Analytics

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com on 27/08/10 and is republished here with permission.

Despite all the known issues and problems with the way we measure the effectiveness of acquisition marketing activity such as the use last-click attribution models, I often wonder whether we’re measuring the right thing at all. By that I mean the point at which we define “acquisition” and therefore the point at which we determine the return on investment (ROI) of our marketing budget. Read more…

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com on 13/08/10 and is republished here with permission.

I don’t know whether the number is right or not but a while back I heard that sophisticated marketing companies such as the world’s leading brands spent about 10% of their marketing budget on research and measurement. Irrespective whether the number is accurate or not, it’s a good benchmark I think – 10% feels about right. Read more…

The mobile advertising market is growing rapidly, presenting fresh challenges for any brands wishing to get their messages in front of this important new target audience.

According to recent figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), the trade body for digital marketing, the total spend on mobile phone advertising in 2009 rocketed by 32 percent year-on-year to a new high of £37.6 million – and all that despite an overall contraction in the advertising sector in 2009. Read more…

The recent PR furore about the reception issues on Apple’s iPhone4 has got me thinking again about the impact of smart phones on digital analytics. As the world moves to mobile the digital analytics industry may be taking a significant step backwards in its ability to provide actionable insight. Tracking of mobile devices is still developing, so just when the Web Analytics industry thought it was getting to grips with clean data it now has a real challenge on its hands. Whichever way consumers react to Apple’s current problems, the smart phone is here to stay and advertisers who will spend £61 million on mobile in the UK this year, rightly want to know the impact of this spend across display and applications (apps). Read more…

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com on 16/07/10 and is republished here with permission.

As web reporting and analytics gets more mature as a technique and as an industry, I sometimes now hear comments from organisations along the lines of “We’ve finished our web analytics implementation now and we’re on to the next project”. It’s as if the implementation of web analytics in a business is seen as an event rather than as a process. Whilst the introduction or the upgrading of a web analytics system can be seen as a project, the adoption and the ongoing use of web analytics data in an organisation is something that requires ongoing management and maintenance. Read more…

Even the very largest gaming businesses online today may be playing a weakened hand when it comes to delivering a truly efficient web analytics strategy.

Over the last year I’ve spoken to numerous companies who, although generally data rich about how their customers bet and how they acquire those customers, often have little visibility of what those people are actually doing on the site. Without ignoring the value of customer data, they have still forgotten to focus and invest in key areas of their customers’ behaviour and lifecycle – missing out on valuable analytics. Read more…

The biggest events on the sporting calendar always attract a new wave of punters who only have one bet in mind. Highly publicised events suit inexperienced punters who are keen to be part of the fun, even if just for the one occasion.

The standout example of this phenomenon is of course the Grand National, but world title boxing fights and the ubiquitous Football World Cup tournament are others. Punters will open an account, place one (in the case of the Grand National) or a few (in the case of the World Cup) bets and then disappear. The vast majority of these fly-by-night punters never log back into their accounts again in the two months after they join. Read more…

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com on 18/06/10 and is republished here with permission.

Having looked at some of the fundamentals around web analytics metrics over the past few weeks, this time I turn my attention to survey based data and metrics. Over the past couple of years there has been a growth in the number of organisations that are running on-site survey based voice of the customer programmes. These might range from simple “do it yourself” approaches using free or low cost survey software, to a packaged tool like 4Q or more sophisticated programmes like ForSee Results or iPercpetions. As with all things, you pay your money and you make your choices. Read more…