The idea of preparedness for unexpected events or peril is nothing new. The anxiety which mounts upon each published story seem to falsely disseminate that the corrections in commerce markets are a) unprecedented and b) inextricably linked to a slippery slope of economics which will plunge our company’s infrastructure and personal lifestyles into the pits of a depression.

The ‘Perfect Storm’ which COULD create widespread economic issues is not the natural and cyclical corrections taking place in the global or capital economies, but the poor approach to reacting to this new by forcing bad decisions. In order to avoid bad decisions as an ‘economy’ we, as analysts and gilded protectorate of the data, need to empower our companies with good information. We need to understand the business as well as the business we are in. Having a grasp on this will help us navigate the choppy water of volatility.

BACK TO BUSINESS WEB ANALYTICS

If there is a time to put being an evangelist aside, it is now. This is about business. Business is, essentially, a series of decisions being made by different people and teams to produce optimal return on finances invested. Continuously improving business means becoming more efficient in action and more adept at making decisions. Making better decisions means having good, current data which can be correlated to the way in which a business makes decisions. Good data comes from a diligent analyst plucking the groupings out of raw web analytics output:

• Filtering out domains, IPs, internal users, bots, script-executing robots and anything else that will give a skewed picture of who comprises your audience.
  • Both Google Analytics and Omniture SiteCatalyst (and I’m sure the same is true of Coremetrics, ClickTracks etc.) provide a means to do this. While SiteCatalyst only boxes 5 filters, you can add many more with a Vista Rule ($)
  • Jot this down as a task that requires regular management. Simply doing this once is equivalent to taking inventory once.

When an analyst goes to a meeting to provide information to the people who need it, it should be without reservation. Confidence in the data which you are presenting or using to support avenues for business should have all the questioning done in the locker room and not on the field. Paying close attention to your data and watching out for invasive issues is key to building good decisions.

• Correlating trends in the marketplace which impact your business model as they relates to your web analytics data
  • Learn about your customers, your vendors, and your financiers and see how they are impacted by market forces.
  • Get competitive intelligence on the checklist to see how the news is impacting the market and where opportunities exist. Big economic consequences tend to create consolidation at the top, and liquidation at the bottom.
  • Get to know your Geo-locations. Big cities produce a great deal of information about topics, but their volatility depends on their ‘perceived’ collective investment in the actions creating market fluctuation
    • example: Cities where housing markets are suffering might be more aware of the local impact of the lull. The result might be that individuals whom have been exposed to larger concentrations of for sale signs might not be as willing to buy the ‘handy-dandy three speed deluxe vacuum’ of the week.
  • Build presence in areas where its necessary, and expand presence in areas which have economically insulated populations. By the time the numbers stabilize, the brand identity value should be starting to trickle down.

• Draft Momentum from Strong Brand Manufacturers or Business Affiliates
  • Whenever possible, spelunk the data on the websites of companies who provide your products, inventory, services or solutions.
  • Speak to your partners and affiliates and try to gauge when big media events are coming up.
  • Cross-pollinate their PR with your own to help feed each other energy around a product or idea.
  • Trade some venues with them. Inevitably people who are landing on your site might be trying to communicate with the manufacturer in circumstances, and vice versa. In all likelihood, you should be able to give each other ideas without cannibalizing the market. If anything, you both might benefit from knowing the mindset of the user.

• Understand Web Analytics as a Function of Marketing; As a Function of Business
  • Take the time to understand how your analytics solution measures all marketing venues (referring domains, campaigns, SEM etc.) and know how the solution is attributing the success.
    • These methods might include tricky subjects like First, Recent, Linear, or Participation attributions, or, worse: acscription which essentially provides little or no scientific basis for the explained success
  • Every dollar which is spent through a marketing budget, either directly or indirectly, should have a highly scrutinized figure of return attached to it.
  • Know where your money is going and how much is coming back.
  • Help managers and executives make good decisions on where and how to spend money to:
    • Increase likelihood of success
    • Trim costs on resources
    • Quantify return on investment

• Measure and understand the “other” web and business analytics - take the time to think through ways to get more data. Sometimes you have to get creative.
  • If you plan on using print media and have not yet done so, discuss test markets with publishers. You can spend 10% of the costs of a broad publication to test reactions in small markets. This requires benchmarking areas prior to injecting media and measuring the blip and tail in that market.
  • Independently measure personalization applications. Taking the word of the provider should never be enough. The fact that you do this might even win you points with the solution vendor. Ever since we really pressed SiteBrand, they’ve been extremely active and interested in the developments which we have with CableOrganizer.
  • Get more information about your customers through what happens when they pick up the phone. Our research company has developed a way to measure phone call web metrics using something we call Session ForeSite™. We liked it so much we filed a patent application and developed a brand around it.

While the graphic at the top of this post is a joke, on some level, I’m seriously considering putting together some sort of pamphlet or compendium on this topic for upcoming events. If anyone is interested in contributing, I’d be interested in hearing and discussing some of what experienced professionals have found is working, or has worked in the past, with regard to offsetting damaged markets.

Please feel free to comment or discuss any point here and continue to check back for updates to this particular post in case revisions are made to provide more useful information. I personally view this as a ‘living post’ instead of a regular article. Also, no information will ever be provided in any work from me on how to land a plane…just so you know…;)

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