A long time ago, as I embarked on my career in direct marketing (I thought it would be a good use of my freshly-acquired MBA), we used to day-dream about having user data: Oh, the campaigns we’d run if only we knew more about the behaviour of customers! We could target so narrowly! We would fine-tune campaigns to each individual prospect based on his and her unique behaviour in every campaign! We would personalize to the point that each communication would feel like it was meant “just for you” – but for each customer on the database!

Wake up to 2009 and here we are, drowning in data.

And just like Disney’s (OK, Goethe’s) Sorcerer’s Apprentice where Mickey is the apprentice who cannot control the magic that he has tried to use, online marketers are overwhelmed in data and cannot convert KPI and metric reporting into action items.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

In our experience at WiderFunnel, the only point of web analytics is to improve overall marketing effectiveness. In other words, first and foremost, the data should help your company become more profitable through increased revenues or decreased cost of sales.

It’s that simple.

To proceed, you must have a clear idea as to:
• What information is relevant to your business
• How relevant data can be used to optimize marketing communications

If you stay focused on that, the rest is easy (ok, easier).

What do Best-in-Class companies do with their web analytics data?

Segmentation and Personalization – that’s what they do.

According to CRMBuyer, while Best-in-Class companies experience similar challenges, the implementation of key organizational capabilities and the use of analytics data within other marketing efforts results in superior performance.

Again, according to CRMBuyer, best practices utilized by Best-in-Class companies include:

1. Segmentation: 33 % use it, with the following variables:
• Geographic indicators – 69 %
• Purchasing behavior – 66 %
• Lifestyle profiling – 58 %
• Demographic information – 54%

2. Personalization: 44% of Best-in-Class companies indicate that they both segment customers based on specific variables and personalize marketing messages based on information specific to each customer

• 54% of Best-in-Class companies, compared to 38 percent of all others, dynamically alter online content based on a specific visitor or online behavioral pattern
• 85% of Best-in-Class companies utilize personalized emails that include such variables as the customer’s name, past purchase behavior and targeted promotions.

And what do “not Best-in-Class” companies do? 60 percent of Laggards do neither.

So it becomes a marketer’s choice to be either in the Best-in-Class or the Laggard category.

Personalization is becoming a fixed staple of marketing – where “personalized” messages must do more than simply substitute recipient names.

To generate increased conversion rates, marketers must integrate online customer data with the email marketing solution, for instance, to generate personalized messages that reference online searches, purchases or general browsing.

To derive meaning from your Web Analytics data consider the following steps:

1. Test Early, Test Often.

According to CRMBuyer, the top two strategic actions for all respondents are:
• aligning Web site analysis with overall business objectives (62 percent) and
• tracking and recording all customer interactions with the online channel (44 percent).

Companies must track customer behavior to properly align analysis with business objectives. And, once the data is collected and analyzed, companies must make changes to Web site content, graphics, or “calls to action” to test which combinations result in higher conversions.

The key is to use analytics data to test Web site content early and often.

2. Develop a Process for Segmenting Profitable Customer Characteristics.

The goal of Web analytics is to be able to predict unique user behavior to the point where relevant advertisements and calls to action are served up at crucial points of the Web session.

Conversion path analysis tools, for instance, allow companies to understand the behaviors of customers who complete an online conversion.

By analyzing this behavior, organizations can identify qualifying characteristics early in the visitor’s online session and serve up targeted content to stimulate a conversion.

3. Integrate Analytics Data With Segmentation and Personalization Initiatives.

In some cases, Web visitors are indistinguishable from one another; however, in other cases, organizations know exactly which customer or prospect is on the site.

Whether it is a unique login or unexpired cookie, businesses can often link online behavior to a specific individual. In these instances, companies must be sure to correlate the data for segmentation and personalization purposes.

As Web analytics becomes a larger piece of an integrated marketing platform, Web site behavior and purchasing history become key bits of information that can be used in conjunction with an email marketing campaign, for instance.