eMetrics 2010 was a great experience. Lots of smart, interesting speakers, and great food for thought. Here are some of my favourite points, quotes, etc:

Jim Sterne: Social Media – Time to Rethink Your Marketing Metrics

“Yes, I like data, but I’m all about customer centricity.”

Purpose of social media is to:

• Gain awareness
• Change attitudes
• Consider your influence
• Check on your competition
• Take action and
• Generate value.

Larry Freed from ForeSee Results: Managing Forward: Moving from Measuring the Past to Managing the Future

Measure what matters most – your customers. Need to measure what constitutes success from their view, not yours.

The consumer is in charge. Because of the internet, it is easy to shop around amongst competitors. You no longer have to go from store to store but can check another store’s prices from a mobile device. Power therefore now rests with a cross-channel consumer.

Satisfaction drives conversion, loyalty, retention and word of mouth. Satisfy your customers and be fiscally responsible to survive and thrive in the years ahead.

Knowledge is power. Integration of metrics yields big dividends. Turn data into information, information into intelligence.

Social Media Metrics Framework Faceoff

Possible objectives of social:

• Fostering a dialogue
• Promoting advocacy
• Facilitating support
• Spurring innovation
• Generating awareness
• Driving revenue

Measuring social media is still new, and it is challenging to figure out the right KPIs. Sentiment analysis is not yet at a point where it can be automated, as sentiment comes from a reader’s reaction. (And note, people’s reactions are not all the same!)

Hardest thing about social is getting a VP/Director/etc to focus on why they want to be in social. What are the goals? Put channel last (e.g. don’t worry about whether to be on Facebook or Twitter) and think first about why you want to be in social at all.

PR and Analytics often using different tools to measure social media success, and often don’t mix or share information. However, ideally they should integrate and share knowledge.

Joe Megibow, Expedia

“I like to build stuff and blow sh*t up”

Expedia achieved success via data integration and uniting teams. Originally had Tealeaf analysts, datawarehouse analysis, BI analysts (etc) in different countries, with no global standards of definition and measurement. There were multiple (conflicting) data systems, and while decisions were made by numbers, accuracy is a question, and they weren’t being made on facts.

[No wonder the web analytics industry doesn’t yet have standard definitions and measurement. Expedia didn’t even have them within one company!]

Now a united team, with consistent definitions and integrated data systems.

Joe’s six lessions:

1. If you’re not working with your peers, you’re competing with them. Make sure people aren’t coming to different people for the same questions and having them compete against each other!
2. Learn from finance. CFO has “the truth”, and seasoned analysts who work with it. Find your source of truth.
3. Don’t just count, DO! Go from data collection to data action. Analysts can actually push projects through!
4. Sign up for results. Are you willing to bet your job, your team?
5. Manage expectations. If something will take a month, be clear about that. Business leaders just want plans and forecasts they can count on.
6. Start small, and communicate, communicate, communicate. Find little business wins, and proactively deliver. Earn the right to do more.

The moral of the story? Get stuff done. Take ownership, get results, get more ownership.

Vendor two-minute presentations

I think this is all that really has to be shared!

Adam Greco, Salesforce.com

Web data and CRM data is like peanut butter and chocolate – better together. Web analytics data is good. Integrated with other systems is what drives real value.

Add offline success metrics to online variables.
Segment web analytics data by CRM fields
Target web promotions using web and CRM data.

PS. Awesome success via integrating golf handicap from CRM system into ad promotion on site!

Add easy to understand value of a website visitor via scoring. (E.g. reaching Page X is worth 1 point, Page Y is 2 points, etc.) Every visitor therefore has a score/value of their visit.

To justify your analytics budget, you need to show them the money. Tie your success to revenue. It’s what CEOs understand.

Stephane Hamel: Measuring Your Organisation’s Web Analytics Maturity

Only way to success: Creativity in continuous improvement and attention to details. Generate innovative ideas and manifest them through to reality. Requires original thinking and producing. Analytics should use creativity. Analytics without creativity is just theory and pure mathematics.

Analytics = how a business arrives at an optimal and realistic decision, based on existing data.

Need people, process and technology.

Good thoughts from the session:

• No data is enough if someone doesn’t want to believe. (Seth Godin)
• Creativity is always constrained in some way. (Stephane’s daughter!)
• Constraints make us push our limits (Peter Gabriel)
• If data blocks your creativity, either your idea sucks, or you’re not being creative enough. (Jim Sterne)

Anyone can make the simple complicated. The challenge is to make the hard stuff easy. Analysis requires breaking a complex topic into smaller parts, to gain a better understanding of it.

Web analytics may be new, but we can (and should) learn from existing disciplines, rather than recreate the wheel.

The maturity model: Essential elements of effective processes which describes an evolutionary improvement from ad hoc, immature processes to disciplined, mature processes with improved quality and effectiveness.

Example:

Defined by level of maturity on a variety of axes. Aim is to develop but also remain even (e.g. no sense being mature in technology and having poorly developed analyst resources.) Growing one level of maturity is equal to one year of development.

Take homes:

1. Get down to earth
2. Fix your issues
3. Gain experience
4. Maintain balance (no point being well developed in one area, and low in another.)

Bob Page, eBay

eBay has an executive team that believes you can optimise the business with data. (And FYI, eBay has a ridiculous amount of data.)

They operate via distributed teams, organised datawarehouses, virtual data marts, but guided by common “North Star” metrics – those that are most important to the business.

Have developed an analytics community – like a Facebook for their many analysts. Allows information sharing, knowledge, and building relationships.

Structure of eBay analytics:

• Dual hub & spoke model
• Centralised technical team under the CTO
• Centralised business analysts under the CFO
• Distributed product analysts

The validation of groups’ findings helps keep a “separation of church and state” – keeps the businesses and teams honest when held accountable to another team.

Web analysts need to speak with a common vocabulary to and with finance.

On testing:

• Exploration and testing are core pillars of an analytics driven organisation.
• If all of your tests succeed, you’re not pushing hard enough. You need to do silly things, and fail.

Ensighten Tag Management

Interesting new kid on the block regarding tag management. “Just because we’ve always done it that way, doesn’t mean it’s the right way.”

KPI Clinic (June Li, Stephane Hammel, Angie Brown)

KPIs are your “Oh, sh*t!” metrics. If it doesn’t matter if they move up or down, that’s not a KPI. If they never change, that’s also not a KPI.

KPIs must also be actionable.

To make KPIs meaningful, they should be tied to people’s bonuses. Those are key for people.

There can (and should) be layers of KPIs: executives will have just a top-line few, middle will have more, analysts will have a lot. Being closer to the product and daily decisions will mean you should be looking at more detail.

Take the lead as an analyst in defining KPIs, and get buy-in. (If you ask for input, you may end up with 10,000 “Key” Performance Indicators.)

Agree on an expiration/review date, to make sure they get revisited from time to time.

Some think of KPIs as your dashboard, but John Lovett proposes thinking of them as your low fuel light, because you have to take action.

High level KPIs are great, but you must segment to make sure that they’re not hiding a lower-level trend. (E.g. One segment up, one down.)

If you’re not sure if a KPI is useful, or if anyone is looking at it? Go “metric radio silent” (or use fake data!!) to see if anyone notices!

Analysts, take the initiative, but collaborate. And don’t groan when a change in KPIs is needed …

Global Analytics at IBM

Analytics managers: Set a clear goal, give the team the right resources, and watch them soar. (Margaret Escobar from IBM)

IBM global web analytics team is a centralised and paid internal service. Internal clients contract with analytics at the beginning of the year as to the number of resources needed, the skill level, etc.

IBM focuses on:

• People (need to communicate, especially in a global team)
• Process (trying to establish “reusable assets” aka templates, as well as sharing methodology and focusing on documentation)
• Tools

Trying to balance:

1. Consistency, with customisation
2. Demand, with overloading the team
3. Learning and exploring, but still getting the work done.

IBM product management: Need to embed metrics and analytics into your program develop, and decide what qualifies as success before you start.

Other notable

• “I received the oddest compliment today: ‘You make analytics and fun no longer seem mutually exclusive.’ But later (different person): ‘I’m not sure you do anything smart …’ ” – Lee Isensee
• “Analysts take a complex topic, then breaks it up to gain a better understanding. Don’t throw data at people. Tell the story.” – Michelle Rutan
• Question: “Is there a tool that will integrate data from various sources?” Answer: “You’re the tool.”
• “Counting is not analytics. Seems obvious, but what did you do last week?” – @sutterbomb
• “Analysts need to get better at the why, not the what.” Pat LaPointe, Michael Dunn session.
• “Good web analysts have perspective and good problem solving skills, an intellectual curiosity and a desire to know why.” Pat LaPointe, Michael Dunn. I agree: http://www.michelehinojosa.com/2010/06/19/the-most-valuable-trait-of-analysts-that-you-cant-teach/
• The web analytics industry is maturing. Companies are pushing hard. In the future, an increase in digital and data savvy CEOs will help this further.

Shameless self promotion

My presentation and review.