digital analytics

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Your Digital Measurement Resolution for 2013

by Kelly Kubrick on January 9, 2013

May I offer you a New Year’s resolution that doesn’t involve depriving yourself? A resolution that actually gives you good things – and at no cost?

Thanks to everyone who came out! Check out Online Authority’s takeaways from an afternoon immersion in analytics.

No need to deprive yourself

Register now to catch Jim Sterne of eMetrics, Digital Analytics Association and authorial fame roll up his sleeves and answer the question “What Makes a Great Analyst?”

If you’ve got digital measurement on the horizon for 2013 – or are deep in it now – you need to be there. Contemplating measurement frameworks? Or how to structure an analytics team? Need ideas for job titles? Or digital analyst job descriptions? Then block off the afternoon…

Jim Sterne

Jim will be in Ottawa for a pre-eMetrics Tour on January 17th, 2013 at Empire Grill in the Byward Market from 1:15pm to 5:00pm. This is your chance to hear Jim help Ottawa’s #measure community contemplate what it takes to be a true artist in the field of digital analytics.

As someone who has had the pleasure of hearing Jim speak multiple times over several years, I can tell you he delivers. Not only does he deliver engaging, intriguing and thought-provoking material, he also believes firmly in the potential of the digital measurement community.

The only requirement? Limited seating: Register ASAP

Speaking of building our community, this event is a great way to do just that in a painless way. Not only do you get to hear Jim’s take on the state of our industry, but you also get to catch:

Stephane Hamel of Cardinal Path and creator of WASP (THANK YOU!!!) and of the Online Analytics Maturity Model (when’s the last time you assessed your organization’s analytics maturity? Never? Get on that, would you?)
Jim Cain of Napkyn Inc. forger of new analytics business models (with one of my favourite lines ever: “Where your web analyst works.”) And who will help you use analytics to pick winners and losers. And we’re not talking Charlie Sheen…
Allan Wille of Klipfolio Inc. who’s going to give us the scoop on trends-analytical and how things are looking up for marketers (and who you should ask about things dashboard-y); and
Myself, Kelly Kubrick: I’ll be talking about applied analytics while making references to Hobbits. Habits! I mean habits!

And in between all this great content, you will meet your fellow Ottawa #measure community. Folks like you from private and public sectors, from across industries and all from Ottawa. Digital analysts, web analysts, search analysts, recovering analysts, future analysts…Come out and meet the crew!

In fact, if you really feel like broadening your Canadian analytical horizons, you can also catch our sister eMetrics Tour in Montreal on January 16th, 2013.

For additional scoop on the tour, check out Let’s talk metrics! Klipfolio an official sponsor of the eMetrics Tour and eMetrics Ottawa – Awesome, Important, Free! (and Napkyn is in the house).

Finally – assuming you are negotiating budget to attend eMetrics Toronto 2013 at this very moment, this is your chance to marshal arguments and perfect your pitch. And, if you are not familiar with the eMetrics Summits, here’s my learning from eMetrics Toronto 2012.

The moment is here…go ahead – you know you want to…register now…Hope you can make it!

Digital Maturity: the Data Strategy Dimension

by Kelly Kubrick on December 20, 2012

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

The third dimension of digital maturity is your Data Strategy. It is one of Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity™ assessed in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™, a business planning tool to help organizations improve their digital processes against an established standard.

Data Strategy icon from the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model An organization’s data strategy “reflects all the ways you capture, store, manage and use information.” Without a data strategy, organizations struggle with

Uncertainty about what data is collected / available
Poorly understood data standards, and how that can lead data quality issues
- Is it ‘stale’?
- Is ‘clean’ and / or ‘trusted’?
- Is it ‘usable’ / is it ‘accessible’? In which formats?
Deciding how long they should store data
Who / which roles should be responsible for protecting and securing data
A lack of recognition of the strategic value of the data collected

Now, think about your organization’s approach to your data:

Could you inventory the different data sources your organization has available? Within each, do you know what data you are collecting?
How would you characterize your organization’s collection of customer data such as email addresses, ecommerce sales data, or member information?
How would you characterize your organization’s use of data?
- How ‘clean’ is your data?
- Do you trust the data?
Who is responsible for collecting and cleaning the various data sources?
Are you collecting the data needed for you to take action with it?
How quickly does your organization act on the data (offline / operational, customer, or digital) you are collecting?

When assessing your level of maturity in data strategy, think about the data you collect, how you use and share it and how frequently and how quickly you act on it.

Answering these questions is will help your organization determine if it is in the best position to implement your digital initiatives. What do you think? Have you got the right data strategy in place to ensure your organization’s digital success?

Next: Content Strategy

Next, let’s take a look at the fourth dimension, your organization’s content strategy.

Participate in the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey

For specific questions that measure the human resources dimension of digital maturity, take the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. We will share our collective results at the next Digital Strategy Conference.

Learn how to measure your organization’s digital maturity

Or, to measure your organization’s digital maturity across all six dimensions, register for our upcoming Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop, a practical, hands-on learning session to help your organization create a road map for digital success.

Feeling fragmented by digital?

by Kelly Kubrick on October 15, 2012

Working in digital is like being caught in a earthquake of change.

Late in April 2011, after many conversations with my web analytics industry colleague, Andrea Hadley, I made a fateful comment. Since first meeting in 2008 and as a past member of her advisory boards for Internet Marketing Conference, SMX Canada and eMetrics Canada, we had spent many hours debating the future of our industry.

Kelly Kubrick, Vice-President and Partner, dStrategy Media, producers of Digital Strategy Conference

Andrea Hadley, President and Partner, dStrategy Media, producers of Digital Strategy Conference

Andrea is as passionate as I am about digital, and also happens to be a conference producer, based in Vancouver. She and I regularly discussed how it seemed that everyone we spoke to felt increasingly overwhelmed by the never-ending tactical options in digital.

The only advice out there seemed to be “You should quit; go work for someone who ‘gets’ digital”.

We didn’t like that advice. How could our industry build capacity in digital if the only advice was to encourage churn? We’d get nowhere as an industry or country.

“You should bring a conference to Ottawa”, I said. Innocently. Not understanding the significance of the gleam in her eye…

Within the year, we formed dStrategy Media, producers of the about-to-be-launched Digital Strategy Conference.

Introducing Digital Strategy Conference

In digital, not only are we challenged by the need to juggle multiple dimensions – our people resources, our technology resources, our data, our content and social strategies…but on top of it, there’s non-stop fragmentation: new platforms, new channels and new business models.

What do do? Join us at Digital Strategy Conference. It will be a deep dive into digital strategy, bringing together senior directors and managers with industry leaders to learn the essentials of planning, organizing, integrating and implementing digital initiatives.

Digital Strategy Conference is an instructor-led, three day educational event intended to explore the fundamentals of digital strategy. We’ve outlined the key areas of learning so you know what to expect. Learn more here:

The first Digital Strategy Conference will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia in April 2013 followed by Ottawa, Ontario in June 2013. In each city, we’ll be tackling the following topics:

Defining Digital Strategy
Establishing Your Digital Maturity
Data Strategy and Performance Measurement
Digging into Content Strategy
Mobile to Multiscreen Strategy
Social Strategy
Making Sense of Paid Media

The call for speakers for both Vancouver and Ottawa is now open, and we look forward to reviewing your submissions. We hope you can join us!

Critical tidbits from a Web (now Digital) Analytics bookshelf

by Kelly Kubrick on July 19, 2012

Like many of us in the web analytics industry, I’m indebted to every colleague who has put fingers to keyboard and documented our ever-evolving world of (now) digital analytics. Over the years, as new books have released, I leap to them and have always found a critical tidbit or two (or ten). To express my gratitude, I’ve noted what I’ve found valuable about each book. I hope this helps as you consider additions to your analytics book collection. Enjoy!

Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics (Third Edition) by Brian Clifton, 2012

I love this book for the sheer amount of detail it contains; it’s been an invaluable resource to me and I’ve returned to it, and its earlier edition(s)* repeatedly. If you are looking for specifics on Google Analytics implementation, this one’s for you. Brian’s instructions and recommendations on customizing the Google Analytics Tracking Code are crystal clear, precisely detailed and very pragmatic. The fact that he also publishes the Advanced Web Metrics blog to support the (book’s) community, was Head of Web Analytics for Google EMEA for three years and was instrumental in creating the Google Analytics Individual Qualification program (making him a “Xoogler” – per Brian, pronounced “zoogler”, and it refers to ex-Google employee) is just icing on the learning cake.

* Previous editions: first edition published in 2008, and the second in 2010.

Google Analytics, by Justin Cutroni, 2010

Similarly, if you need implementation specifics for Google Analytics, you need to own this book. It covers the full range of questions you’ll bump into, from a great chapter on Must-Have Profiles right through to mobile application tracking. Hit the ground running by taking advantage of Justin‘s chapter on creating your analytics implementation plan and you’ll never look back. The book offers is a more detailed version of Justin’s 2007 Google Analytics eBook, also published by O’Reilly, but together, they reinforce the wealth of analytics insight Justin has shared that you will find immediately applicable.

Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity, by Avinash Kaushik, 2010

I’ve long admired Avinash‘s accessible writing style – humorous, practical and laden with metaphors that illustrate and amuse. From the man who brought us HiPPOs (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) and Analysis Ninjas vs Reporting Squirrels, this book drew my attention in its consideration and treatment of emerging analytics: social, mobile and video. Further, every single analyst must read Chapter 2, Step 2: “Ten Questions to Ask Vendors Before You Marry Them”. Back in my Time Warner days, I learned how to interview potential vendors, and over the years, it has proven an invaluable skill. With Avinash’s help, you can now take crash course yourself. Go for it!

Actionable Web Analytics, by Jason Burby & Shane Atchison, 2007

This book is for those of you who face analytics issues relating to change management and organizational structure issues. There are two full chapters on addressing business culture landmines that analysts ignore at their peril and on the inside scoop on how to work successfully with analytics agencies (and the ZAAZ guys should know!). Finally, there’s also an incredibly useful section on how to staff your web team: the skills and roles you’ll need and the team structures you might want to consider. If you are responsible for building out an analytics area of practice at your organization, you can thank Jason and Shane for providing you with an instruction manual.

Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, written by Avinash Kaushik, 2007

Talk about an eagerly anticipated book! I was definitely a “pre-order” buyer and still think the hour-a-day format works. I’ve regularly recommended this book to managers trying to get new analysts up to speed because of how straightforward it makes the analytics learning path. An hour of web analytics a day? Talk about a simple instruction to give and receive. Within, you’ll find gems like Avinash‘s 10/90 rule: Allocate “10% of the budget on tools and 90% on people (brains) responsible for insights.” Gloriously helpful when budgeting. One of my favourite sections is a step by step guide to measuring PPC campaign cannibalization rate (vs. Organic). If you’ve ever had to go toe to toe with someone over the relative value of SEO vs. PPC and that person is unfamiliar with the concept of making decisions from data, Avinash has built your case for you.

Google Analytics, by Mary E. Tyler and Jerri L. Ledford, 2006

This book raced to hit the shelves very quickly after Google purchased Urchin and released the now ubiquitous Google Analytics. Unfortunately, due to how closely the book content adhered to the Urchin interface the screen shots feels dated (for a Google Analytics book). Although the next edition, Google Analytics 2.0, published quickly, the first edition remained helpful for analysts still working with Urchin. In particular, Part 3 of provides a thorough explanation of the old Executive, Marketer and Webmaster dashboards and the reports contained within, and frankly, provides more detail than the Urchin documentation ever did. Now that Google has elected to retire Urchin, this book may prove its value primarily as archival content, but nonetheless, if you must navigate Urchian-waters, you may still find it helpful.

The Big Book of Key Performance Indicators by Eric T. Peterson, 2006

Ahh – the memories. Thanks to Eric and his downloadable e-book and its companion spreadsheets, many of us were able to get a handle on what web analytics KPIs (key performance indicators) were, and what they were not. Eric gave us definitions, examples, and explained the value of thresholds and how colours would help communicate said thresholds. He raised awareness levels of non-maths how-did-I-become-a-web-analyst persons by clarifying the whys and wherefores of averages, percentages, rates and ratios. He helped us classify KPIs by business type. My personal epiphany related to the onsite search KPIs – Searches per Visit, Percent Zero Results, Percent Zero Yield, Search to Purchase Conversion Rate, Search Results to Site Exits Ratio. Sigh. Now I’m feeling nostalgic. Most importantly however, you can get your hands on this treasure trove – free – due to Web Analytics Demystified’s very kind free book offer. Have fun!

Best of Web Analytics Guide: 12 Timeless Articles & Insights from Marketing Experts, by ClickZ Network, 2005

I could not resist including this little guidebook, as it serves as a reminder of the old saying “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” or “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. It’s a series of 2004 and 2005 articles from the ClickZ Network, compiled and sponsored by Webtrends (back when they were WebTrends!). It’s a great snapshot of early web analytics lessons that still apply in today’s world of digital analytics – how to improve A/B testing, why audits should precede redesigns and not being afraid to fail. Like I said…plus ça change!

Web Analytics Demystified, by Eric T. Peterson, 2004

As someone who grew up professionally on the ecommerce / transactional side of web, I was very clear on how my “offline” i.e. magazine circulation marketers measured success. At Time Inc, concepts around acceptable acquisition cost and lifetime value were drilled into us, and we were asked to explain how the web source might impact those numbers. However, as the web source became more critical, we web-folk needed to learn more about what to count online and how to count it. Enter Chapter 2 and 3 of Eric‘s book – talk about lightbulbs! If you need clarity on the techniques and technologies used in web analytics, read this book. Then, give a nod to our pre page tag data collection days and romp your way through Eric’s advantages and disadvantages of log files versus page tags. Seriously. We aren’t considered geeks without good reason.

Winning on the Web: The Executive Pocket Guide to Smarter Marketing by NetIQ Corporation, 2002

Who remembers when NetIQ owned WebTrends (now Webtrends!)? I do. Who remembers those early vendor conferences when swag ruled? I do! Wait. I guess that still happens. Long live swag! Which is why I must mention this little guide, which introduced me to R.A.D.A.R. or Report, Analyze, Decide, Act and React. As anyone who’s taken my Webtrends course knows, if you want to know how to apply web analytics to your work plan this year, that acronym still contains value. Although, I also still think it should be R.A.D.A.R.R (the last R being “repeat”). So – my thanks to Webtrends (WebTrends?). Your efforts were appreciated!

Distilled learning from eMetrics Toronto 2012

by Kelly Kubrick on April 30, 2012

I had the pleasure of attending eMetrics Toronto 2012 both as a learner and moderator of the “Managing Analytics and Insights” track. For those of you interested in digital measurement who have not yet made it to an eMetrics Summit, you need to add this event to your list.

As always, I learned more than I could capture in a single post, so instead, have distilled my learning to three lessons that stayed with me long after I said farewell.

Digital channel attribution is more accessible than we think.

By attribution, I mean the effort to assigning “credit” for a given lead to a specific marketing channel. Attribution is one of those thorny topics that marketing analysts have contemplated for decades. Knowing that there are multiple points of exposure my prospect may have had to my messaging – online and offline – which one was THE most effective?

Rationally, we know that there is not a simple answer – that it’s the very nature of multi-channel attribution that is the secret sauce, but we can all dream…

Regardless, the keynote “Your Mileage May Vary – Nissan LEAF’s Data-Driven Customer Journey” detailed a possible approach: “because Nissan understood attribution, they eliminated the problem up front with rifle shot activity – isolated channel activity – each week.” I love the bravery of that statement – to “hold the (measurement) line” under extreme pressure is hard to do.

The other concept I took from the session is the idea of a ‘hand-raiser’, which was Nissan’s term for a very early stage prospect i.e. someone who might be interested enough in the new Nissan Leaf to engage with the brand – without the pressure of conversion. Finally, it gave me an excuse to watch the Nissan Leaf ad on YouTube [VIDEO] again…

“Beware of proxies for satisfaction”

As always, the presentation by Foresee Results, Managing Forward: Analytics For Today’s Multi-Channel, Multi-Device Consumer was “note-worthy”. Sadly my scrawled diagrams are not share-worthy, but essentially, Larry Freed presented a model combining voice of customer and behaviour and incorporates measurement, data, observation and feedback.

It’s a great visual for the relationship between customer satisfaction analytics, measuring vs. watching “what happened” and listening. In particular, it was good to be reminded that the customer’s “experience and expectations define satisfaction – what customers do next – which drives forward your success”. I like the simplicity of that – “what customers do next”, reminiscent of the famed financial services disclaimer “”past performance is not a guarantee of future results”.

“Create (a) Question-Ready Database”

Coined by Scott Jamieson, General Manager, Email Operations from TC Media, the statement “create a question-ready database” caught my attention and imagination during the “Multi-Channel Dashboard to Drive Retail Transactions” session.

The statement was in relation to a dashboard product TC Media developed that “features behavioural data from across multiple digital channels” for its clients. The core asset is a database that contains potential insights for its customers. What I found particularly refreshing was Scott’s reply to questions about what / how much information should be stored: “how much is enough?” and “should we store all variables and / or all variations on variables?”

As the underlying panic in the question increased, Scott calmed the room with a gentle reminder to “solve for information at a point in time – not for all of history – create a question-ready database”. In other words, don’t try to solve for all questions forever. Instead, make sure your (measurement assets) give you the flexibility to answer questions that have not yet been formed.

As always, a great conference. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Google Analytics report Annotations: Your Analysis BFF (Best Friend Forever)

by Kelly Kubrick on March 5, 2011

Post updated repeatedly over time…!

One of my favourite features in Google Analytics is called “Annotations. It’s a simple concept, but incredibly easy way to add context to your data for everyone in your organization. that easily allows you to add a quick hit your reports with information specific to your operating environment:

After annotations have been added, they show up like this:

and when expanded, like this:

Examples of the context you can add include

Email newsletter / blog publishing dates
Special event dates
Media coverage
Campaign start / stop dates, changes to creative
Changes to your page tag or profile / view settings

How do I annotate my Google Analytics reports?

Chose a specific date in the calendar
Click the down arrow at the bottom of the calendar
Click Create new annotation

Or watch this 1 minute video:

Image credit: http://www.fairyengine.com/articles/dxmultiviews.htm

Why you want multiple Views in your Google Analytics

by Kelly Kubrick on December 10, 2010

Teapot image credit – Fairy Engine

Although the concept of having test vs. development/staging vs production environments is well known to the information technology world, it is not a common concept for those of us on the marketing-communications or business side of the lunch room. However, in digital analytics, the concept is critical.

In Google Analytics, a “View” is a collection of settings and definitions used to generate a unique set of your reports. A View is specific to your account and your organization’s page tag (or Google Analytics tracking code). Within a View, you can have custom settings, including setting a particular ‘home page’, time zone, establishing unique access rights by users, enabling filters and more.

Start with the Google Analytics account hierarchy

Google Analytics account hierarchy

In Google Analytics, a View is the “inner circle” of the hierarchy of your Account, and the ‘level’ that you’ll spend the most time in.

By contrast, at the outermost ring, you’ll find your Google Analytics Account Settings that define ownership over contents of your account. In the middle, you’ll find your ‘Property’ settings.

Ideally, organizations will have 1 Google Analytics account, but within that account, they might have 1 or more properties (such as multiple websites / domains or a mobile app).

Finally, within a property, there can be multiple views (formerly profiles), which are all different views of the same data set, collected the same way for everyone with Views in the account.

Google Analytics account hierarchy: Account vs Property vs Views

Generally, your website equals your view.

However because of the availability of enabling filters, your Google Analytics account can – and should – have more than one view.

Additional views are generally created because of reporting requirements.

Views are typically created by copying a “master” set of data and then applying filters to the copy.

Filters are our friends

Filters are a means of eliminating unwanted or isolating specific information, thus filters are how we create different Views in Google Analytics. For example: If website XYZ.ca has no filters, we would call it “View A – Unfiltered” versus website XYZ.ca with filters applied, might be named “View B – Filtered”.

A typical rationale for a separate View would be to separate internal / employee website visitor activity from client/customer website visitor activity. Using filters, you can create Views of your website or mobile app data that:

Includes only only your prospects / customer and excludes your staff, agencies or contractors, or that
Includes only your staff, agencies or contractors but excludes your prospects / customers

Alternatively, you might want to exclude referral spam, also known as ghost spam traffic, which can inflate your numbers with ‘fake’ data.

Always best to create at least 3 Views

Knowing that there might be different filters needed, it’s better to anticipate the request by creating and maintaining at least 3 views in your account from the outset. Further, when you create the different Views, incorporate creation / modification dates and if possible, which filters have been applied.

The 3 views you want should include:

Your “Unfiltered” or “Raw” data view
Your “Test” view and
Your “Master” or production view, where you want everyone spending their analysis time.

Unfiltered or Raw data View

Your ‘unfiltered’ view is exactly that – it includes all data collected by Google Analytics, and is reflective of the “gross” traffic to your website. It includes everybody and everything. And, once you’ve created it, you can ignore it. It will simply collect data, essentially giving you a backup copy in case something ever goes wrong. And believe me – it can go wrong.

Test View

Your test view is a copy of your unfiltered View, but it’s meant as a sandbox – or a playground – where you can safely create, test, apply, delete and generally experiment before applying ‘final’ version filters to your Master View. It’s also a safe place to test configuration changes: your search settings, or Goals or Funnel Visualizations.

Master View

Your Master view is copy of your Raw Data View – but this time with (your fully tested) filters, such as Exclude Employees, enabled and applied. This is the View you want everyone looking at. In fact, I’ve often named this view “USE THIS ONE – Master View: Excludes internal” so everyone internally knows its the place to be.