Little Data Shop of Horrors…or Wonders?

by Danielle Smith on 08/12/2009 at 6:17 pm in Commentary, Performance Marketing, Website Analytics

Recently (like about 2 hours ago), I sat down with a colleague to attempt and uncover some site anomalies through one of the major analytics providers. I realize that this first sentence is in no way, shape or form salacious or compelling… but bear with me.

I personally have been forced to spend quite a bit more time within this particular analytics tool and to be honest, most of the time I narrowly focus on the bare essentials I need to complete the task. I realize, however, that there is a hidden treasure trove of data for me to uncover. I just can’t seem to find my way through the labyrinth of choices and meanings and links to helpful tips. Never mind that when I finally do get to the meaning of one particular report, when I try and replicate it for another client the meanings and associations might be completely different. I understand that personalization and customization is essential to businesses. But what is an agency to do when there’s no place to turn for help?

Years ago, when I first started managing accounts, I would try to think like a client in order to traverse a particularly twisted and question-riddled road. More often than not, though, the person responsible for the system setup was unavailable or even unsure themselves of how the underlying structure had been built. Or even better, the setup had been put in place 3 years ago and no one can remember where that guy went, but he’s long gone. Being forced into proactivity, I would reach out to the respective Analytics Company’s reps for help.

I’m not pointing fingers, but let’s just say that if my friendly neighborhood analytics provider was a 1-800 suicide prevention hotline, I’d be a long-gone and mourned-for angst-y teen with too much eyeliner.

It’s tantamount to just learning to read and being locked outside the library door. I want to read and be better at it, but I need someone to help me get in first. Maybe even walk me over to the card catalogue. After I have a few proverbial books under my belt, I’ll probably settle in for a nice long stretch. Maybe dig into Beverly Cleary’s oeuvre and then move on to the unpleasant surprises of Judy Blume. Eventually, though, I’ll have to get to the proverbial Dostoevsky, at which point I’ll need some help from an Analytics “professor.” Hopefully there’s one around who has actually read the relevant book.

So, what’s the point of my rant? My clients are paying top dollar for mounds of data, and that data might as well be John Nash’s mad scribbling on the wall. And, as a customer service focused agency, I just have to ask the Omnitures of the world – What’s the point of all this data if there is no filtering, no context and… well… no human being to walk a marketer through it?