Analysis comes from the Greek word analysis, and means as much as “research and break up”. Breaking up is exactly what is necessary to come to grips with massive amount of Marketing intelligence data that online marketing generates. As Web analytics guru Avinash Kaushik said “averages hide the truth”, and only by segmentation can you find actionable insights. These insights drive value to your company, and that’s what optimizing is all about.

Analytics

Most companies start the analysis with the implementation of a web analytics tool, leaving the overall goal an afterthought. This leads to so called report surfing, where the user wanders aimlessly through the data. Although web analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Yahoo! Webanalytics offer sophisticated reporting and numerous ways of segmentation, they will never tell you what information is vital for your success. Business objectives and key performance indicators must be set by humans to pinpoint critical areas of performance and guide your analysis.

Insights do not appear in your reports simply by segmentation. Analysis is a task that must be performed by people. Before you select a tool, it is imperative you know exactly what to look for. Look for information that really impacts your performance, information that lets you optimize your results.

Key Performance Indicators

These bits of information are known as Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs.

KPIs give you an indication of your progress towards your objectives, and are associated with processes you control. They are key elements on your Dashboards, and can be simply described as: “the most important metrics from my web analytics tool”. They are those metrics that have a direct impact on the bottom line.

A business objective could be an x amount of turnover, and a KPI is a metric which you can influence to reach that goal. Take conversion rate, an important KPI for any e-commerce business. It can be controlled by selecting the right keywords in your campaigns, or by performing Conversion optimization on your site.

Strategy

Just as KPIs are determined by your tactical objectives, objectives are determined by your strategy. A quote from Sun Tzu’s Art of War applies here:

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”.

This quote stresses the need to give thought to the direction of your business, where a long-term plan should guide your current actions.

Key Takeaways

• Marketing Intelligence is what you need to improve your business performance
• Defining KPIs to determine the results of your marketing effort is important
• Setting KPIs is a human effort and not something that your tool does

So, what can we do for you?

Strategy ultimately decides which metrics drive value for your company. Web analytics provides the means to measure, analyze and optimize them. Analysis without objectives is pointless, and objectives that don’t support a strategy will never bring you long-term success.

We can help you determine the right KPIs and align them with your overall business strategy. We can also help you select the right web analytics package and make sure you get maximum value from your investment.

Contact us now and get your analysis and optimization on the right track!