of the future to actually produce ANALYSIS!

A few things you might want to know about The Analysis Exchange (in addition to the FAQ we have up on the official web site):

• Initially we will be limiting organizational participants to nonprofit and non-governmental entities. We are doing this because we believe this approach simultaneously provides the greatest benefit back beyond the web analytics community and provides a reasonable initial scope for our efforts. Plus, we’ve partnered with NTEN: the Nonprofit Technology Network who are an amazing organization of their own;
• Initially we will be hand-selecting mentors wishing to participate in the program. Because we are taking a cautious approach towards the Exchange’s roll-out in an effort to learn as much as possible about the effort as it unfolds, we are going to limit mentor opportunities somewhat. Please do write us if you’re interested in participating, and please don’t be hurt if we put you off … at least for a month or two;
• With the previous caution in mind, we are definitely open to help from the outside! If you have experience with this type of effort or just have a passion for helping other people please let us know. Just like with Web Analytics Wednesday, we know that when The Analysis Exchange gets cranking we will need lots and lots of help;

Because this post is beginning to approach the length at which I typically tune out myself I will stop here and point readers to three resources to learn more about The Analysis Exchange:

1. We have a basic, informational web site at http://www.analysis-exchange.com that has a nice video explaining the Exchange model in a little greater detail;
2. You can email us directly at exchange@webanalyticsdemystified.com for more information or to let us know if you’re willing to help with Exchange efforts;
3. You can follow Exchange efforts in Twitter by following @analysisxchange

As you can probably detect from the post I’m pretty excited about this effort. Like I did when I co-founded Web Analytics Wednesday, I have some amazing partners on this project. And like I did when I founded the Yahoo! group, I believe this effort will satisfy an incredible pent-up demand. Hopefully you will take the time to share information about The Analysis Exchange with your own network, and as always I welcome your thoughts, comments, and insights.

Learn more at http://www.analysis-exchange.com

As usual, Gary Angel has beaten me to the punch, this time with his great post about the conversation leaders we’ve announced for the 2008 X Change conference. The full line-up is included further down in this post, and you can read the press release in PDF format from the Semphonic site or download this PDF invitation to the conference more suitable for printing.

Since folks have been asking me via email what is really different about X Change, primarily to help make the case to management to attend the conference, and at the risk of sounding redundant, here are three great reasons to consider attending the conference:

1. X Change is an “expert user” conference, and we’re doing everything we can to create tremendous value for expert users. Everyone coming to the event — the conversation leader’s we’ve invited, the consulting and thought-leaders we’re bringing to the event, and the select list of senior people from the vendors — has years of experience in web analytics. Their experience, combined with those of the 100 attendees, is designed to help those of you working on the cutting edge in web analytics get your concerns addressed and your questions answered.
2. The conversational format is designed to allow every attendee share their ideas and ask their questions, making X Change a very participatory “Web 2.0″ conference. There is nothing wrong with sitting and listening — when you want to sit and listen. But the explosion of web analytics blogs, the growth of the Web Analytics Forum, and the number of web analytics folks on Twitter suggest that a bunch of us actually want to participate. X Change is the conference for the participants.
3. We have a plan to allow you to share the insights you gain with your team back home. One of the chief complaints at last year’s conference was “I wanted to attend every session!” To help share the insights gleaned in each conversation, and help paint a picture of the industry today and where it is heading, after the event we will be publishing the “Proceedings of the Second Annual X Change Conference” document, free to all conference attendees.

If you’re still wondering about the value of the conference, or need more ideas to sell a luxurious stay at San Francisco’s Ritz Carlton to your manager, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly and we can chat.

The conference theme this year is “People, Process, and Technology” — the three-legged stool that all of our web analytics efforts rest upon — and we’ve broken the conversations down into similar groupings. We will have full descriptions of the conversations available online very soon but here are the leaders, their companies, and the general topics they will be discussion.

PEOPLE

• Steve Bernstein (PayPal): Getting Analysts to Produce Analysis and Getting the Business to Listen
• Megan Burns (Forrester Research): Building the Business Case for Change
• Bill Gassman (Gartner): Evolving Your Use of Analytics
• John Lovett (JupiterResearch): Industry Standards or a Lack Thereof
• Bob Page (Yahoo!): Web Analytics and Data Privacy

PROCESS

• Steve Bernstein (PayPal): Driving Visitors Up the Value Chain
• Dennis Bradley (Charles Schwab): Bridging the Gap from Web Analytics to Marketing
• Marston Gould (Classmates.com): Where Does Web Analytics Stop and Customer Analytics Start?
• Linda Hetcher (Avaya): Searching for Success with SEO and SEM
• Dylan Lewis (Intuit): Campaign Analysis and Attribution Modeling: Dangerous Assumptions
• Dylan Lewis (Intuit): Establishing a Web Analytics Center of Excellence
• John Lovett (JupiterResearch): Data Integration: Myths and Realities
• John Rosato (IBM): B2B Analytics: Challenges and Opportunities
• Rachel Scotto (Sony Pictures Imageworks Interactive): Integrating Online and Offline (Market Research) Data
• Michael Wexler (Yahoo!): Web Analytics for Brand Marketers

TECHNOLOGY

• Dennis Bradley (Charles Schwab): Justifying the Need for Advanced Visualization Tools
• David Cronshaw (MSN/Microsoft): Emerging Trends in Online Video: Measurement, Monetization, and Mobilization
• David Cronshaw (MSN/Microsoft): The Metrics of Video: Cost per Engagement and Beyond!
• Jim Hassert (AOL): Analytics Across the Enterprise
• Jim Hassert (AOL): Managing Expectations: Panel-Based and Census-Based Methodologies
• Seth Holladay (Rodale Publishing): Slicing and Dicing Visitors: Segmentation Strategies
• Seth Holladay (Rodale Publishing): Tracking Non-Traditional Conversion Events
• Judah Phillips (Reed Business Interactive): Building a Successful Web Analytics Team
• Judah Phillips (Reed Business Interactive): Knowing When You’ve Outgrown Your Current Web Analytics Solution
• Ron Pinsky (AIG): Data Collection: Implementation, Utility, and Ongoing Integrity
• Ron Pinsky (AIG): Integrating Customer Experience and Marketing Data with Web Analytics
• Bob Schukai (Turner Broadcasting): The Mobile Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
• Bob Schuka (Turner Broadcasting)i: Mobile Technology: Development, Deployment, and Measurement
• Rachel Scotto (Sony Pictures Imageworks Interactive): Measuring Web 2.0: Widgets, Gadgets, and Social Networks
• Jared Waxman (Intuit): Using Real-time Survey to Improve the Customer Experience
• Jared Waxman (Intuit): Competitive Intelligence Tools and Methodologies
• Michael Wexler (Yahoo!): Mobile Marketing, Mobile Measurement
• David Yoakum (The Gap): Measuring Web 2.0: Interactions, Events, and Consumer Generated Content
• David Yoakum (The Gap): Using Web Analytics to Inform Personalization and Remarketing Efforts

If you’re a long-time reader of my blog and you’re really interested in web analytics I would very much encourage you to consider the conference: read Gary’s post, download this PDF invitation to the conference, or email me directly so we can talk about how the conference might benefit you and your organization.