Maybe you’re just not meant to make a difference.

You haven’t been trained on that. You don’t have enough direction. People won’t cooperate long enough to make things happen at your company. There isn’t a process for this. Tell me how I prioritize this against the 100 other things I’m doing. That’s not how things are done around here.

Maybe you just aren’t meant to make a difference. Maybe you’re just being paid to measure stuff and produce reports. Maybe.

But maybe you’ve been hired because the company needs someone to stir the pot. They need someone to shine a light that finally unseats the loudmouths who make all of the decisions based on gut feel and steamroll their colleagues. Maybe you have talents that can help your company wake the hell up, unfreeze the crippling processes that have been put into place, rethink how they market and react. Maybe that, instead.

In the real world, there are obstacles. There are stubborn people. There is a lack of direction and leadership. Get over it. You aren’t writing term papers with word limits and assigned reading any more. The grade you get is subjective. That’s life.

As analysts, we are the last people on earth who need “direction” from some internal T-Rex with an agenda. We let the customer do the guiding, not the boss. Learn from what you observe. Craft a plan to put what you learn to action. Make your business react. Don’t let them call you a measurer. Make them call you a leader.


Published:
June 29, 2011 – 9:14 am
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By evanlapointe
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The 4 Best Conversion-Enhancing Landing Page Designs. Ever.

I’ve had a lot of experience with landing page designs in the past. You could call me a landing page expert. Maybe even a genius.

So, to give back to the community who has given me so much, I present my most conversion-optimizing landing pages, ever.

Here’s the page we started with (go ahead, click it):

Super Vacation Cruises – Caribbean Savings Package

First, you’re going to want to make that button more noticeable.

Design 1: Button Enhancement

This ensures MAXIMUM click through rate. Some clients, in very rare cases, experienced slightly higher bounce rates. In those cases, I recommend this:

Design 2: Button Accessibility

MAXIMUM conversion. I am not kidding.

Next, you’re going to want to boost conversion rate more directly

When you’re done with these girly button approaches, it’s time to boost conversion directly:

Design 3: Conversion path optimization

By simply reducing the conversion path length to exactly zero steps, you will see the ROI of your paid search campaigns skyrocket. No, I am not kidding. This takes some tricky programming (I know some good guys in Romania), but it’s totally doable in a weekend.

Testing, for the noncommittal crowd

Finally, for those sissies out there that can’t put a stake in the ground and decide on one design, you’ll want to do some testing. But testing can take forever, especially if you don’t have huge traffic volumes. In that case, you’re definitely going to want to employ this next design:

Design 4: LIVE Multivariate Testing

You no doubt saw that every user is exposed to EVERY test variant on all page views. Bam, problem solved. No more waiting for enough volume for “statistically schtamistically” significant crap. No more worrying about cookies and keeping the test “clean” or any of that crap. Just give them both barrels.

No excuses

If you’re not feeling inspired yet, I recommend you pick up the closest copy of Eat, Pray, Love and a full sheet chocolate cake and go cry somewhere with a bunch of cat owners. Man up and get to optimizing.

Next

For some more silly analytics stuff, check out some horribly-drawn web analytics comics.

Or, if you’re the serious type, just have a look around.

But first, you might want to consider whether a friend could use some maximum conversion tips. They probably have a bunch of actual work that needs interrupting.


Published:
June 27, 2011 – 3:36 pm
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By evanlapointe
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3 ways to improve your “marketing,” starting now

Often, in life, I’ll take a look back and realize I’d been aiming for the wrong target for a long time. Once I understood something that gave me a more complete picture of that part of the world, my efforts were much more productive and the results started pouring in. These discoveries are always a little disappointing, but I’m glad for them.

I think that our industry will find this is true when it looks back at how we have been “marketing.” Why? Because I think we really need a better understanding what marketing is.

Here’s how I’d define marketing, in the simplest possible terms: Marketing is the process of working with demand.

Marketing is not defined as:

  • Creating demand
  • Selling
  • Advertising
  • Messaging

All of these things are a part of marketing, but they do not encapsulate marketing. You wouldn’t say that garlic is cooking. Don’t say that advertising is marketing.

So, what’s the difference between working with demand and creating demand? Knowing the difference between these two is the critical element in marketing well.

I think a great example of the difference between these two things is what happens over at Google. Google is a marketing company, but one primarily focused on the product creation aspect of marketing. Google saw existing demand and worked with it. It provided better solutions for organizing, locating, and understanding the relative importance of information. Better solutions for mapping. Better solutions for email, financial data, news, and many other things (and it bought better solutions to many things, too). For the most part, Google never created demand through the types of channels we think of. In fact, Google never took out a single advertisement until it was a well-established (and already public) company. By creating a product (one of the cornerstones of marketing) that was superior in many ways, Google marketed. Existing demand was enough to build one of the most successful brands in history.

Another great example would be Apple. While Apple does deliver a heavy dose of advertising, the marketing that happens at Apple begins years before the ads roll. The iPod, iPhone and iPad are all devices born entirely out of incredible marketing. Apple studied human behavior with computers and existing devices. They understood existing demand. They understood holes in the market, many of which were not apparent to soon-to-be-consumers (I’m looking you numb-brained tech writers who called the iPad a “big iPod touch”), and created an offering that would consume existing demand, create demand by its shear pace of adoption (people watch other people), and provide a platform for even more demand creation (through more traditional “channels”) and market disruption because of how ingeniously the devices approached a need.

In two of the greatest marketing companies the world has ever seen, the key to marketing was in understanding the demand, not creating it. The key to success was working with the demand.

Be a better marketer

1: Realize the tools you have

Advertising is not your only tool. To be a better marketer, the most potential lies in a better offering. Differentiating yourself from competitors (in your offering, for real, not some story you made up to pretend you’re different) by doing something better is the way to win hearts. If you think it can’t be done, take a look at Zappos. They sell shoes. Better.

Take a good look at whether or not you really add value to your consumers’ experience. Do you present information in a new way that helps your users? Do you support them in unprecedented ways? Do you actually spend the time it takes to come up with a smart solution to a common problem, or do you just slap something up and do the minimum it takes to complete a task?

Bonus: when you create value, Google notices. Offering something better almost always results in more (and better) content. If  you care about SEO, hit two birds with one stone, rather than challenging the smartest people on the planet to a game of chess with your weak SEO gimmicks.

You also have price. If you want to win with price, rather than providing value or using your brain, get the hell off of my blog. :)

2: Integrate with the right teams

If you are a “marketer” and you aren’t 100% involved with the product, usability, IA, IT, and R&D teams, you are the reason that CMOs last about as long as mayonaise on a picnic table.

3: Stop yelling, start listening

Companies like Zappos, Amazon, Apple, Google, HTC, and Starbucks are successful because they listen. Not in the sense that they go out there and conduct a bunch of case studies (which they do), but even in a more passive sense: they observe the market. They deduce, rather than asking. They truly have their ear on the rail.

Too many companies create something that they are about to shove down consumers’ throats. Microsoft has done this for years with the Zune, various versions of Windows Mobile, new versions of Office, Vista, and many other creations that were probably great until some T-Rex internal stakeholders got a hold of them. They bring these things to market, tell you how great they are going to be, and then you actually experience something different. They took the approach that they knew what you needed better than you did, and lost. They deduced the problem and then went into their private think chambers to come up with the solution.

If you are making something without really knowing it’ll add value to someone’s life and then trying to broadcast to the market that you’ve cracked the code, don’t be surprised when the world comes roaring back with a wave of negativity that will ruin your world.

We have the tools to do the listening. Even if you’ve created crap, we can see the parts of that crap that people like, the parts they don’t, and we can do something about it.

Our job

Our jobs, as web analysts, are to be complete marketers. To enable and shine a spotlight on the listening. When we know what “marketing” means, we can call ourselves marketers. We are here to unite the clans. Bring the separate (and often competing) disciplines together. We are there to weave the tactics into a tapestry, to create a better product, to find opportunities, to add value, and to boost awareness so that we can protect price.

If your customers aren’t willing to pay full price, it’s because you’re not delivering full value. We have the power to close that value gap and make real, economic changes in our companies. It’s in your hands to figure out what instigates those changes for your particular company. I have no doubt you will.


Published:
June 20, 2011 – 11:06 am
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By evanlapointe
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Choose a rapture: web analytics or creative?

A conversation I just had with the great sage, Keith Burtis, got me thinking about something. He is working on a model for what it takes to be successful online; it’s a four-pillar model including:

  1. Strategy
  2. Creative
  3. Analytics
  4. Development

Let’s say the strategy is something that the CEO will handle, and the development is functional, just for the sake of simplifying the idea for this post…

In our little Skype rap (yeah, we gangsta like that), it came down to this idea: businesses have a hard time being data-driven because they are used to relying on “feel” or their gut to make decisions. It’s something they’ve done for a long time, and it’s something that causes a whole lot of frustration for those of us who wear the analytics hat when we watch decisions get made for wild west reasons when a bounty of data and insight is available.

Analysts tend to look at the creatives (or creators, using the term as inclusive of a lot of things, I don’t mean just people who make pretty stuff) down their noses, particularly after UIs, architectures, marketing messaging, etc. have been in play and data has been collected that may reveal a whole buffet of mistakes that could have been avoided. We wonder why these people would just go on feel, rather than looking at the data and making smarter decisions.

That’s crazy stupid, right?

Well, yes. I think it is pretty stupid. But think about it this way: businesses create things. Offerings. Interfaces. Architectures. Messages. It is these creations that constitute the offering. Analysts can help creators create in smarter ways, but no matter how much data we have, the data itself cannot create*. Nor can insight from that data create. We are enablers, and powerful ones, but it’s important to remember that no amount of enabling will materialize into a physical artifact.

* Ok, data can potentially create. Turn your reports into ASCII art:

If one group (analysts or creatives, in Keith’s model) were to be raptured, then, which one would cause more damage to our business?

No offense to you terribly attractive and intelligent readers, but if we were to disappear, the world would go on. Feel and gut have worked for a long time. Some people have that chi; the things they touch turn to gold. Yes, we could help them make platinum, but most of the world is happy with gold.

Analytics has tremendous value, but only when it’s integrated. Rather than us pointing the finger at others and calling them stupid for shooting from the hip, let’s make sure we’re aware that, a lot of the time, we don’t even have a gun.

Big Picture

This is one reason I passionately disagree with the notion of us calling ourselves specialists. As generalists, we do have guns. We can create. Maybe not as well as the specialists, but we can create across many specialties; something the specialists can’t do. And when we create, even if just brainstorming, across disciplines, we create a networked idea; one that approaches an opportunity from multiple perspectives. We synthesize the disciplines, compounding the value they’d be able to contribute individually.

Your organization might not encourage you crossing boundaries, and the specialists may not like you “doing their jobs.” Tough shit. Get your gun out.

Note: Please use a water gun. :)


Published:
June 15, 2011 – 4:25 pm
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By evanlapointe
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Your web analytics challenge for this week

OK, here it is:

Your challenge for this week is to look at all of the traffic that doesn’t convert. Doesn’t buy. Doesn’t sign up for your newsletter. Doesn’t download the whitepaper you’ve stuck behind a lead form.*

What was the point of those visits? What were those people trying to achieve?

Achieving that goal may never provide an ROI, ever. But I’d be willing to bet that if you helped them achieve it, you’d turn a lot of them into customers. Rather than forcing them down one of your narrow roads, build the path they want.

—

* There are two ways we can get a dog to sit:

  1. The dog loves and trusts us. We give him treats often, mostly for no reason at all. When we want him to sit, we can lead with the command, and offer a treat as a reward when one is handy.
  2. We are insecure about our relationship with the dog, and aren’t sure if he will sit if we simply ask. We lead with a treat, knowing the dog will be willing to do what we want if we show him the reward first.

Making people fill out a lead form to download something they want to read (industry research, etc., if it’s relevant to your brand, specifically, I think it’s fair) is something I genuinely, deeply hate. It teaches people that your love is conditional, and your brand is self-interested, rather than pouring your affection on the market.

Yes, I understand why this is done. Yes, I understand sales. But it doesn’t change my hatred for this tactic, and I will gladly redistribute your PDF to everyone I know so they don’t have to fill out your stupid form where I put im@yourmomshouse.com as my email address.

Help me achieve my goal, and you just might make me a customer.


Published:
June 6, 2011 – 8:00 am
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By evanlapointe
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What I believe about web analytics

I may have been making a mistake with this blog. Maybe even with my life (drama). I’ve been pushing opinions on people, and that’s really not something too many people like.

So let me start over with something simple. Here is what I believe. Your mileage may vary.

I believe that web analytics has the ability to change the world.

Corny? Yeah. But I believe it anyhow.

I define “change the world” as making a lot of people a lot happier. More joyful. More apt to look forward to jumping in the car every day and heading to work. Less apt to spend the weekend complaining to anyone with ears how stupid their co-workers are.

In my experience (and obviously yours will vary), people aren’t exactly thrilled with how various specialists, teams, managers, etc. get along at work. Many people have different incentives that cause departments to be at odds with each other, some managers may not have a lot of appreciation or understanding of the finer points of some technical or business perspective on something. Usually it all results in everyone calling each other idiots. Disclaimer: I have worked in / consulted with some pretty dysfunctional places, so it may not sound exactly like where you are…count your blessings!

Unhappy stuff.

The reason I think web analytics can fix this (or at least go a long way) is it can shine some light on everyone’s purpose. Not in the way managers shine lights on each sub-purpose a department or role fills, but the more universal purpose of each trade and its contribution to the whole. In other words, analytics can transition each contributor’s accountability away from a person (their boss or boss’s boss, who they may not agree with) and toward a purpose. I believe that’s transformative.

If there is a litmus test of, “Is this best for the company?” instead of , “Is this helping me reach my department goal (or bonus)?” the world will literally be a better place. Because a lot of those department goals and bonuses are in direct opposition to someone else’s department goals or bonuses within the same company.

When I was doing independent research on publicly traded companies, it wasn’t so different from what we do in this industry. We simply tried to look at the system, break it down into pieces, and understand why a company was more or less valuable than the market priced it. Yes, complex. But no, it’s not rocket surgery. Companies with clear operational issues, a lack of an innovation roadmap, management with conflicting goals, competition that was out-iterating and out-smarting clearly have a dimmer future than companies with fewer or none of those issues.

In that line of work, analysts could hold a carrot out in front of CEOs that they would follow anywhere. That carrot was a stock price. If an analyst says there are 5 key barriers to the valuation being 10% higher, changes were about to be made, or a CEO was about to get fired.

Our carrot can be the same thing. The work we do can change every part of a company, from the clouds of tactics whizzing about all the way down to the very nucleus that holds the company together. We can hold the carrots of increased revenue, reduced costs, increased efficiency, improved time to market, more competitive intelligence, better intra-team cooperation, aligned goals, and superior culture out in front, and we have a clear view of the steps that can be taken to close the gaps. We have very delicious carrots.

I believe your executive suite is filled with hungry bunnies. And I believe that if you show them some carrots, web analysts will garner the same respect, salaries, and access afforded to our financial brethren. But we have to remember, only the bunnies like carrots. You need to get your treat in front of the right audience. Often, your CMO won’t care about productivity, efficiency, or the happiness of 2 teams working together. Your digital marketing manager has no idea what EBITDA is. Your director of ecommerce may have never heard of operating cash flow before. They may not care about carrots as much as your CEO or your COO.

This isn’t just going to change the lives of web analytics people. Anyone who, no matter what they do, feels their boss’s actions don’t align with the core goals of a company, people who watch bad decisions get made for perfectly predictable reasons; they will see their life improved, too. Because there can be a new system in place where decisions are made for good reasons. Where tradeoffs and compromises are made in informed ways, rather than internally-competitive ways. And where the “loser” in a compromise is rewarded for a good decision, because we can show the net impact.

Companies like this exist. Very successful ones. And the people that work there would take a bullet to protect their culture. I think that web analysts, for companies operating online, are the most capable shepherds for this transition. It may be a while before we have the CEO/COO (or whoever at a company really understands and lives in the core business function, rather than a discipline) as an audience. But I believe that our target needs to be the people who react to carrots. I won’t shoot for a closer target out of practicality, because, ultimately, shorter targets aren’t the right targets.

That’s what I believe.

What do you believe?


Published:
May 23, 2011 – 8:26 pm
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By evanlapointe
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The blind spot in your online marketing budget forecast

The CMOs and marketing folks of the world love one word beyond all others: budget. The bigger, the better. To say that one managed a $25 million (or $250 or $2.5B, or whatever) marketing budget on a resume opens a lot of doors out there, even if that budget wasn’t managed all that well.

But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about how that number comes into being.

Despite our own analyst-y opinions of marketers and their effectiveness or connectedness to reality (we do tend to be hard on these folks), the truth is that a marketing budget is designed to provide a return. That budget breaks down into slices that will individually provide some sort of a return, and the size of those slices is ideally decided by some sort of an investment order, making sure that companies invest in one channel to the point that investing in another channel provides a greater marginal return.

Stop laughing. I know this isn’t how it ever really happens, but just go with it.

I like this metaphor of cups. If I gave you a pitcher of budget, how would you fill the cups?

Chances are, your company is pouring a little budget in each cup. But what if I changed the cups to say the ROI on the side?

Now how would you distribute your budget? Yeah. A little differently, right?

The truth is that you would pour so much water into the 5:1 cup that you’d form a reverse-meniscus on the top as you added incremental molecules of water to get as much in that cup as you possibly could. You would then go on to the 3:1 cup, and on down the line until you ran out of budget.

But we know that ROI isn’t as simple as that. For one thing, PPC doesn’t have a fixed ROI across all keywords. Same for display across your placements, networks, or creatives. It’s more like a diminishing return model. PPC might look like this:

So, your really have cups within cups, to keep the metaphor rolling. Brand keywords will provide high return, then some other keywords, then others, and on. And it’s truly analog: no group of keywords has a real “ROI,” instead it’s cups within cups within cups…

Forecasting Budget and ROI

So, if we know approximately how much demand there is in each cup, and we know approximately what the cost of filling each cup is, then we can forecast out to a blended ROI we’d like to hit and know how much we can spend to maximize our reach, right?

NO.

Because you’re forgetting something really big here: none of your keywords, campaigns, creatives, placements, email lists, social media followers or fans, or anything you do has a set intrinsic value. The outcome of every single thing you do to bring people to the web site depends completely on the web site itself.

Don’t believe me? Turn your site off.

Just because one keyword (apples) performs better than another (oranges) doesn’t mean that “apples” people are any more conversion prone or valuable as human beings. What it most likely means is your business is better set up to help the apples folks today. The oranges crowd could very well be your bread and butter tomorrow, if you make changes to your site (or other things) to improve that experience.

So, what does that mean for the cups?

It means that each cup actually has a much higher intrinsic value (if there is a limit), and that intrinsic value is held back by what you offer (also, the cups are resized to reflect available demand). Have a bad user interface in your product details and cart pages? Subtract ROI. Have unclear navigation? Dollars out of your pocket. Do you suck? Cut that ROI into a fraction.

So if we remove these obstacles, we can improve return immediately across all cups. In terms of our paid search, this is an amplitude shift. Every time we improve the site, we improve the ROI of every single keyword (or any other marketing channel) we have. Every one.

So, the blind spot in our budget forecasts is we are ignoring the potential for this amplitude shift. Instead, marketers spend their time looking for the next magic bullet. The next pool of audience that’s untapped. The next $500,000 of budget that can be spent at their target ROI, assuming everything else stays the same.

But everything else doesn’t have to stay the same. Spend that $500k on your site, and you can stand to improve the value of every single dollar you’re already spending on traffic and audience generation.

If your agency or marketing department gives you a target budget, ask them where it came from. What assumptions were made about conversion rates, average cart size, ROI, etc.? What could the budget (and revenue / cash flow) be if you could improve your conversion rate by 20 basis points (0.2%)?

I’m betting the answer will wow you. And that $500k will go to a better home.


Published:
May 19, 2011 – 11:27 am
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By evanlapointe
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6 Comments

Why would you join the Web Analytics Association?

What would you want the WAA to do for you as a member? Would you want to be involved, or just pay for some benefits you could receive without really having to sink your valuable time into it (yes, it’s perfectly fine for you to pay and not put anything in, it’s why you’re paying!)?

If you have recently let your membership lapse, why was that? Were you expecting something you didn’t get, or did you join not knowing what to expect?

If you were in charge of the WAA, what would you do differently?

Just curious…


Published:
May 12, 2011 – 1:55 pm
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By evanlapointe
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How to craft an effective content development strategy

The old adage, “content is king,” really is true. Users engage with your content, search engines index your content, and the more great content you have, the better off you are, as a general rule.

Driven heavily by competition in search and the expectation that more content will boost conversion rates, people who manage big web sites are really getting hot and bothered about creating more content. And to create more content, they need a content development strategy.

The trick here is that every time an executive says, “content development strategy,” a kitten is adopted by Hitler.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t present content to users and deepen the content you have available on your site. I think you absolutely should. But it won’t be effective if it’s a part of a content development strategy, in my opinion, because I believe that phrase comes with a lot of baggage and motivation that doesn’t lead to a better site experience. Let me explain where I’m coming from.

Let’s get away from the web for a second. Think about an interaction with a great salesperson who loves what he does. This salesperson is a content repository, able to call on examples, testimonials, stories, or general information that helps him explain the value of what he is selling. And he isn’t doing all of this to pull the wool over his prospect’s eyes. His offering has genuine value.

This salesperson weaves this content into the conversation. The timing is right. The examples are not out of the blue interruptions, but they aren’t out there in the great beyond, either. It all works because the salesman knows he really can help you out, he knows the types of things that are going through your mind, the questions and concerns you need answered, and he is prepared to take the conversation where it needs to go to help you through the process of learning, committing, and buying.

People want to convert. Really!

This brings me to a key point: we act as if our visitors don’t want to do what we want them to do. We, as businesses operating on the web, talk about boosting conversion rates as if we are tricking consumers. Like they don’t want to fly to Dallas in 2 months to visit their sister. Or like they don’t want new shoes. Or they don’t want to subscribe to your magazine. Who in their right mind would ever convert on anything if we didn’t work so hard to trick them?

When we put the questions like this, they sound pretty silly. So why do we approach boosting conversion as if it’s some sort of mechanism we use to create leverage on our visitors? Why in the world do we think people are coming to our web sites against their will?

Instead, I think by simply focusing on a more positive view of our businesses, we automatically set ourselves up to ask the right question: “What would make this experience easier or better for someone who wants what we offer?”

Move over, content. Workflows are king.

I said earlier that I think “content development strategies” come with a lot of baggage and poor motivation, and I want to revisit that. I think motivation really does shine through in how our offering presents itself. I can tell when a site created a blog because they were trying to boost their search engine rankings or just because they felt like they had to create fresh content. I can tell when a site adds reviews, thinking it’ll boost conversion rate (rather than thinking it’ll genuinely help people, like when I see the same pimped out reviews on 3 different sites). And I can really tell when someone embarks on their “content development strategy,” because almost 100% of the time, this content ends up living in some barn in the web site’s back yard, not in the midst of my experience as I learn, commit, and buy the offering.

When we approach the betterment of our site or business in terms of how the company will receive, the end result is always crappier than if we approach the betterment of our site in terms of how it will help our consumers. By simply asking the right question, “How can we create a more positive or easier experience?” we automatically set up the creation of raving fans, brand advocacy, word of mouth, along with things like greater conversation volume, better sentiment in social media, and increased search engine rankings.

We are starting with the KPIs and working backwards: How can we improve sentiment? How can we boost rankings? How can we cause more buzz in social media?

Instead, start with the experience you offer. Start with the workflows your visitors need to complete to meet their need of booking a flight to Dallas, buying shoes, subscribing to your magazine, or whatever else you offer. What parts of that workflow could use a story, a testimonial, a mention of a complementary product, or just a little more information? That is your content development strategy. Turn your workflow into that conversation with the great salesperson.

Workflows are the combination of effective information architecture and good usability. Those two things have to work well together, and they represent the experience from the first pageview through their entire experience. They are not “paths,” because they will almost certainly be different for different types of people. They aren’t “funnels,” either. They are loose, flexible, positive experiences.

If you look at your site from the perspective that your customers love you, love what you offer, and are eager to buy, you can approach this issue from the standpoint of helping them do something they already want to do, rather than manipulating them, the way many brands see it today. Build experiences worth praising, content worth reading in the context of the workflow, and follow up with great customer service that wows.

Then, watch your KPIs fly, knowing no more kittens had to learn German.


Published:
May 11, 2011 – 2:53 pm
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By evanlapointe
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The purpose of web (or any) analytics

I just wanted to follow up on my last post with some personal thoughts, maybe refining the message a little bit.

I’ve gotten some great feedback via twitter/facebook/conversations that got me thinking about this some more. What’s the purpose of web analytics? Now keep in mind, this is just how I have come to see the world, and you may see it differently. But this works for me (so far) and I’d love to hear your thoughts on why your way works for you. So, please leave comments.

Analytics world view:

We talk about being data-driven businesses. But these aren’t businesses built around a culture of measurement. They’re built around a culture of accountability.

That sounds a little scary, but bear with me here for a second.

It’s my opinion that measurement alone is not a compelling source of value to a business. We know that the absence of measurement is very horrible, and it’s still a problem. There is value to measurement, but it just isn’t compelling, which is why I think there are still sites out there with zero visibility into what’s happening on their sites.

The effective use of that measurement (a separate trade, called analysis) is highly compelling, though.

For example, people get as excited about accounting as they get about watching paint drying on growing grass. Accountants measure. Yes, they occasionally help companies defraud millions of Americans out of their retirement, but most days are just measuring. Analysts, on the other hand, use that measurement to make a company accountable to goals, outcomes, advancement, achievement. I think we need to be building cultures around those things.

But I also know that measurement is seen as a stepping stone on the way to these things. If we can build a culture of measurement first, we will be closer to a culture of achievement.

Now I can’t tell the future, but my gut tells me that this stepping-stone approach will end up biting us in the medium and long term. If we set precedence around our role and a purpose of measuring, we will likely face a difficult battle when we strive for the next stepping stone. Businesses like to define roles. If we’re looking for ours to be fluid or evolutionary, that’s tough for them to handle. I fear that our steps are momentum-less, in other words. So we’d better take big ones.

True, you can’t do analysis without measurement. But this is sort of like saying you can’t build houses without wood; you just don’t see people going nuts about lumber.

Let’s make it a [vitally important] afterthought, and count on the fact that good analysts will make 100% certain that the measurement is handled because it’ll cripple them otherwise.

So, the world view part:

In my mind, the purpose of web analytics, or any analytics, is to give your organization the confidence needed to accelerate the pace of decisions.

I don’t think that the purpose of analytics is limited to helping the company make better decisions: great, slow decisions are a hallmark of companies who stink. Plus, better, more economically-valuable decisions are a completely unavoidable outcome of good analytics, so I’m going to just recommend that we start taking that for granted. Yes, use it as a selling point: it will be the thing that gives your organization greater confidence. But to me, success will be based on pace, not just rightness. Being able to make good decisions faster compounds their effectiveness.

I think it’s an unsafe assumption that once decisions are made better, they’ll magically get made faster. Most big decisions are made slowly because people are afraid of being judged; they’re nearly paralyzed. When you research a decision for a quarter and make the best, most economically-rewarding decision possible, you suck if you could have made the same decision in 5% of the time, and made 50 more decisions over the year that all compounded the value of the first one.

And a culture of accountability sounds scary, like a place where everyone is constantly told about everything they didn’t do right. But think about such a place: the only way for it to sustain itself is for people to establish a comfort level with failure: failure is a part of the process. And the only way the company can survive is if the system is built to react to failure, not built on the assumptions that decisions are right. Think about it today: why is testing so hard? Why are changes to your web site difficult? Because your site is built around decisions made in ink, not in pencil.

Also, we’re talking about being accountable to outcomes, not to some Tyrannosaurus on a power trip. That’s a big deal.

Again, like the last post, this isn’t about making big decisions quickly, it’s about making big decisions often. A usability person or designer who makes one big decision about a product details page will be much less effective than a similarly-skilled person making frequent decisions about that interface based on a constant stream of information that keeps him accountable to the success of that page.

Give it a try. You wouldn’t be the first organization to embrace failure and show employees it’s not the end of the world to be wrong. In fact, being wrong is the only thing that allows us to be more right.

Let’s build that kind of a culture. One that forgets about the measurement, because that has to happen to get to the good stuff. We need to take measurement completely for granted.

Whether we get there stone-by-stone or in one big leap is up to us.


Published:
May 3, 2011 – 2:46 pm
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By evanlapointe
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