Web Analytics vs. Web Design: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Added By Phil Kemelor at 13-May-2009 |

One of the many great discussions at last week's JBoye conference in Philadelphia centered on Douglas Bowman leaving Google for Twitter because of his belief that Google has an over-reliance on web analytics data for making design decisions. Bowman was Google's lead designer.  For the details, see the article in the May 9 issue of the NY Times.

This is a high-profile standoff around the value of analytics vs. personal opinion when it comes to web design, but the underlying conflict is quite common. Those on the design side may say that Google has gone too far with data, I know for a fact that design decisions being made by "the boss" on a unilateral basis is a common scenario. You know the one I'm talking about....where "the boss" says he wants the color red, even though the professional designers he has hired contend that the color should be blue. And even though there's user experience testing to back the professional designers' decisions.

Yes, it is one of the benefits of analytics to put these types of debates to an end. Analytics provides the opportunity to test the colors and provide the validation one way or the other. So, while I totally get the idea that a designer would rather not be constrained by analytics, I suggest that this is part of the "new world." Somewhat like the world content managers are in when it comes to proving web site effectiveness. Or the additional accountability marketers must adhere to in the online world versus the offline world. All because now, we can measure what's going on, and coordinate this with usability testing to find out why it is happening.

There were many good discussions around web analytics at the conference. I've added a few more takeaways at http://wam.typepad.com/wam/2009/05/web-analytics-insights-from-jboye-09.html.

Categories: Phil Kemelor, Web Analytics, , Building Business Case, Information Architecture, Marketplace at Large