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Alternative Philosophies In Web Analytics
By: Jeff Lawrence
Recently we attended a Webinar from a company that offers a web analytics package. The CEO of the company described what he defined as "sins" web analysts use when looking at the data. The plug was of course that by using his product you could refrain from experiencing these "sins", but some of his points were interesting. One point in which we agreed with him upon was that top paths are relatively useless. By top paths, we mean the path that users take when navigating a particular website. Most users normally start at the home page, and then click through various levels. He argued that A - B - C - D is the same as A - C - D - B, which it is. If the end result is whatever goal you have specified then it doesn't matter which way they go. Spending hours analyzing your data on this issue is pointless. Another point that the CEO brought up was the issue of "linear funnels." Linear funnels are defined funnels which show where visitors drop off along a specified path.
Now we use linear funnels when it comes to e-commerce sites as they provide an excellent tool in examining if the shopping cart and checkout process is experiencing the industry average for abandonment. When pressed about what he would use for this instead of linear funnels the CEO did not elaborate. Finally the webinar concluded with the company?s insistence that pie charts "often don't show the best options for the second biggest parts." The CEO justified this by showing a chart with similar proportions, and asked what was the second biggest. The vast majority of the class guessed correctly which it was, but even that point is mute. Google Analytics for example offers a percentage next to each pie chart, so you can visually look at the chart, and then read the percentage to see how close each section is.
Different philosophies exist in the field of web analytics, but be careful to be drawn to companies that offer radical differences from the established main companies. Often these are just tricks to get you to give them a try, and not proven valid points. If you have any further questions that we haven't clearly addressed, or just need some advise feel free to visit us at www.sonicko.com
Jeff Lawrence is the owner of Sonicko Consultanting. This article may be reused provided that the full content is published. Sonicko focuses on web analytics and search engine optimization and is based out of Los Angeles, CA. You can reach them at their website at http://www.sonicko.com |
