SMBs Sound Off About Web Analytics

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Contents

SMBs Sound Off About Web Analytics 4

Do businesses need Web analytics? 5

How widespread is Web analytics usage among businesses? 7

Problems businesses have with Web analytics 9

How businesses are using big data 11

What businesses can learn from Web analytics 12

Top 15 Web analytics tools 14

Trends in Web analytics for 2014 16

4

SMBs Sound Off About Web Analytics

With the seismic shifts in technology and the free flow of big data in the new millennium, small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are increasingly taking measures to study their website

analytics to enhance their customers’ online experience, improve overall business operations and stay competitive.

5

Why do so many small businesses build Web sites, invest in online marketing campaigns and then devote little or no effort to analyzing the return on their investment?

Do businesses need Web analytics?

Microsoft’s Monte Enbysk doesn’t mince words when he explains why SMBs need Web analytics:

As a small-business owner, you’re not likely to hire a new employee and then become totally clueless as to whether that person ever shows up for work.

You’re also not likely to take on a new partner without some way of tracking the revenues, benefits or efficiencies gained from the relationship. So why do so many small businesses build Web sites, invest in online marketing campaigns and then devote little or no effort to analyzing the return on their investment?”

6

With so much data coming in every day, it may be overwhelming to manage it in a way that makes sense, especially if you’ve had no prior experience analyzing Web metrics. However, website analytics can help you understand your audience and drive your business initiative, and improve customer service, sales, marketing, and other aspects of your business. Phillip Klien, CEO and co-founder of SiteApps, writes in Small Business Trends, “Whether you’re questioning the success of your blog content, wondering if specific content fits better on another page or looking to see which devices viewers use to access your site the most, website analytics are there for you.”

Website analytics can help you understand your audience and drive your business initiative, and improve customer service, sales, marketing, and other aspects of your business

7

How widespread is Web analytics usage among businesses?

Apparently, it could be better. A study of SMB online strategies commissioned by SiteApps and conducted by the Incyte Group in January 2013 showed more than half (54%) were concerned about not keeping up with the technology and lagging behind their competition.

The Wall Street Journal reported in April on some key findings in the SiteApps survey, and questioned the wisdom of uninformed spending:

The survey indicated an overwhelming response from small businesses who say fixing, improving or even totally overhauling their websites will be a major priority in 2013. Given a blank check, 34 percent would choose a new website over all other marketing investments, more than double the response to the second-ranking (15 percent) paid search campaigns. Findings indicate that they may not be setting their websites up for success -- that is, neither offering the information, resources and experience that customers and prospects desire, nor learning about ways to engage and retain visitors.”

8

Other findings included:

¾ 75% did not use an analytics tool (such as Google Analytics) to measure website performance.

¾ 60% do not feel they have the tools to make sense of their site analytics or take action to resolve issues.

¾ 60% do not have a mobile website or know if their website is mobile-compatible.

¾ As a top customer-acquisition tool, email stands at 37%, websites 32%, print media 16%, social media 7%, review sites (Yelp) 4%, and search marketing tools (AdWords) 4%.

¾ 41% plan to focus the majority of online marketing efforts on new design and content for their website, followed by personalizing customer online experience 29%, external website marketing efforts (social media) 18%; and pay-per-click campaigns 12%.

¾ 41% say Facebook is the most effective social media channel to reach customers; 47% chose “none,” LinkedIn 10%, Twitter 2%.

¾ 51% said social media wasn’t a component of their online marketing efforts in 2012.

¾ 49% don’t feel they need to improve their websites; 46% say the website is not a priority.

¾ 59% anticipate spending less than $1,000 on their websites. ¾ 35% will spend between $1,000 and $10,000.

9

Problems businesses have with Web analytics

When the editors of The Drum asked several top-management marketing experts in February 2013, “What’s the biggest challenge for web analytics in 2013?,” here’s what they’ve identified for the year:

¾ The expectation of Web analytics is getting beyond just the Web and the clicks and into “business data that shows the performance of the digital channel in a broader context and how it relates to their customers and their overall value”

¾ “Turning data into insight” -- Understanding the value of content, creating it and improving it

¾ Businesses’ lack of expertise in using the tools and leveraging the data. “No matter how much money and resource you spend buying and implementing analytics, it is only as good as the analysts using it,” said Conrad Bennett, VP of Technical Services EMEA, Webtrends

¾ “Enabling multi-platform unification of all data”

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Mike Shaw, head of media at comScore UK, elaborates on the last point -- the need to unite tracking across all platforms:

Consumers are quickly becoming platform agnostic in their digital media consumption, which comScore refers to as ‘the rise of the Digital Omnivore.’ It’s the pinnacle of convenience for consumers, but an utter headache from an audience measurement and advertising analytics standpoint. Analytics providers need to adapt to this changing digital world to become a trusted resource for understanding cross-platform consumer behaviour...”

Analytics providers need to adapt to this changing digital world to become a trusted resource for understanding cross-platform consumer behaviour.

11

How businesses are using big data

Megan Totka, chief editor for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, notes that tapping into big data to study buying patterns, trends and customer behavior used to be the domain of big business, simply

because it took “a sophisticated system and considerable computing power to sort through all that information and pull something useful out of it.” However, tech advances have made it more accessible and affordable. Now businesses can use big data as their mining center to study customer behavior and improve bottom lines.

Big data is an umbrella term for information collected from every interaction with your business. It could include, Totka says, “an email or tweet, posting to Facebook or a blog, commenting or rating, updating a profile, shopping online, using a cell phone or tablet, even swiping a credit card at a physical store.”

To sift through all this data, extract the useful parts in a format you can understand, and analyze them, you need Web analytics tools.

12

What businesses can learn from Web analytics

Web analytics is more than a tool to tell you how many visitors your website has received this month. Modern Web analytics tools not only can help you monitor and analyze your traffic by tracking the

numbers, but also help you assess visitor behavior and thus evaluate the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts.

Web analytics tools can show:

¾ Search engine rankings and results (which search engines are sending you traffic and which aren’t; how you can improve keywords buys and search engine submissions)

¾ Where the traffic is coming from ¾ Your site’s most and least popular pages ¾ Which operating systems and browsers visitors are using

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You can also track conversions (sales), see which steps led to those sales, which pages work best and which are exited often (and therefore may need better content). You can see what your customers are interested in and what tools they use, which aspects of your online marketing plan aren’t working and which are.

You may be surprised to discover that one of your links is broken or that the newsletter signup you weren’t sure about is bringing in new customers, but that the free product trial you’re offering is not performing as well. For some good tips on how to measure your online marketing efforts, see a post by Francoise Brougher, vice president of SMB Sales and Operations at Google, on the Google and Your Business Blog.

You can see what your customers are interested in and what tools they use, which aspects of your online marketing plan aren’t working and which are.

14

Top 15 Web analytics tools

Google Analytics is currently the most popular website statistics service. According to Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arorawith, more than 10 million websites are counted among its users.

The W3Techs September 2013 survey of the usage of traffic analysis tools for websites shows that Google Analytics has a market share of 80% and is by used more than 55% of the top 10,000 websites.

Among the best features of Google Analytics are that it’s free and easy to use. There also is a premium version for a $150,000 annual fee, with enhanced features and support (check out a comparison chart for Google Analytics and its premium version for more details).

Search Engine Land recommends asking the following four questions when deciding on which tool is right for your business:

¾ Why do I need a different/new tool? ¾ What sort of data do I need this tool to give me? ¾ What actions will be driven by that data? ¾ How, specifically, will I use the data to inform decisions and activities?

15

Here’s a list of the noteworthy Web analytics tools culled from the OPEN Forum and Search Engine Land lists:

1. Google Analytics (free)2. Spring Metrics (free trial, $49 a month)3. Woopra (free trial, several paid options)4. Clicky (free for one website, monthly fee w/Pro plan)5. Mint ($30 per website)6. Chartbeat ($9.95 per month; free trial)7. KISSmetrics (free trial, plans start at $149 a month)8. UserTesting ($39 per tester; up to 100 testers)9. Crazy Egg (prices start at $9 month for 10 Heatmaps)10. Mouseflow (free for one site, up to 100 recorded

sessions; prices start at $13 a month for more)11. IBM Digital Analytics (custom quote)12. IBM’s Unica NetInsight (custom quote)13. iPerceptions (custom quote) 14. Webtrends (custom quote)15. Reinvigorate (free (3 sites, 3 users, 500,000 visitors per

month; paid plans range from $10 to $20 per month for additional limits, custom plans also available).

16

Trends in Web analytics for 2014

It looks like many businesses will continue to integrate online and offline operations, ceasing to view them as separate. This means analytics will continue being multi-channel and cross-channel as big data grows, and

content creation and ownership gets “smarter.”

As the Eye on Analytics Blog advised, in its end-of-year predictions for the digital analytics trends for this year, choose well, and have faith:

One best practice remains eternal when it comes to metrics -- ensuring you choose the right metrics that most clearly, directly and accurately track your business strategies. [...]

Don’t think of your metrics and analytical capabilities in terms of a rearview mirror but rather as a powerful predictive tool that can help you make decisions that drive the business forward. The whole point of investments in analytics and BI (business intelligence) is to identify emerging opportunities, gain advance insights and make decisions that will enable you to shape the future in such a way a that business performance is enhanced.”

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Source: “Why Website Analytics Are Vital For Your Business,” Small Business Trends, 05/22/13

Source: “How a Small Business Can Use Big Data,” Small Business Trends, 05/21/13

Source: “Google Biz Chief: Over 10M Websites Now Using Google Analytics,” TechCrunch, 04/12/12

Source: “Usage of traffic analysis tools for websites,” W3Techs, September 2013

Source: “Survey Reveals Small Businesses Struggling to Keep Up With Web Evolution,” The Wall Street Journal, 04/23/13

Source: “5 reasons to track Web site traffic,” Microsoft.com, undated

Source: “The 10 Smartest Web Analytics Tools,” OPEN Forum/American Express, 07/23/13

Source: “Web Analytics Software Comparison: Identifying The Right Web Analytics Tools For Your Business,” Search Engine Land, 05/10/23

Source: “What’s the biggest challenge for web analytics in 2013?,” The Drum, 02/05/13

Source: “13 Trends Shaping Digital Analytics in 2013,” Eye on Analytics Blog, 12/27/12