Endress|Analytics LLC

Looking Back at 2011, Setting Goals for 2012

By Gabriele on January 1, 2012

A new year has begun and I wanted to do some reflecting on 2011. Personally and professionally speaking, 2011 was a great year for me, and I feel it was a great year for Web Analytics as well. More companies are embracing the concept of making decisions based on data, rather than personal preference, than ever before. Also the expansion from Web Analytics to Digital Measurement is well underway. It’s definitely not just about the Web anymore – with the explosion of smart phones and tablets on the market, and social media still taking the internet by storm, there is no excuse not to measure across all digital media today. If you’re still only measuring your Web analytics, you’re missing the bigger picture.

Within the realm of my consulting business, my 3rd year was a banner year for me. I’ve gone from the realm of just squeaking by to actually earning a comfortable enough income that I can consider retirement savings again (whew – that one had me a bit worried. I am very behind on my retirement savings so I need to catch up!).

In 2011 I averaged 23.5 billable hours per week. I had my share of of peaks (70+ hours) and valleys (1 hour) during the year. In 2012 my goal is to increase that average to 30 billable hours/week, and also to try and smooth out those peaks and valleys as well. Ideally I won’t peak above 50 hours/week too often. Also, with the exception of any vacations I decide to take, I’d like my valleys to not dip below 10 hours/week.

In 2011 I also managed to negotiate myself a 13% “raise” with my clients. This was the first time in 3 years I raised my rates so I was pleased that my clients were open to the increase. I now don’t plan to raise my rates again until 2014. Instead I will focus on trying to get more consistent billable hours per week instead.

Another goal I have for 2012 is to become more proficient with eCommerce. This still is an area I am lacking expertise in. I’ve done some work with eCommerce clients in 2011, but I am hoping to increase that in 2012. I feel quite comfortable working with lead generation and brand awareness focused clients, however I need to continue to push myself out of my comfort zone. I also want to do more digital measurement – tracking mobile apps and social media. As I said earlier, I can’t just focus on the Web anymore.

Just on a personal note, in 2011 I also became engaged to my very wonderful sweetheart. We plan to marry sometime in 2012. My other personal goals for 2012 include trying to get all the little remodeling projects in our house done so we can sell and upgrade (with 2 humans, 2 dogs, 2 cats and an aquarium of fish, this house is starting to feel a little bit cramped!).

What are your goals for 2012? Please share!

Posted in Analytics, Consulting, Digital Measurement, Endress|Analytics, Mobile Analytics, Social Media, Web Analytics | 2 Responses

How to Track Social Media Interactions with Omniture SiteCatalyst

By Gabriele on December 12, 2011

Many sites these days incorporate social media elements – ways to like, tweet, digg – their content. Since these elements live on your website, you should have no problems tracking the interactions your users have with the social media elements on your site.

There are a number of different ways in Omniture* SiteCatalyst to track and capture these interactions.

Traffic Variables

One easy way to track the interactions of the various social media elements on your site is to track them through the SiteCatalyst traffic variables, also known as s.Props. This is fairly straight forward, with just the addition of an onClick event added to the link in each element which would look something like this:

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" data-url="http://somesite.com/pagename.php"
class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" onclick="s.Prop1='Twitter'">Tweet</a>

This will populate your s.Prop1 (Custom Traffic variable 1) and increment on “Twitter”. Similarly if you have a Facebook Like button, you would use

onClick="s.Prop1='Facebook Like'"

s.Props can be used with 2 and 5-item correlations set up in the Admin tool.

Conversion Variables

Similar to using Traffic variables, you can also capture these same social media elements using the conversion variables, or s.eVars. In this case instead of using s.Prop1 you could use s.eVar1:

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" data-url="http://somesite.com/pagename.php"
class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" onclick="s.eVar1='Twitter'">Tweet</a>

In SiteCatalyst 14 and older, conversion variables have some basic subrelations that are typically enabled by default. In version 15, full subrelations are enabled for all eVars by default, or can be enabled by ClientCare in version 14 or lower. In addition to the subrelations, eVars can use s.Events as metrics.

Combination of Custom Events and Conversion Variables

While the previous two methods will give you a count of interactions with your social media elements, and even allow you to correlate and/or have subrelations against other variables within SiteCatalyst, this method would give another way to view the interactions and give you a view on a per-page basis.

This requires you to set up a different s.Event for each type of social media element on your site:

onclick="s.events='event1'"
onclick="s.events='event2'"

Where event1=tweets, event2=likes, and so on.

Then you would set up an eVar to capture your s.pageName

s.evar1=s.pageName

This will allow you to view how many tweets, likes, etc. you are getting, per page. The reason you want to set up the eVar to capture the pageName, is because the out-of-the-box Pages report will not attribute the events accurately per page. For example, if you view 10 pages before “liking” a specific page, each of those pages gets 10% of the credit (or basically increments 0.1 times for that single “like”). This will not happen with the eVar.

Which Method is Right for Me?

The method to choose is entirely dependent on your site, your business requirements, and the KPIs you have defined. Although it may not be a bad idea to use all three methods as I personally find they are all useful to on extent or another, and each gives you a different perspective on how your social media elements are being interacted with. Ultimately I’d recommend just setting up all three methods.

*Omniture is now technically the “Adobe Digital Marketing Suite,” however I find Omniture easier to fit into a sentence.

Posted in Analytics, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Metrics | 1 Response

Being a Tool Agnostic Who Happens to Like Omniture

By Gabriele on December 5, 2011

In order to be a successful independent web analytics consultant, I have to remain tool agnostic. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which tool you use, it’s the trends you find, and analysis you make, that counts. I have worked with clients who use Google Analytics, HBX, Unica, Webtrends, and yes even Omniture SiteCatalyst. I can work within any tool environment and come up with actionable insights, and tell the story behind the data. So at the end of the day the tool I use should never really matter, as long as it gets the job done.

However, with that being said, I will not apologize for being an unabashed fan of the Omniture tools, especially SiteCatalyst. While I am able to do my job with any tool, the one that I personally have had the most positive experience with has been SiteCatalyst. I find the other tools less intuitive to me. I also find them slower loading and with fewer customization and correlation options.

Admittedly until version 15 Omniture was lagging behind by not offering segmentation within SiteCatalyst, and requiring companies to add the extra expense of Discover and/or Data Warehouse in order to get the segmentation data they needed. I will admit SiteCatalyst isn’t perfect, but I just find it a lot more intuitive than a lot of the other tools out there.

I guess in some ways I’m an Omniture fan, very much like the Mac fans out there. You say one little tiny thing about a Mac as a PC person and they love to jump all over you. When I see people putting Omniture down, in what I think is an unfair way, I do like to speak up and share that my experience has been positive. However, I try not to be like the Mac Fanboys and Fangirls who outright insult anyone who doesn’t agree with their point of view (and you Mac fans who do this know who you are).

Lately it feels to me that it’s perfectly cool to bash Omniture, the same way it’s cool to bash Microsoft Windows. However, apparently you violate some sort of social norm if you try and imply that you’re having a positive experience with Omniture (or Windows for that matter), you’re automatically labeled as some kind of douchebag, loser or someone “on the take” from the brand they happen to be advocating? Some of us honestly like these tools and are not afraid to say so.

So I will not apologize when I say, I love using Omniture SiteCatalyst (and heck, yes I also love using Windows!).

Posted in Analytics, Consulting, Omniture, Tools of the Trade | Leave a response

#ACCELERATE Conference Review

By Gabriele on November 23, 2011

Last week I attended the #ACCELERATE conference in San Francisco, California. It was the first type of conference of it’s kind and it was amazing how much they packed into a single day. They promised a “fire hose of learning” and they delivered!

The main presenters each had 20 minutes to provide 10 tips on whichever topic they were presenting on. All the presenters finished on-time and provided a ton of great tips across a wide variety of topics including:

Social Analytics
Monetizing Facebook
Building an Integrated Listening Environment
Mobile Strategy
Tag Management Systems
Creating a Data Driven Organization
Turning Around your Web Analytics Program
Improving your Vendor Relationship
Building a Great Digital Measurement Team

After the main speakers concluded, it was time for the Super Accelerator session. Each Super Accelerator had 5 minutes to focus on one point/topic. The final one of the day was the best (and the speaker won a prize) by doing his entire presentation in rhyme. Some of the topics covered by the Super Accelerators included:

Stop Being a Report Monkey
The Rarity of a True Web Analyst
Sharing the Story Behind the Data
Competitive Facebook Analytics
Web Analytics Career Development
Learning to Say No
Having Unconditional Love for Customers, Co-Workers and Vendors
Media Fragmentation
Benefits of “Freemium” Analytics Tools
Mobile Analytics
Tracking User Behavior while Respecting their Privacy

Here are my top five learnings from the fire-hose of data I was doused with at this conference:

It’s not just about web analytics anymore, it’s about digital measurement (web, mobile, social media, who knows what’s next?)
When marketing on Facebook, use ads, not the wall on your company page. The wall is for engaging with your followers.
Data is dirty. Get over it!
When working with vendors, do not assume they can read your mind!
As consumption of digital content via mobile devices increases, mobile analytics is becoming increasingly critical.

Posted in Analytics, Events, Mobile Analytics, SEM, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Usability, Web Analytics | Leave a response

Endress|Analytics LLC Celebrates 3-Year Anniversary!

By Gabriele on November 11, 2011

Three years ago today I sat in my home office and received confirmation on the successful launching of my new LLC. At the time I wasn’t sure if I’d have any success, but focusing on building business was better than moping around at home and sending out resumes hoping for a full-time position. It gave me a purpose. A reason to get up every morning and reach out, and network with others in my industry – both locally and online.

Success did not come immediately – it took me 5 months to find my first real client. That was the break-through moment for me, when I landed that 8-month project. It was then that I had an inkling that maybe I might be able to make it independently. Then it took another 5 months to find the next client, which led to my doubting that remaining independent would work out.

However, when I landed that client in April, 2010 – that is when I went full-steam ahead with no looking back. That client was an agency who put me on an open-ended contract and as of today is still my primary client. I am very grateful to them as they have helped me sustain my business.

In 2011 my goal was to add a 2nd long-term client, and I am happy to report that I have done just that. Throughout 2011 I’ve had other clients come and go with small projects, but finally in August I signed a long-term contract with another agency who will be able to provide me an endless array of projects.

My goal, looking at 2012, will be to increase my average weekly billable hours. Not that I’m unhappy with the current amount of billable hours I currently average, however I have some personal goals I need to reach and increasing my billable hours with my clients will help me achieve them.

Happy 11-11-11 everyone! I feel almost like the entire world is today celebrating my success!

Posted in Analytics, Consulting, Endress|Analytics, Web Analytics | 1 Response

The Benefits of Being Process Oriented in Web Analytics

By Gabriele on October 28, 2011

When it comes to my work, I have always been a very process oriented person. I find that this serves me very well when it comes to Web Analytics projects, especially in the implementation and testing phases. I’m not alone in finding processes helpful to keep all the complex steps in implementing web analytics getting completed. I know of at least one enterprise analytics company that has developed a very thorough process, and it’s not dissimilar to the process I personally use with my clients.

Let me walk you through a typical implementation from a high-level and you will clearly see why having a detailed process in place before the project begins, will ensure everything is completed on-time.

Requirements Gathering

With any web project, the first step must be gathering requirements from the client. Before I can determine the best KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to track, I need to first understand what the clients’ goals are for the site. Many of the sites I have worked on have been micro-sites with a very clear, specific goal (contact an agent, download a PDF, sign-up for a newsletter). However on larger, more complex sites, there may be multiple goals, and therefore more complex KPIs. I do try and keep the KPIs to 5 or less, no matter how large or complex the site is. If this isn’t possible, I try and consider breaking the site up into sections, and identifying 1-2 KPIs per section.

Since I work with agencies, they often do this part of the process without me and just send me the documented requirements.

Tracking Manifest

Once the requirements have been gathered and the KPIs have been determined, the next phase I always do is put together a detailed tracking manifest. This is a spreadsheet with a list of every page/screen of a site, and every track-able action. I often go through and list every single action and then trim out the detail that isn’t needed. I feel it’s better to list too many actions, than to accidentally miss a few critical ones. Within the manifest I detail out things like the page names, type of action (onLoad, onClick, onSubmit) to be tracked, and any and all custom variables it makes sense to set for each.

Code Implementation

Depending on the client, either I go ahead and do the implementation myself, or I work closely with a developer who will be doing the actual code implementation. In either case the detailed tracking manifest becomes very critical at this stage. Many sites are complex and it can be easy to miss adding the code for a specific custom variable if there isn’t a detailed check-list to help guide you page-per-page. This ensures all the necessary code and code snippets are not missed.

Quality-Assurance (QA) Testing

The final part of the process is doing a thorough round of QA testing. I use my tracking manifest as a test plan as well, and go through every page and action to make sure each step is being tracked originally intended. This requires the site to live in a staging server that is tied into the analytics tool. I like to use a combination of tools to test the implementation. I have a variety of FireFox plugins, a couple of stand-alone code debuggers (Charles and Fiddler 2) and the analytics tool itself that I look at during a QA test.

So as you can tell any analytics implementation can be quite complex, and without a detailed process in place, things can quickly go wrong and delay or even derail the project. Make sure you have your ducks in a row ahead of time and you will increase your chance of a smooth and successful implementation.

Posted in Analytics, Consulting, Endress|Analytics, Web Analytics | Leave a response

Campaign Analytics 101

By Gabriele on July 26, 2011

One of the most traditional ways to get the word out about a company, product or service is advertising. It started with print, then radio, television and finally the web. Each of these media are still being used today as advertising vehicles, and tracking the various ways ads are presented to the consumer can be daunting, especially to analysts who have no experience with offline media.

To that end I want to provide a few simple things that I feel are essential for any campaign you want to track, online or offline.

Unique URLs

It doesn’t matter which analytics tool you use, unique URLs are bottom-line the most important way to track any campaign. With online campaigns this is fairly simple – just add a unique ID to the URL from the banner ad, PPC campaign, etc. A common way to do this is:

http://www.yoursite.com/landing.html?uid=google_ppc_july2011

The unique string after the ?uid= can be anything, and can even be as cryptic as “40z782osp” if you want. This can always be deciphered later by your analytics tool.

If you are running an offline campaign (print, radio, TV), you really don’t want to use such an awkward URL, but you do want to track any traffic that comes in from the ad so you can measure the effectiveness and the ROI from your campaign. The best way to do this is either through a unique domain name (www.yourcampaignsite.com), or a subdomain (campaignsite.yoursite.com).

Your offline campaigns need a URL, that while unique, is easy for your target audience to remember. If not they may use search to find the company, product or service you were advertising about instead.

Landing Pages

When you are running a campaign, you may be tempted to send people to your site’s home page or another existing page on your site. This is not necessarily a bad practice, but I would recommend designing a special landing page for your campaign visitors to go to. The landing page will be relevant to the ad and include a single call-to-action. The call-to-action should be to send the customer to the primary goal of the campaign (print a coupon, buy a book, download a whitepaper, contact a sales agent, etc.).

This will help focus your customer on the conversion you wish to achieve with the campaign. If they just go to a normal page on your site they can easily be distracted by all the other content and navigation, and never make it to the part of the site you really wanted to drive them to.

There are many more theories and best practices that can be employed to make your campaigns a success, but these are the top things I always make sure are part of any campaign I’m helping to set up and/or analyze.

Differentiating Campaign from Organic Traffic

Naturally there will always be some customers who will be driven to the site by the campaign, but opt to use search instead anyway. During an on-going campaign you should see if there is any increase in organic search or direct traffic to your site. The percentage of increase there may also be considered part of your campaign traffic.

Tracking from your unique URL should also have been set up ahead of time to go into it’s own campaign report. The way this is set up differs between each analytics tool, but they can all recognize any of the mentioned unique URL methods.

Posted in Analytics, Online Marketing | Leave a response

Website Owners, Check Your Mobile Stats!

By Gabriele on July 17, 2011

As a tablet computer owner I am finding some sites difficult to use. Not because they use Flash (I have an Android tablet), but because they insist on forcing me to view the “mobile” version of their site. Some sites do offer the option to swithc to their “full” or “desktop” version, but often I have to re-select this on every page. Other sites never even give me this option, and I find the mobile versions of their sites both unattractive, and limited, when using my tablet.

Mobile optimized web sites are awesome when I am browsing with my phone, but once you use a 10.1″ tablet, they really are less than ideal. Tablet optimized may also be an option depending on how whiz-bang your site is, but often my tablet can handle the full version of most sites.

When looking at the mobile stats for my clients over the past two quarters I noticed a significant increase in tablet traffic to their sites. To that end I have begun reporting on those stats so they are aware and can make the appropriate business decisions for those users. I am recommending to all of them to either serve the full versions of their sites to anyone running Android 3.0 or higher, developing a tablet optimized version, or at the very least including the option to switch to the full site if they wish. In addition I am recommending if they choose the 3rd option, to place a cookie to remember that option, so as the user navigates the site, they are not brought back to the mobile version with every click to a new page.

I highly recommend anyone reading this post to check the mobile stats for your site, if you are not already doing so, and start thinking about options for the tablet computer users who visit your site.

Posted in Analytics, Mobile Analytics, Recommendations, Web Analytics | 1 Response