The Importance of Measuring the Right Web Metrics
May 28th, 2010
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. That’s a fact. If you are serious about getting results from your company’s digital marketing efforts, it’s time for you to start measuring and managing the right web metrics for your organization. To date, there is no commonly accepted standard for how to measure the success of a web site, but there are some key principles that can help you set the right foundation.
Many organizations currently rely on the default web analytics reports that come with free or propietary systems. Now, the most common problems associated with this approach are:
a) You get too much data and not enough business intelligence you can actually use to make informed marketing and business decisions.
b) Tracking systems are by nature not perfect. Web analytics packages can provide different results for the exact same web site.
c) Almost all web analytics packages provide the same basic information by default, information that by itself doesn’t tell you anything.
At the end of the day what happens is that organizations simply don’t know which metrics they should be tracking, don’t trust the metrics they do track and/or don’t know how to interpret web analytics data and turn it into actionable business intelligence. What can you do?
A BASIC RECIPE BASED ON KEY PRINCIPLES
- Create the right metrics mix for your Business. It is recommended to have a mix of business (ex. revenue, transactions and profit), site (ex. conversion rate, time on site and most visited pages) and user metrics in place (ex. customer support inquiries, user testing results and focus group feedback) aligned with your business and/or marketing goals.
- Focus on trends, not snapshots. Do not obsess about short-term results. Even though they’re important, your focus should be on trends that may be pointing you to real business opportunities you don’t want to miss.
- Use success metrics in $. Expressing the dollar value of the web site’s contribution to your company’s success gets more attention than any other type of metric. It can be a good way to unite your “troops” around common quantifiable goals and get the internal support you need to move forward faster.
- Consistency beats accuracy. Now that you know that web analytics data is rarely 100% accurate and trends are more important than point-in-time stats, it’s more important than ever for you to track consistently the right metrics over a long period of time. This will ensure the validity of long-term trends and also data comparisons between two time periods.
- Integrate for maximum benefit. To get the most out of your web analytics integrate your web site with any customer relationship management (CRM), sales force automation (SFA) and/or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Gain the powerful ability to track customer behavior from “click to close” and far beyond.
- Get professional help. If you can’t handle web analytics or the topic is just too technical and complex for you and your staff, get professional help. There are affordable solutions in the market you can outsource to gain valuable insight and information that will help you improve your web site’s effectiveness.
Are you measuring your web site’s performance with the right metrics? Share your experience.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SOWEB Inc., Ernesto Sosa. Ernesto Sosa said: The Importance of Measuring the Right Web Metrics – http://bit.ly/90C5Pe @sowebinc #webmetrics #analytics [...]
I just wanted to comment your blog and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more soon mate
This is really fantastic news. Thank you for sharing it with all of us!
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.
I love to learning more on this topic if possible, as you gain expertise, will you update your blog with more information?
Yes, we’ll be posting more valuable content and insights on this topic soon. Stay tuned
Genial dispatch and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you seeking your information.
I truly enjoyed this. It was very educational and useful. I will back to check on upcoming posts
Nice article,very Hot.
I am quite interesting in this topic hope you will elaborate more on it in future posts
It’s hard to find knowledgeable bloggers on this topic, but you seem like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks.
I think this site’s structure is developed well.
…
Thanks! it’s helpful to me!…
Might it be possible that your writers might teach us how exactly they always craft writing of such high calibre? Even the title The Importance of Measuring the Right Web Metrics | Soweb Inc stirs me deeply!
I think this web site’s theme is done well.
I really enjoyed this post. You write about this topic very well. I really enjoy reading your blog and I will definetly bookmark it! Keep up the interesting posts!
Incredible, that’s precisely what I was scanning for! You just spared me alot of work
Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!
Nice brief and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you as your information.
Its not easy to find something of value on the internet. Fortunately your article proved to be different and really helpful. I hope you” keep up the good work.
Your blog is awesome. Thank you so much for giving plenty of useful content. I will bookmark your blog siteand will be without doubt coming back. Once again, I appreciate all your work and also providing a lot good tips for your readers.
I definitely enjoying every little bit of it. It is a great website and nice share. I want to thank you. Good job! You guys do a great blog, and have some great contents. Keep up the good work.
I agree with you. This type of projects should be encouraged and I think that these type of projects are the projects for the future. . . . .
hello…
really good article. Ready to hear more next week,my blog http://gstroop499.com/events/entry/couples-can-check- Many Thanks….
really good article…
I have spent a bit of time going through your posts, more than I should have but I must say, its worth it! http://cancel071.livejournal.com/975.html many Thanks….
hello…
Hi there just quality post! http://alexs11.over-blog.com/ ,i had a good read.thank you for your article,My problem continues to be resolved….
very helpful…
I preferred to thank you for this good article. http://wxzal.wordpress.com/ I by all odds liked every little bit of it…
Great…
You did a great job! http://chrisa.over-blog.com/article-piers-atkinson-accessories-as-art-77284208.html…
quality post…
I have spent a bit of time going through your posts! http://denisse.meinblog.at/ ,i had a good read….