EightBlack.

It still amazes me that Google Analytics is a free service. The cynic in me says that the sheer amount of analytical data that Google are collecting for their own benefit from site owners all around the world must be staggering so no wonder they want to give it away. It’s why the Database Of Intentions argument still exists today.

The challenge for most small to medium enterprises is that while the application might be “free”, the frustration comes with trying to understand the volume of data that’s presented. Where do you start? What numbers do you look at first? (bounce rate, unique visitors, page impressions, time on site etc) How do you learn about what’s important.

As Google matures (it just turned 10), so too must its offerings to the various market segments. There’s a lot of consulting revenue on the table for the search giant and maybe the whole “lets get the user to do all the work himself” is going to have to be re-thought as a strategy.

Most small business operators I know are “time poor”. There’s a lot about the web they still don’t get - and analytics would be at the top of the list. They understand that if they advertise in a Yellow Pages directory, the phone might ring. When the sales rep calls once a year to get them to renew, they’ll instinctively know whether or not they received enough phone calls from the ad (either directly or by yelling around the office to ask for a general consensus).

By the way, you’ve never seen an industry become more defensive about their existence than a physical directory business (like the Yellow Pages). That’s for another time.

My advice to people dipping their toe in the water with analytics is to not worry about what the Google Analytics interface is telling you yet. If you have the internal resource and that person is passionate about the web and the company website, then all well and good. But if you don’t, the all you should concern yourself about is why people leave the site. Not why they stay. Why they leave.

Run an online survey, send out an email questionnaire to past and existing customers, and even consider running one of those often dreaded “exit pops”. There are ways to execute this without becoming totally offensive.

Analytics professionals are in hot demand the world over. I don’t see that trend changing in the near future. Google has done a great job in getting the product out there and who can complain about the price point! But I still think there is an enormous gap between getting a product distributed and having a market actually consume it. If they offered a “free” service and a paid service, not only would Google uncover yet another revenue stream, but also the new found business intelligence would ensure the moat stayed (and widened) around their fortress.

Do you have a question about web analytics that we can help you with?

If you’re looking for a resource, then you will have heard of me talk about this book. An hour a day is all it takes.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 5:05 am and is filed under Analytics, Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.