9 Things to Think About When Buying a Web Analytic Solution
Filed under: Analytics on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 by Joy BrazelleSo, you are ready to take your analytics to the next level. You’ve realized the wealth of actionable information available and you want to invest in a tool that will help you find and use this information.
1. Data source
Probably the first question to answer is will you be using log files or java script? There are pros and cons to both. The obvious benefit of log files is that they already exist. No code needs to be added to your Web site. And you get history. The biggest benefit of java script is that using java script you can report on things that are not generally found in log files. (This can also be done using log files but it involves exposing lots of information in the URL or storing it in a cookie).
2. Ease of implementation
This is likely a topic that gets glossed over or minimized in the sales process. This is definitely not something that should be taken lightly. Implementation involves everything from determining (or purchasing) required hardware, assigning resources (to implement, to learn, to use, to maintain), implementing, testing and QA of the solution. Regardless of what you expect or how well you plan, implementation is almost always more complex and takes longer than originally anticipated.
3. Ease of use
The best and worst aspect of many solutions out there is the ability to configure the products to report on anything. It is incredibly important to have a solid understanding of the business goals of your Web site, the capabilities of the analytic solution and a plan for getting the necessary reporting in place before you commit to a product. An analytic solution will not be that useful in the long run if each time new information is needed it takes hours to configure.
4. Who owns the data?
When using a java script solution especially when the vendor is hosting the data (e.g. you are paying a monthly fee) make sure to find out who owns the data. Ask questions like: Can you have access to the data if you stop using that vendor? Will you retain all history or does data get deleted? Is it in a format that can be used by other analytic solutions?
5. Segmentation
Understanding what everyone is doing on your site is important. But the real value of an analytic solution is when you can analyze behavior of specific visitor groups. If an analytic package offers segmentation find out how complicated it is to set up, if there is a limit (e.g. 20 segments) and segments can be configured and applied to historic traffic.
6. Customization
Customization is important but means different things to different vendors. Again having an understanding for what you want to report on ahead of times is very important. Customization includes the customization of the java script to include specific data points, as well as customizing profiles or reports to view the data. When thinking about customization it is also important to keep ease of use in mind.
7. Integration
Many products offer integration with other data sources or applications. Just because a product can integrate with another data source does not mean that it should. There is some information that it makes sense to analyze in terms of web traffic and some that should be analyzed in a database.
8. Support
Another decision point that should not be glossed over during the sales process is support. What are the support policies? What is covered under support and what is not? Will you be able to call or chat with an actual person or is everything automated?
9. Pricing
My feelings about the price of a web analytics solution is that it is always worth it, it always has a positive ROI IF the commitment is made ahead of time to understand what can be reported on, what should be reported on, who is going to be responsible for the reporting and implementing the ‘fixes’ based on the reporting. If analytics will just be an afterthought, with no real owner (which is a shame) than it is not even worth investing money in it.
There are different pricing models out there. It is important to choose the one that makes sense for your company.
The most popular models have historically been either software (one time fee) or ASP/On Demand (monthly pricing for page views). Some vendors offer scaled back versions of their product (e.g. SMB) as a less expensive option. Of course the ‘free’ model became quite popular last year.
One last point, maybe you are not ready to make the investment in an actual product. It is definitely worthwhile to understand the importance of good data and the danger of making decisions based on bad data. It is a worthwhile investment in having someone to evaluate your implementation of a free program to make sure the data you are seeing is accurate.
