I recently had the opportunity to intervene more on the analysis side of projects rather than their implementation. It is quite normal to go through the important phase of efficiently implementing an analytical tool, it goes without saying, but I must confess that this is not the most gratifying part of my job as a consultant. Drowned in technical problems when doing an implementation, I don’t feel I have such an impact with my favorite audience, the marketers. Don’t get me wrong, I do like working with IT people, but they tend to see Web Analytics as yet another one of Marketing’s caprices. And let me say it frankly: they don’t care, really. I don’t blame them; it’s not their job.
Once all that technical stuff is done with, that the engine works, the transmission torques fine, and the tire pressure is just right, it’s time for a drive. And driving is what this is all about. When I can finally wear my Web Analyst hat, and find stuff, no, I rephrase, help my clients find stuff they did not suspect, or bringing them to consider what metrics would really help them demonstrate what great benefits the Web is bringing to their organizations, I deeply get a kick out of it.
Yes, Web Analytics is hard, but let us not forget that it is fun! 🙂
Discovering what’s going on, improving it, proving success, these are all the joy provided by managing a web site based on facts. And this is going to change how we do marketing, believe me! But we need to get at it. We need to get to a point where the production of reports in under control, and then jump into the pool, and add the analysis layer, which none of the applications we talk so much about can give.
When was the last time you had an epiphany when analyzing your data? Don’t you want to do more of it?
Who cares about who’s gonna win the application market? If there are two hundred products, or only three?
At the end of the day, analytics should be the sole winner, and the fun it brings to people who practice it with all their hearts and minds.