Getting Analytical about Analytics
I suspect this topic has been written about excessively, however it was one of the Ninth Store team’s objectives in 2011 to really dive into analytics.
As such several members of the team pull reports out of Google Analytics and format the reports into a PDF that can be shared with a wider group on a weekly basis. Some data points are watched weekly others are only compiled once a month. None the less there is an easy to read format for over thirty people in the organization to review (including executives). Many of which have minimal or no understanding of web stats.
There are several reasons why this is being done:
1) What gets measured gets managed
2) To react to what is working and what is not working in real time and adjust on the fly
3) To provide a measurement of how the websites are doing in relation to the traffic goals
4) To educate the team and provide a common language or points of reference when discussing, reviewing and delving into the online goals
5) To find out what we don’t know
Let me expand on the above points:
One and two fit together. By reviewing weekly various data points that are important to our businesses, we actively try to improve upon the stats. When you measure something and attach importance to it, the team pays attention. We pay attention by reacting to results and tweaking accordingly. If something works we can cascade that across the websites. If it doesn’t we can tweak or put efforts elsewhere. We can test and see which wording creates the most conversions and so on and on and on…
Three: We have annual goals in regards to traffic; visitors, unique visitors, time on site, page views, sales…you know the big ones. The team can watch the trending on a weekly basis by reviewing the stats. This keeps the eye on the ball so to speak and everyone understanding and working towards our big goals.
Four: Having the entire team understanding and pouring over the analytics equals greater insights. How? Well besides the simple fact of more and differing opinions creates greater coverage and enriching debate. The team at Flaman is not comprised of web experts but product and service subject matter experts. The very lack of expertise on the web creates an environment of questions. For the few experts leading sometimes those questions create insights that were being overlooked. Insights that would of never occurred without creating a base of common understanding for review and debate.
Five: You do not know what you don’t know until you know it. Huh? This oxymoron I believe is the most important part of getting analytical with analytics. You may be an industry veteran and believe you know the trends. Well times change and while it seems common that in today’s world everyone excepts that …you do not know how much you don’t know until you start looking for it. Running ad words can tell you how much something in your industry is being searched for by the general public, and then you can compare this to your sites keywords. Let me tell you we have had several revelations from this tactic. Being the biggest industry player in our region, we always thought we had a good handle on what the public wants. Gosh! Were we wrong in some cases, and by looking we have been able to adjust our retail strategy accordingly. Just because you are a subject matter expert does not mean you know everything. Do not be complacent!
So what is it that you do not know?
Steve Whittington is President of Roadmap Agency Inc. He has also served for over a decade as a member of the Executive Team of Flaman Group of Companies an award-winning organization and has over 25 years of executive experience. Steve’s current board work includes serving as; President of Glenora Child Care Society; and Co-Chair of the Marketing Program Advisory Committee for NAIT’s JR Shaw School of Business. Previous notable board work included, Chair of the board for Flaman Fitness Canada, a national retailer, a Director for a meal prep internet Startup Mealife and Chair of Lethbridge Housing authority, the third-largest Social housing NGO in Alberta.
Academically, Steve was an instructor of Project Management at Lethbridge College for seven years. Steve holds a Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree; he is a Certified Sales Professional (CSP), Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Marketing Specialist (CMS) and (CCXP) Certified Customer Experience Professional.
Steve’s first book Thriving in the Customer Age – 8 Key Metrics to Transform your Business Results teaches about the customer journey and provides a guiding framework spanning all stages of the customer experience. The book explains how every metric impacts an organization and how leaders can best utilize each metric to provide a stellar customer experience. Everyone knows the customer is the most important part of a business. This book provides the tools to improve an organization’s customer experience and drastically transform business results.
Recently Steve’s Blog has been profiled as one of the Top 75 Customer Experience blogs
Topic: Analytics, Blogs, Flaman, Google, Marketing Series, Measured And Managed