Web Analytics and Bazooka Joe
Filed under: Analytics, Education and Training on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 by Nan Dawkins
If you are a fan of bubble gum, you probably know Bazooka Joe, the main character of the comic appearing on the inside wrapper of Bazooka bubble gum. Bazooka Joe has been around since the 1950’s. I (still) find him strangely wise on occasion.
One of my favorite BJ strips features an interaction between Bazooka Joe and a man who has lost his car keys. Bazooka Joe happens upon the man, frantically searching for his keys on the ground underneath a street light. As Bazooka Joe helps the man search, he asks the man where he likely dropped the keys. The man points over his shoulder to the dark side of the street. Bazooka Joe, now puzzled, asks the man why he is looking in this spot under the street light instead of where he thinks he dropped the keys. The man replies with some irritation: “Because the light is better over here.”
We often find marketing staff focusing on the part of their Web Analytics tool that is under the street light (the metric that they understand, the data presented by a default setting, the overview report, etc.) even though they aren’t likely to find something really useful.
Why?
- Lack of knowledge about what is possible with their current WA tools
- Lack of support from IT (”we can’t help you with Web Analytics; we installed it, now it is up to you to make it work”)
- Lack of time
- Lack of clearly defined brand and business goals
- Lack of clearly defined success metrics
In short, senior management believes that Web Analytics is covered because someone bought and installed (maybe correctly, maybe not) a Web Analytics tool. How do you change that?
1.) Educate internal stakeholders about the ROI of Analytics and what it really takes to become a data driven organization: In-depth analytics skill; collaboration across departments; a culture of testing and experimentation; an Analytics strategy and well-defined metrics; established methodology; plus infrastructure and policy to ensure that data is successfully translated into action. (If senior management resists, you might try embarassing them into action.)
2.) Incorporate training costs into the budget. Until staff is empowered to tap the full potential of the WA program, analytics won’t be where it needs to be in the organizations, i.e., at the center of marketing decision making.
3.) Find a partner in IT. One of my clients who is in marketing (her name is Colleen) recently shared with me that she and her IT buddy (his name is Deming) have become “joined at the hip” — so much so that their coworkers have now assigned them a celebrity name. Look out Brangelina: Here comes Demileen.
How do you convince management? Where do you get training and how do you know what you need? Call us! Web Analytics is one of our biggest growth areas at Serengeti. We are Analytics evangelists and we love to share!
