Introduction to Web Analytics
Web analytics is commonly described as the practice of using methods and tools to understand how visitors interact with your website, and how they respond to your marketing, outreach, acquisition, and merchandising strategies.
Your enterprise invests time and effort in its Web presence. Web analytics
attempts to answer, “How are we doing?”
Let's look at some definitions based on industry experience.
- Website measurement and testing – Includes Web analytics and qualitative research, such as usability studies, focus groups, and interviews that are conducted for the purpose of understanding website effectiveness in achieving goals defined by the website sponsoring organization.
- Web analytics – The practice of using software-based tools that enable the analysis of visitor interaction with a website based on the collection and processing of data, and the ability to query that data. Some may also call this website measurement or Web metrics.
- Web metrics – The practice of creating meaningful ratios, comparisons, and other standard measurements that put website data into context with business goals and objectives, with the results enabling analysis to guide decision making related to the Web channel. For example, Web metrics may be used to determine the website’s effectiveness in achieving marketing, customer service, and e-commerce goals. This term is often used interchangeably with Web analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Web data – The basic elements of website data collected and/or aggregated by a Web analytics tool, such as clicks, visits, page views, paths, user ID, and browser data.
Most enterprises that publish a website acknowledge that Web analytics is a good thing, but most of these same organizations underutilize tools and good practices. Implementation problems, lack of good organization process around integrating data analysis, and a lack of analysts who know what to do with the data are common reasons why Web analytics gets plenty of talk, but not as much action.
The constant throughout the analytics space since its inception is this: Vendors will come up with new technology and better practices, and users will need to change their development, operations, and business processes to integrate them in order to continue to track and analyze their Web channel.
So while this area of the site and our Web Analytics Report represent a snapshot of the tools and practices circa 2007, we also identify key trends and assess where individual vendors are headed as the Web evolves.