Still running Web Analytics 1.0? Time to get into 2.0 and 3.0 gear!

I came across a great presentation today from Eric Peterson of WebAnalyticsDemystified.com.  He and his organization are crazy-expert specialists in Web analytics.  Now, this isn’t really my field (truth be told, numbers and reports make my eyes glaze over a bit).  But!  What excited me about Eric’s presentation is the framing of the questions that he recommends we ask as marketers moving from a Web 1.0 to a Web 2.0 and even into a Web 3.0 world.

Peterson gives us the context of the typical interaction of a Web 1.0 customer:


He then maps the paths of a Web 2.0 customer, showing the complexity of entry path (direct access, RSS feed, email, widget) and subsequent activity:

In trying to create a shift to 2.0 analytics, Eric discusses how ANALYSIS is the desired outcome, not reports (good news for me!).  To quote him:

Waaaaaay too much emphasis is put on generating reports in web analytics

• Reports are a necessary evil

• But they are still evil

Analyze what you need to drive your business up the RAMP

• Recommendations, not reports

• Insights, not indicators

• Analysis driving actions!

If you’re not doing some type of testing, you’re not doing web analytics!  It doesn’t matter if you’re doing multivariate testing or simple A/B testing, as long as you’re testing!

He then offers a number of key questions that different parties who have a stake in a web business should be asking:

Site Operators: What site performance issues lead to low customer satisfaction?

Bloggers: What content aggregators and referrers drive the most subscriptions?

Product Manufacturer: What ads drive the most complete downloads of a product or driver?

Designers and Programmers: Why and where do visitors struggle using our RIAs?

Content Providers: What is the most popular story across our entire network today?

Online Marketers: Where do our most engaged visitors come from?

Finally, he takes a crack at some of the unique challenges and opportunities of Web 3.0 (for Peterson, Web 3.0 is mobile):

Web 3.0 will be about mobile computing  – All the same problems on smaller screens with different usability challenges, potentially without JavaScript and cookies …
But Web 3.0 will create unique opportunities:

• Every request for information could be tied to a good unique ID

• Every request for information could be coupled with a geographic location

And with that information, we can ask new questions:

• Which of our stores was the visitor in or near when they came to our site?

• What offers do we have in the visitor’s neighborhood at work or at home?

• Can the visitor’s location or demographic profile be used to disambiguate search?

Eric’s full presentation is available on his company’s website.  This content is taken from the Keynote at SEMphonic Change from Sept 20, 2007.