In 2010, when I wrote my Masters thesis I suggested that those brands that failed to ensure a cross platform presence were doomed to lose market share to competitors who recognised the opportunity to engage with their consumers in a relevant and direct manner. The growth of social media platforms such as You Tube, Facebook and Twitter means that brands no longer control the dialogue about their brands. The traditional top down linear communication between brand and consumer has been replaced by a looping ‘digilogue’ as part of the user journey where consumers consult with peers and friends before making the purchasing decision – what Google terms the ‘Zero Moment of Truth’.

The consumer is in control and brands need to become part of that digilogue and also to understand user behaviour on digital platforms so as to intercede between what the consumer is saying about their brands to their friends and peers. Tracking what users are saying about brands and campaigns are now an integral part of online marketing which has helped to position the efficient use of web analytics and the insights gleaned from their application as a key requirement of business strategy. Positioning the brand within those social media channels, such as FaceBook, to influence this digilogue is now becoming commonplace, with brands having their own channels on platforms such as YouTube in order to extend their brand reach and capture the interest and attention of consumers.

If Richard Dawkins was not such an eminent evolutionary biologist he may have considered a career as a web analyst as I am sure he would appreciate how the science of web analytics in digital media science has replaced superstition. The speed at which this transition from what has been termed ‘Faith-based marketing’ – see http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/online-marketing-faith-based-initiative-fix) –  that is a reliance on traditional media measurement tools to assess campaign effectiveness

( e.g. BARB for TV ) – to real time application of insights gained from web analytics to adjust in flight campaigns has been remarkable but represents an early phase in the development of digital business intelligence. As Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, said in January 2010, it is the exponential increase in computing power – doubling every 18 months – that is enabling the development of technology to provide an ever expanding number of enhancements, platforms, options and services to digital consumers of content.

The real impact of the growth in computing power has been to create a ‘pull’ in demand from consumers who want content and services at a time and location of their choosing, not that of the service provider. This demand has seen huge growth in the provision of video on demand, smart phones, tablets and connected television  services all designed to allow the consumer to access content via any touch point throughout their daily lifestyles. Consumer goods manufacturers have anticipated, or have belatedly recognised, this disruptive shift in content consumption behaviour – from the linear to the non linear – by ensuring their platforms and devices allow for the accessing of content in a form and at a speed that meets with this new demand. The coming of the Connected TV set in the living room, allowing users to watch a channel and engage with their peers via social media and to buy – all from the same screen – has huge implications for advertisers and media owners used to traditional means of media trading.

Interestingly, some of these Consumer Goods Manufacturers (CGM) are failing to recognise the opportunity to own the relationship with their consumer by not tracking in application usage or to follow their users journeys as they access the web via the Connected TV. This would allow the CGM, not the content owner, to collect user data relating to purchases, preferences, viewing habits, etc. Sony is looking at application usage through their Bravia TV set but other manufacturers appear unready to do develop this capability. Could the application of a Web Analytics capability within the Smart TV give the CMG the ability to improve their product features based on real consumer insights? If this is an option and it is not followed by CMG’s then this pass through approach is a strategic error that they will come to regret.

If it is agreed that brands need to adopt a multi platform business model, including the use of Social Media to market themselves, this raises the question as to whether brands should become media owners rather than merely media users. There have been a number of attempts by brands to move into the digital television sector – Audi, Renault, Sainsbury (Carlton Food anyone?), etc. have all launched digital TV channels on the BSkyB platform here in the UK. Sports brands such as Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have launch TV channels using the subscription model (although Liverpool FC TV has now reverted to an advertising – centric model ). Tesco had an ill-fated in-store TV channel, Tesco TV.

As a former consultant to many digital media ventures, I have long advised clients to adopt a multi- platform and revenue stream business model in order to maximise the number of opportunities for users to access and engage with their content and to monetise each contact. At Siemens, where I was Head of Convergent Media, I developed the concept of Siemens TV which proposed the use of digital satellite television along with Video on Demand, Mobile and Intranet platforms for Siemens to sell their products direct to consumers, to provide an effective communications vehicle to convey corporate policy and to train and educate their global sales and marketing teams on new product launches. This concept represented an advance on the model that as a consultant I had developed for clients such as Ocean Finance who subsequently Ocean Finance TV launched on the Sky platform.

The fact that entry costs for brands to launch their own media platforms have dramatically reduced e.g. for IPTV, means that brands have the opportunity to enter these sectors on an experimental basis, to trial channel and content concepts and to adapt and revise these in the light of consumer reaction. Crucially, brands can assess which business model will provide the best ROI opportunity – subscription, micropayments, e-commerce, advertising, etc. Previously, many new TV channel launches involved significant investment, based on poor market research, which inevitably failed. Now, lower production and distribution costs plus the ability to offer any form of payment method on any device means brands can maximise revenues and minimise risk by adopting a multi-platform and revenue stream model. This option was not available some years earlier for those brands brave enough to enter the digital domain. Web analytics can also play a crucial role in helping brands understand how their consumers are interacting with the brand’s digital channels and content and can adjust marketing strategies accordingly.

The plethora of current digital platforms and the absolute certainty of new ones emerging over the near future means that brands have to ensure that they adopt a mind set of permanent revolution in order to understand and conform with the impact of digital technology on their businesses. Today’s digital media leaders such as Facebook may face challenges from as yet unheard of quarters. My view is that markets such as China and India will throw up new technologies to challenge these incumbents and brands need to be ready to adopt and make use of these disruptive technologies to survive.

Why Richard Dawkins would appreciate Web Analytics and how to have a ‘digilogue’ is a post from: Elisa DBI

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2. Analytics Leads the Way in the IBM Tech Trends Report 2011
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We all know Social, Mobile and Cloud computing are hot topics in the current world of digital business. This report shows developers, system analysts, and IT project managers recognise that Business Analytics is important as companies are challenged to automate processes and make sense of ever-increasing amounts of data. Business and web analytics is a key component in turning that data into actionable information and insights.

How organisations plan to use business analytics

The percentages in the image bellow mirror some of the ways which Elisa DBI help clients to leverage web analytics.

Automation and streamlining processes help to deliver analytics more efficiently saving man hours and money. Automation also assists in the elimination of human errors which can be critical in business intelligence reporting.

IBM report that 37% of organisations want to provide education on use of business analytics tools for new users. This is also a key part of what Elisa DBI provide after setting up the web analytics solutions. Without a good understanding of the web analytics platform data interpretation can be misleading.

Elisa DBI also help companies to integrate web analytics data into an existing infrastructure using APIs. According to the report 35% of organisations are planing to do that in the next two years.

IBM Tech Trends also claim that two-thirds of respondents report a less than 50% increase in the amount of business analytics work in their organisations over the past year, as organisations are concerned that they will face difficulty when integrating sophisticated analytics capabilities into existing technology and in educating people on how to make the most of the new insights.

In addition, according to a study by MIT only 17% of companies use more than 75% of data they collect. The same study says that companies who do use data to drive decision making are 40% more efficient than those who don’t. Companies understand the need for data but are still struggling to make the most out of it.

Other technology areas

Here are other technology areas in the 2011 IBM Tech Trends reort.

Mobile computing is here to stay, and offers room for IT professional growth as more and more organisations build mobile applications. According to the surveys 70% of respondents will continue developing for the Android platform over the next 24 months and 49% plan to develop for iOS.

Cloud computing offers new opportunities for technical professionals as businesses are moving beyond saving costs with infrastructure and beginning to build applications to innovate in the cloud.

Social business adoption for business purposes varies by country, depending on the perception of security concerns and local acceptance of this technology.

To sum up, this report is a clear indicator that business analytics, mobile and cloud computing, and social business technologies have passed niche status. Organisations are now seeing data-driven decision making as a key factor for success and web analytics is a core part of this.

Elisa DBI provide measurement and optimisation solutions to some of Europe’s most successful brands. The collection, configuration and interpretation of data is core to each of the solutions we provide, ensuring our clients stay ahead of the curve in their market.

You can find the summary of the 2011 IBM Tech Trends results Here.

Analytics Leads the Way in the IBM Tech Trends Report 2011 is a post from: Elisa DBI

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Flow Visualizations (or Flow Visualisations if you’re British)

If you have used pathing reports in other analytics tools you know it can be a very frustrating experience to get data out of some of them. There are several tools who have a pathing reports that can provide really useful data. Often though, especially with complex websites what you’ll find is a messy diagram in front of you and no insights. Back to the pivot table.

Google Analytics decided to take some time on their research for the Flow Visualisation report. Developing and building this with a Google Maps like interface that is interactive and to be honest quite stunning to look at. So lets open unwrap the tool.

1. Vistiors Flow

This shows visually how visitors are flowing through your site, and you can select key dimensions such as traffic source, keyword, custom variables, events and other dimensions. You can also apply advanced segments so that your analysis is not wasted on aggregate data. What they have done is made a very interactive graphical representation of the data. The grey connecting lines indicate the flow of visitors on your site while the red curves indicate drop off.

The Site Visits Flow Report Shows How Users Navigate Your Site

While the visitor flow report does look overwhelming at first the design is intuitive and concise. The guys at Google Analytics have really tried to represent the user journey in a way that allows you to see how users interact with your site. We’ll be publishing more information on our blog soon when we’ve had a chance to review the feature in more depth. We’ve posted a quick video here on Youtube which shows most of the ways in which you can interact with the interface of the Visitor flow report:

2. Goal Flow

Initially this is the more exciting of the two – n funnel visualiser that I can apply advanced segments to (finally!) without having to use the API. Initially Google are only supporting URL goals but they plan to add events later. This is a fantastic addition because the old funnel report was very limited in the types of analysis you could do, all traffic was grouped together so you couldn’t see if ppc visitors or seo visitors were more likely to drop out of the funnel, and at which stage.

The Goal Flow Report is a vast improvement on the old funnel visualisation

What Next for the Google Analytics Flow Visualiser?

The Google Analytics blog announced there will be more flow visualisations and aspects to the report. Of course the challenge is to make the most out of these great features that are contained in the tool. I once heard Avinash Kaushik describe Google Analytics as a shiny bike which the Mountain View team keep adding pieces to. With the Flow Visualisation Report it’s starting to look more like a high performance super bike

This article is was co-written by Adam Gutteridge

Google Analytics Flow Visualisation Report: Path Analysis At Last is a post from: Elisa DBI

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Critics are quick to point out that by leaving PPC data unaffected, Google’s claim to be ‘protecting’ user privacy sounds a little ‘false’. Matt Cutts has been keen to point out that the expected drop in keyword visibility will be a ‘single digit’ percentage but with over 260 million gmail users around the world so this has the potential to be massive.

SEO keywords will show as (not provided) in analytics reports

What does this mean for SEO and analytics? Well in a nutshell you still know that the traffic sources came from Google.com however the search term is hidden from the analytics tool and changed to (not provided). As all internet marketers know, the referring keyword is a hugely valuable piece of data. It gives you so much insight into the users intent that without it SEO instantly  becomes devalued, look at the comments on the Google Analytics blog to see what I mean.

SEO visits from Google.com showing as (not provided)

As you can see from this (slightly embarrassing) Google Analytics real time report on the Elisa DBI site; logged in users who come from google.com now via SEO now have the keyword set to (not provided). This is not the case for PPC, as Adwords marketers will still have access to keyword level data, not only in their adwords reports but also their web analytics.

Google Webmaster Tools reports will continue to show website owners limited organic keyword reporting which can be accessed via Google Analytics also. If Google do roll this out across all domains then SEO traffic may become a lot harder for companies to optimise, particularly if Google’s plans for +/plus reach fruition and more and more users are logged into a Google Account whilst searching. This will also have an impact on keyword research tools.

Adwords the real benefactor from the change

Ultimately the change could mean that SEO becomes a less effective advertising medium for marketers. This will result  in Adwords becoming a more appealing acquisition channel as keyword data is essential for many kinds of analysis. Without this kind of intelligence it will be harder for analysts to understand the intent and maturity of a user. Of course this means more revenue for Google ,who announced increased revenues of $10 billion for Q4 last week, largely due to its Adwords platform.

What does this mean for web analytics and SEO

Well as of writing this only seemed to apply to google.com. Google.es still showed up the keywords. But it will likely get rolled out across the countries eventually. So in summary:

1. You will now know how many users who come to your site have a google account. What is this percentage has never been known
2. This does not affect ppc, only organic traffic
3. Users won’t suddenly switch keywords so there won’t be any affect in conversions
4. As Google Plus grows more people will be signed in and expect to lose more information about organic traffic

It’s too early for a knee jerk reaction about what this means for SEO, but it was a surprising and interesting development. One thing is for sure, if Google were to make this data available in Google Analytics Premium then they would not be short of takers for that.

Is SEO sustainable with personalised search?

When speaking to Pere Rovira, the Managing Director of Elisa Group in Spain, he raised some very good points about the nature of these changes. First of all, when search is personalised according to your browsing habits, SEO becomes a social and very personal activity rather than a purely keyword optimisation activity. If this is the case then, Pere asks “why the hell you want to know the keyword that the user typed in”? If all results are unique to that specific user then the pages can no longer be manipulated as much for commercial purposes. Indeed any keyword of significant commercial interest is no longer ‘natural’ in any sense of the word. Companies pay top dollar for SEO rankings and so the natural links are in essence also advertising.

The challenge for the SEO industry is to focus on how their world is changing and as always with evolution, those who adapt best will survive.

This Post was co-written by Adam Gutteridge.

Google Makes Search More Secure (and Adwords more attractive) is a post from: Elisa DBI

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Location Location Location

There is also an interesting location report showing you where on the planet your visitors IP address is. However, there are some immediate shortcomings with this feature in the UK (albeit, not the fault of GA) as a result of way the internet infrastructure has been developed here. This means that the location tracking is less than 100% accurate.

Some users should have access to the tool already and those who don’t can expect the reports to be rolled out over the next few weeks.

No Filters or Goals

Watching users come and go on your site is strangely compelling, however the reports are limited – there is no filtering of data – so if you have a lot of internal traffic then that will show up in the reports. The same applies if you are using multiple profiles for channels or domains.

Having worked with a wide variety of companies and verticals over the years I haven’t come across many times when real time information would be really useful – the majority of companies aren’t agile enough to cope with real time data.  However there are some who have to employ such data as part of their business model – Newspapers and news sites to name an obvious example. Understanding what content users are looking at right now enables tomorrow’s editorial to be influenced.

You are also unable to see the completion of goals in real time – something that could add significant value to the tool.

What to do with Real Time Google Analytics

Other useful applications of real time data.

• Monitoring the reach of social media efforts – how quickly do people react to your big announcement
• You send out an email newsletter to your customer base – how quickly after the blast are the visitors coming
• Checking new areas of the website – you launch a new area of the site – are users finding broken links?
• Testing a new display advertising campaign’s tracking works before launching
• TV or radio adverts - evaluate how quickly do users come to the site and what do they look at?
• Offer countdowns – how do users respond to limited offers

Of course monitoring real time data means someone sitting there watching a screen. Many businesses can’t afford to have staff sit around just in case. Where it’s most useful for me is a checking tool, ensuring new content isn’t broken and campaigns have been tracked correctly  etc.

What next?

In the future it would be exciting if  alerts can be setup with live data else someone still has to sit and watch the screen, which isn’t the best use of anyones time. I am sure though that Google will create exciting new features for Real Time.

Real Time Tracking in Google Analytics is a post from: Elisa DBI

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So what’s new?

Anyone who is familiar with the web analytics vendor marketplace will know that previously Google has not been able to compete at the top table when it comes to enterprise solutions. One of the main reasons for this was the data sampling or fast access reports which could potentially reduce accuracy by 10 – 15%. As JavaScript tracking also loses around the same amount due to blocked cookies etc then enterprise companies could not afford to be losing up to 30% of data accuracy. Google have addressed this issue and gone further:

More Data (faster) –

You can now access significantly higher data limits as well as well as 50 custom variables and real time reporting. This addresses two of the main complaints that a lot of users had with GA standard.

Features

- As mentioned above there is now a realtime feature called Right Now (also available in Google Analytics Standard) which allows you to see how many people are currently on your site, where they came from and the content that they are looking at. The big announcement however is undoubtably attribution modelling; something of a golden fleece in the world of web analytics. While not much information has been released about it, we were lucky enough to get a sneak peek in Mountain View last month and it looks great.

Service Levels

- There are now SLAs around data collection, reporting and processing meaning companies can rely on the solution for freshness. It now processes data within 4 hours, 98% of the time allowing you to react more quickly to changes that are happening on your site. Google are so sure of this they ‘will compensate you if we don’t deliver.’

Support

- There is now a dedicated 24/7 support team that you can call if there is a problem with your account. This is a big step from Google, who estimate 50% of the world’s websites have Google Analytics code in place. Previously the task of supporting issues fell with the Google Analytics Certified Partner program, companies like us, who were unable to give responses about back end issues.

The Verdict

Overall Google have made a significant step to becoming a contender in the paid for web analytics market, but there is still a way to go. Other platforms offer further systems integration and automation as modular add ons. Digital business is fast becoming less and less about the ‘web’ so it will be interesting to see how Google innovates in comparison to something like the Adobe Online Marketing Suite.

Ultimately if companies are considering replacing their current paid vendor with Google Analytics Premium then they should perform a thorough cost benefit analysis based on their business requirements.

Next Steps

If you would like to know more about how you can leverage Google Analytics Premium to help your business the get in touch. Elisa Group has 10 (Google Analytics Individual Qualified) GAIQ in London, Manchester, Barcelona and Madrid. If you would like us to help evaluate GA for you then let us know.

Google Analytics Premium: What You Need to Know is a post from: Elisa DBI

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Free Stuff!

Each year Google invites its certified analytics, GWO and Urchin partners to preview the upcoming features and developments for the platform. As you probably know, much of what we see and discuss at the summit is confidential so whilst we can’t share everything, we can let you know that we were very, very excited by what we saw. Stay tuned to the Elisa DBI blog over the next few weeks for updates on all of Googles new features – as soon as they are made public we’ll be giving you hands on insight on how the new functionality can benefit your business.

Those of you who have been to the event before will know that the tool itself is not the only thing that makes the summit so awesome. Having the chance to rub shoulders with analytics professionals from the around the world is a great way to compare innovation from different perspectives, and see how aspects of our industry vary across the globe.

While events like e-Metrics, Conversion Conference and SMX are great, they are represented in many countries meaning attendees are often not from too far afield. During our time in California we met pros from the United States, Mexico, Norway, Australia, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Guatemala, Russia, England, Scotland, Spain, South Africa, Poland, Czech Republic, Ireland, the Netherlands, Venezuela, Chile, Canada, Germany, Turkey, India, France, Belgium and of course Catalunya. Personally I feel very privileged to have had this opportunity, enjoying some fantastic conversations (and beers) with individuals who are leading internet innovation from the front line.

Were you at the event? What did you think of the summit? If you weren’t able to attend you could always apply to work for Elisa DBI and attend next year

Elisa DBI at the Google Analytics Certified Partner Summit 2011 is a post from: Elisa DBI

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The ‘last click’ tracking model which attributes sales / revenue to the most recent traffic source before conversion. For products or services with a longer period of consideration in the buying cycle such as holidays or cars, advertisers run the risk of not giving credit to the marketing channels which drive awareness:

MCF looks to help marketers gain a better understanding of how users interact with different online channels en route to conversion. Gaining insight into how channels such as display drive users to convert during later sessions will enable advertisers to better allocate budget and measure ROI holistically.

Reports available

• Top Paths: the sequence of interactions leading up to a conversion. This can be at the Source, Medium, Source/Medium, Campaign, and Keyword levels
• Assisted Conversions: Performance based on how many conversions were assisted by each traffic source
• Time Lag: How long it took your customers to get to conversion
• Path length: How many interactions it took you customers to get to conversion

The Good

MCF undoubtably gives online marketing teams further reach with their analysis and measurement. The reports are automatically populated if goal and campaign tracking is set up. The reports can also be customised beyond the standard campaign channels to show the interactions between branded and non-branded search. Assisted conversions also is a powerful way of seeing how different channels assist each other in order to discover the best marketing mix for your products.

Combining this with the path length report you can begin to understand which channels have the most impact over which periods of time. Understanding how long it takes users to convert over channels gives valuable insight into the buying cycle for different products or services. Combining this with keyword analysis provides even further insight and will allow you to position your spend in a more tactical manner.

The Bad

While having a view beyond the last click model is a vast improvement, it by no means solves the attribution problem that has plagued the digital marketing industry for the last few years. Here are some reasons why:

• Devices – Cookie based tracking can still not identify users across devices. With over a third of UK adults now owning web enabled smart phones there will still be pieces missing from the complete jigsaw.
• Modelling - It’s fantastic to collect this data, but what use is it if you don’t use it? The lack of custom modelling means users will still need to dump reports into Excel and attribute revenue manually.
• 30 day cookie – The report only tracks user journeys back 30 days so for products or services with a longer consideration period the reports will fall short.
• No Post Impression – You will not be able to see which users have been exposed to your display ad impressions. Only clicks will be tracked.

The Verdict

Multi Channel Funnels is a great addition to the ever growing stable of tools available within Google Analytics. Anyone looking for absolutes should remember that web analytics as a technology is there to provide insights on trends, and MCF is no exception. While the tool has some limitations we often see Google start small and expand upon features like this, so expect more developments from Mountain View crew as they further integrate their marketing technologies.

To get the most out of the tool for your business you will need your campaign tracking to be set up correctly have an analyst with the skills and the time to dig deep enough into the data. Of course if you don’t you can always contact the experts

Google Analytics Multi-Channel Funnels is a post from: Elisa DBI

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Are you measuring your social media activity correctly?

If you have any suggestions or ideas to add to this guide then feel free to comment below!

Info-Graphic: Social Media Analytics is a post from: Elisa DBI

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The way we interact with computers and other electronic devices is constantly evolving. Maybe not as fast as some would like, but interaction with computer systems is changing, enabling us to complete tasks faster, easier and more efficiently.

In the early eighties the first Apple Macintosh computers made a shift from Command line to Graphical user interface and not so long ago mobile devices introduced us to touch screens. These three amazing TED videos below show what will be the next shift in human-computer interaction.

The g‑speak platform

TED link

In this TED talk Oblong Chief Scientist John Underkoffler shows off g-speak SOE(spatial operating environment). Computers don’t understand real world geometry or real world space and the video demonstrates what happens when you start to explain space to computers. Underkoffler believes that in five years or so all computers will have this technology. He points out that the barriers for adopting this environment will get lower because cameras and projectors will be integrated in our everyday environment and later there will be no need to use gloves.

What is interesting is that Underkoffler advised “Minority Report” (2002) filmmakers on how to create these cool gestures to control computer systems. The concept was used in the movie with the same gestures as in this TED talk.

The video below shows the capability of Oblong’s spatial operating environment.

SixthSense

TED link

SixthSense is a vision of augmented reality which gives access to meta information about psychical world. This technology was developed by Pranav Mistry at MIT Media labs and is still at the early stage of development. Pattie Maes gives a hint during the demo that this project was inspired by the same movie “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise.

Similar to the g-speak platform this technology has it’s own adoption barriers. It requires coloured caps on your fingers and a camera, projector, mirror on your neck.

If realised, this technology has the potential become disruptive to the way we are using search on the web today. It’s all about the velocity of accessing information. There is a niche for improving the speed of information flow. SixthSense perfectly can fill this niche by enabling information to be accessed faster then ever.

Photosynth

TED link

In the first part of the video you will see Blaise Aguera y Arcas demoing “Sea Dragon” – very cool looking environment in which you can interact with a vast amount of visual data. Blaise notes that the only thing that limits the performance of this system is the number of pixels on your screen at any given moment.

The second part of the video presents Photosynth – application that is generating three-dimensional models from digital photos.

Photosynth is developed by Microsoft Live Labs and the Univeristy of Washington. You can try it on the web – http://photosynth.net

This project is the perfect real life use case for the human-computer interactions that were described in the above videos.

Nevertheless, I believe that the potential of such application is significant if integrated with social networks such as Facebook or Flicker.

As always we look forward to hearing what you guys think on the topic. Get involved.

3 TED talks on future HCI is a post from: Elisa DBI

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