There is still a lot of catching up to do in web analytics

WEBANALYTICS Whether it's a website, online advertising or search engine marketing, the advantage of online marketing measures is that they generally generate a lot of data. However, analyzing this data is associated with many challenges. On the one hand, web analytics is about collecting and evaluating data with the right tools. On the other hand, it is crucial to use the insights gained to optimize marketing measures. This is where many marketing managers reach their limits. A study conducted by etracker GmbH in collaboration with Research Now shows the uncertainty that prevails among marketers with regard to web analytics. In April 2015, 200 marketing decision-makers from German companies with more than 50 employees were surveyed on the topic of web analytics. This revealed that web analytics data is not on the marketers' agenda. The majority of respondents, 42 percent, check the system once a month. A quarter do so once a quarter. Only two out of ten companies monitor visitor data, clicks and conversions on a weekly basis. It does not matter which web analysis tool is used. The biggest problems are a lack of know-how and a lack of time. Four out of ten marketing decision-makers are overwhelmed by the task of deriving optimization measures from web analytics data. Just as many state that they lack knowledge of the interaction between the individual key figures. A third do not evaluate the data due to a lack of time.Pent-up demand for optimizationIn general, the study shows that the greatest need to catch up is in the optimization of marketing measures based on web analytics. Four out of ten SMEs only use data from web analytics for internal reporting. One in four respondents stated that they use analysis data rather half-heartedly for optimization measures. And just a third use the data from web analytics completely to improve their website and online marketing campaigns. The fact that the optimization of the website with web analytics data falls short is shown by the answer to the question of what the respective web analytics tool is used for and how intensively. Only one in two uses the system for A/B testing or satisfaction surveys. Around two thirds analyze their online marketing campaigns, improve the user-friendliness of the site or carry out in-depth analyses of navigation paths, visitor groups or similar. Simple key figures, on the other hand, such as visitor numbers, entry pages, end device usage or download figures, are monitored by 80 percent of respondents. Analyze, test, optimizeAccording to Olaf Brandt, Managing Director of etracker GmbH, the most common mistake made by companies is that they do nothing with the data they collect with the web analysis tool. "Anyone who only uses the data from web analytics for reports and statistics is throwing money out the window," says Brandt. "The principle must always be: 'analyze, test, optimize'." A typical pitfall is optimization without prior testing. "This rarely works because the optimization is based on a sheer assumption," says Brandt. A/B testing is a tried and tested method. This involves playing out several website variants to visitors and testing them against each other. "But you can get a lot wrong with this too," warns Brandt. "Website optimization is a task that should not only be undertaken once a year, but continuously. Through analysis and testing, website operators can ensure that only promising measures are implemented."

41% use the analysis data exclusively for internal reporting. Only 30 percent have a systematic optimization process.Focus on peopleAccording to Dominik Schaetz from schaetz cro, an agency specializing in web analysis and conversion rate optimization, web analysts are increasingly focusing on people. This means that the trend is moving away from reporting figures to describing user behavior. "In our view, this development is long overdue and should be pursued with even greater commitment, because it can lay the foundation for real efficiency gains in online marketing and in the user experience on websites," says Schaetz, who notes that web analysts are far too often satisfied with reporting the figures required from above. "In doing so, however, they miss out on the opportunities offered by web analytics when the focus is on user behavior and the goal is not to deliver an Excel sheet, but concrete recommendations for action with a quantitative and qualitative assessment of their impact," says Schaetz. "Unfortunately, companies or their analysts just as often capitulate to the complexity of human behavior. They look for simple patterns that often don't even exist." Many players still lack the willingness and knowledge to structure this complexity and derive concrete optimizations from it.Understanding the customerFor Stefan Oglesby, CEO of the Link Institute for Market and Social Research, the reference to real people is also crucial for the validity of the collected data. "Without this connection, we often draw premature, non-statistically validated conclusions from the data," warns Oglesby. "Web analytics is therefore less and less about impression and click rates and more about understanding customers and offering them real added value." This requires the inclusion of customer research. "Only through integration with structured and targeted data can you draw conclusions and new hypotheses from web analytics that you can use to improve your product, be it a website or an online campaign. This requires interface-capable data or, even better, a solution from a single source," says Oglesby. Link recommends regularly verifying this data in addition to using classic web analysis tools. Be it using web analysis tools based on real people or classic surveys that can collect additional KPIs that are not available through pure web analyses.Quality is in demandOglesby sees three areas that will become increasingly important in web analytics in the future. On the one hand, it is generally about getting to know the individual user better. Who is he? What interests do they have? What products do they buy regularly? When do they use their PC and when their smartphone or tablet? "The customer benefit should be the focus when optimizing a website," says Oglesby. "This requires data that is based on real people." The Link CEO mentions "cross-device tracking" as a second trend, i.e. recognizing individual users on their various devices. "Mobile traffic is becoming increasingly important. Using a panel approach, the various devices can be assigned to a user." Ultimately, Oglesby is convinced that quality will prevail. "In the early days of web analytics, a lot of data was collected, but some of it was of dubious quality," says Oglesby. This is why web analytics is increasingly relying on the methods and statistical calculations of traditional market research. This includes calculations of universes and samples for comparability with classic TV GRPs and statistical analyses to cope with the large amount of data. "High-quality data is essential for success." Dominik Schaetz from schae tz cro sees the challenge of the future in mapping and understanding all touchpoints with the customer. "Web analytics will become part of business intelligence," says Schaetz. "To achieve this, existing data silos will have to be broken down and the existing data linked in a meaningful way. Above all, however, we will need many more talented and well-trained analysts to be able to derive truly profitable instructions from the amount of available data."Author: Simon Wolanin