Archive for the ‘eMetrics’ Category

What vendors could learn from the Emetrics Summit

March 31, 2007

Vendors should also educate themselvesAfter a very nice bath, a good nights rest and some usual Saturday grocery shopping, I finally got René out of his week-end siesta and decided it was time to start my first post about the Emetrics Summit we attended, together with Siegert, during the end of this week in London.
As usual, there is a lot to digest after such an event but, in contrary to last year, it was more about networking and confirmation of our own issues and findings than real new knowledge and great surprises. Call me ‘blasée’ or just really focused.

In any case, please allow me to start with some kind of rant through a list of things I heard from vendors and found misplaced, ridiculous, utterly stupid and shows how little some of them (not all by afar) actually know about the business they’re in.
I’m aware of the fact that these are harsh words but as more and more vendors seem to be walking the education path for their own personnel as well (on top of their clients apparently), I would just like their statements to be more than simple words.

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Questions time: Web Analytics Vendors, what’s your unique selling proposition?

March 31, 2007

Emetrics London 2007Yesterday, during the Emetrics Summit in London we were given the opportunity to ask questions to a panel of Web Analytics vendors that covered most of the top players of the Industry. Jim called it the ‘Vendors Variety Hour‘. It was a pity that Ian Thomas could not participate as Microsoft hasn’t yet launched Gatineau 😉 (looking forward to see you in the panel next year).

Web Analytics Vendors Panel Emetrics Summit London 2007

From left to right we had:
SASOmnitureClickTracksWebSideStory (VS) – UnicaWebTrendsIndexToolsGoogle

Last year during the Emetrics there was a question ‘Vendors name one thing you do better than WebTrends‘. This year I decided to bring again the question, but with a twist ;-):
Vendors, what would be your unique selling proposition?‘ And the twist was for Avinash that was actively representing Google: ‘Avinash you cannot say that GA USP is it’s free‘.

The answers to the question were: (more…)

Emetrics First Day… Astonishing

March 30, 2007

It was a great day yesterday here at the Emetrics. We had the pleasure to see some great presentations. If I was to pick only two I would recommend Jim’s and Avinash’s. More to come here in our blog in the coming days.

In the meantime I leave you with a video from Jim as he seems to enjoy the YouTube Video Buzzing 😉

Emetrics London 2007 (-1day: Web Analytics Gridlock)

March 29, 2007

Aurélie and I arrived at noon to London to attend the Emetrics summit (Siegert was joining us this evening).
The day started with a funny video sent by Jim this morning that I saw while I was having my morning coffee (Jim please keep doing these they are really refreshing!):

So, what have we been up today? (more…)

Going to Emetrics Summit London 2007!

March 25, 2007

This week, Aurélie, Siegert and I will be attending the first Emetrics Summit of the year in London.

For those of you who don’t know Emetrics, it’s the best WA related event worldwide gathering the best professionals of the sector. We will make some posts afterwards as we use to. In the meantime, you can read our previous posts about Emetrics of view this video that explains the concept.

Previous Emetrics posts:

Emetrics London 2006:
We went to Emetrics Summit London 2006!
Emetrics Summit London 2006: Vendors, name 1 thing you do better than WebTrends
The State of European Web Analytics: moving the right way!
IT responsibles taking the lead in Web Analytics?
Del.icio.us, competitor to Google?
Top 10 Web Analytics problems
Top 10 Web Analytics KPI (Key Performance Indicators)
Web Analytics: what about Packet Sniffing?
Emetrics Washington 2006:
Arrival at Emetrics – Washington – The Big Picture
Web Analytics Journey Index (WAJ)
eMetrics Summit – Washington 2006 : A big thank you to you all!
The Web Analytics product spectrum: from Google Analytics to Visual Sciences
After eMetrics, an urge for Web Analytics European professionalism
Visual Sciences’ Promise

Hoping to see many of you there 😉

René

P.S. I’ve heard from Jim that it hasn’t yet sold out, so if you’re tempted, register asap before it’s too late 😉

After eMetrics, an urge for Web Analytics European professionalism

October 23, 2006

European Web Analytics Excellence

The eMetrics summit held in Washington last week was attended by some 480 participants, of which only 9 companies from Europe were present! Amongst which, Italy was represented by Giovanni (left) from BigBang, Scotland by Vicky Brock* (right) from Highland Business Research and us, little Belgians. Avinash (middle) is an exception, I’d call him a world citizen and one of our greatest inspirators.

The week before attending, I received an email from Brian Induni, Web Analytics Association President, regarding a possible subcommittee about certification or how to define Web Analytics professionals.

During the course of this week, I was reminded of the fact that web analytics products are not a silver bullets, independantly of the one you choose. Some products are better than others, will adapt better to your needs; with the Golden Palm going to what I call the analyst nirvana, Visual Sciences. I mean WOW!

All presentators and attendees agree on the fact that Web Analytics is hard!
Education remains the essential underlying theme of sucessfull web analytics projects and as Avinash pointed out, curiosity and spending at least 20% of your time “providing analysis no one asked for and only you can perform” is actually where INSIGHT can be found. Gosh, that was so true!
Please note I used the term insight and not reporting or reports. It’s not about reports as these can be spitted out by any tool. The WSS whitepaper I commented upon (thanks Eric for your comments) last week defines KPIs for the media sector. Such reports can be set-up of course in WSS’s HBX but also WebTrends, Instadia or Coremetrics, amongst others.

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The Web Analytics product spectrum: from Google Analytics to Visual Sciences

October 23, 2006

Visual Sciences - See ResultsI came to the eMetrics summit with a lot of questions and reflections about my own work over the past few years. Amongst which, some were answered; others emanated into new interrogations. Just like what happened in May in London, when I first attended an eMetrics summit, the first time I heard Avinash Kaushik speak about expensive consultants 😉

Once again, my products related spectrum freshened up, this time in Washington, by attending on the 3rd day the end-to-end presentations of Google Analytics and Visual Sciences.

The spectrum is one of price, reflecting the ungoing discussion about the issue surrounding product pricing and whether web analytics products should be free. I must admit not having a clear opinion on that and can only express my view as an economist. Using Web Analytics tools right, undeniably assures increased utility for your company. Your company would thus be ready to pay for such a service.
The price tag you’ll decide to put upon the acquisition of products and hopefully service, should reflect the commitment your company is willing to take while walking the path towards data driven decision making.
Also note that data driven decision making is about culture. Not all companies have such a culture in them and upper management will have to work hard to establish, or at the least reinforce, it.
A global Web Analytics strategy, that should unfold into data driven decision making, can be adresses in 2 main ways: decentralised and centralised.
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eMetrics Summit – Washington 2006 : A big thank you to you all!

October 22, 2006

I wanted to thank all the people that presented and that I had the pleasure to speak with during the eMetrics Washington. It has been a great experience!

My first thanks goes to Jim and Mathew (Avinash you’re right in calling eMetrics the Finlay-Sterne show ;-)) for hosting this event. Jim is such a nice guy, as Aurélie says you cannot but love him 😉 There’s a song by Leonard Cohen called ‘The walz’ that springs Aurélie’s mind every time she witnesses a presentation by Jim Sterne. Keep it up and I hope that we will be able to present one of these days at eMetrics our european perspective 😉 (more…)

Web Analytics Journey Index (WAJ)

October 20, 2006

Web AnalyticsThis morning, I was surfing through different blogs to get some insights about people’s thoughts on the eMetrics Summit. Aurélie and I just attended it. It was a great event. Jim, I think it’s the best investment I’ve done this year! And I must admit that we’re still digesting… 😉

While surfing Technorati, I saw on Robin’s blog a title that quickly cached my attention: “eMetrics Summit: Eric Peterson vs. Matt Belkin“. When I saw the title, I was intrigued to read the content
The post describes the different views of Eric that has proposed processes as the next Web Analytics next ‘hot topic’ versus Matt defending the importance of quick wins.
I agree with Jim and Chris, both opinions can coexist. But I think that Eric’s point is much more important and that the market was expecting some guidance from Eric, as he has been doing in the past, with his great books and other initiatives. So thanks Eric, as Aurélie and I believe that you were right on the spot. After your presentation, her comment was: ‘this really makes sense’ 😉

After reading Robin’s post, I came up with a formula that I wanted to share with you: (more…)

Arrival at Emetrics – Washington – The Big Picture

October 16, 2006

Emetrics LocationAfter a 8 hours long plane trip, I arrived a Washington DC where the weather was magnifient. The sun was shining and the temperature was 16 degrees (Celcius). As always when I come to the US, my first impression relates to size. Everything seems bigger here. So I entered a big cab and went ahead to the Sheraton where the Emetrics conference was taking place, not very far from the airport. Aurélie was already there as she came one day early to attend to the Web Analytics Association Training Day. (more…)