I read Occam’s Razor for quite a while now and I really like Avinash’s style and insights. I thought it would be nice to reread most of his stuff and as a nice extra, I will post my notes on here.

I oriented each section by the section defined in his overview of all articles.

Enjoy!

The 10 / 90 Rule for Magnificent Web Analytics Success

• There is lots of data but no insights
• Rule: 10% in tools and 90% people/analysts
• may seem over the top but
• med-large websites are complex
• reports aren’t meaningful by default
• tools have to be understood
• there is more than clickstream to analytics
• If you don’t follow the 10 / 90 Rule
• Get GA account
• Track parallel to expensive solution
• Find a metrics multiplier, so you can compare GA to old data
• Cancel your contract and hire an smart analyst which will probably deliver more insights for less money

Trinity: A Mindset & Strategic Approach

• The goal is to generate actionable insights
• Components:
• Behavior analysis: clickstream data analysis
• Outcomes analysis: Revenue, conversion rates, Why does your website exist?
• Experience: Customer satisfaction, testing, usability, voice of customer
• Helps you understand what customer experience on your site, so that you can help influence their behavior

The Promise & Challenge of Behavior Targeting (& Two Prerequisites)

• We have so much behavior data but you get the same content regardless whether you are here to buy or get support
• There are BT systems but you have still think about the input
• You have to first understand your customers good enough to create suitable content
• Test content ideas first to learn what works and as evidence for HiPPOs

Six Rules For Creating A Data Driven Boss!

• Paradox: The bigger the organization the less likely it is data driven in spite of spending lots of money on tools
• It is possible to achieve this but you have to actually want to do and fight for it
• 1. Get over yourself: Learn how to communicate with your boss and try to solve his problems
• 2. Embrace incompleteness: Data is messy, web data is really messy but still better than completely faith based initiatives.
• 3. Give 10% extra: Don’t just report data, look at it. Give him insights he didn’t asked for. Make recommendations and explain what’s broken.
• 4. Become a marketer: Great analysts are customer people. Marketer as internal customer (like account plannner)
• 5. Don’t business in the service of data: Data should provide insights not just more data. Ask: how many decision have been made based on data that have added value to the revenue?
• 6. Adapt a Web Analytics 2.0 mindset:

Lack Management Support or Buy-in? Embarrass Them!

• HiPPOs may be don’t listen to you but they better listen to customers & competitors
• 1. Start testing
• 2. Capture Voice of Customer: Surveys, Usability tests, etc.: Let the customer do the talk
• 3. Benchmark against the competition, e.g. use Fireflick
• 4. Use Competitive Intelligence
• 5. Start with a small website
• 6. Ask outsiders for help

How To Excite People About Web Analytics: Five Tips.

• 1. Give them answers
• 2. Talk in outcomes / measure impact
• 3. Find people with low hanging fruit and make them a hero
• 4. Use customers & competitors
• 5. Make Web Analytics fun: Hold contests, hold internal conferences, hold office hours

Redefining Innovation: Incremental, w/ Side Effects & Transformational

• 1. Incremental innovation, e.g. Kaizen
• 2. Incremental innovation with side effect, e.g. iPod or Adsense
• 3. Transformational innovation, e.g. invention of the wheel
• Web analytics can’t probably create 3
• Clickstream alone is also not enough for 1.
• generally the more the better (Web analytics 2.0)

Six Tips For Improving High Bounce Rate / Low Conversion Web Pages

• Purpose gap between customer intent and page
• 1. Learn about traffic sources / keywords(!)
• 2. Do you push your customers against their intent? Identify jobs of each page and focus on your call to actions.
• 3. Ask your customer what they are looking for
• 4. Get insights from site overlays
• 5. Testing!
• 6. Get first impressions from people, e.g. fivesecondtest

Online Marketing Still A Faith Based Initiative. Why? What’s The Fix?

• Faith based initiatives like TV, magazines, etc.
• Online marketing gives us useable data
• and allows us to test easily
• The web is quite old yet it is not in the blood of executives
• Old mental: shout marketing, instead of new inbound marketing
• Lousy standards for accountability
• Let the customers speak
• Benchmark against competition

Win With Web Metrics: Ensure A Clear Line Of Sight To Net Income!

• Focus on the bottom line, i.e. profits
• 1. Identify your Macro Conversion
• 2. Report revenue
• 3. Identify your Micro Conversions
• 4. Compute the economic value
• Net income = Unit Margins * Unit Volumes
• Unit Margins = Price – Cost
• Unit Volumes = Market Share * Market Size
• Because Net Income is the goal, you have to measure Price, Cost, Market Share or Market Size
• Which metrics help doing that? And if not, why do you track/report this metric?
• They also depend on the strategies or more general goals of the organization
• — let your “boss” decide what matters most to him/organization
• identify clear metrics / KPIs for each used strategy
• use the web analytics measurement framework as a reporting foundation (more to this later)
• find actionable insights with segmented analysis

Digital Marketing and Measurement Model

• Marketing with measuring helps you to identify success and failure
• Digital Marketing & Measurment Model
1. Set business objectives (should be DUMB)
• Doable
• Understandable
• Manageable
• Beneficial
2. Identify goals for each objective
3. Get KPIs for each goal
4. Set targets for each KPI
5. Identify segments of people / outcomes / behavior to understand why things succeeded or failed
• What scope has the model to cover?
1. Acquisition: How do people come on your site? Why? How should it be?
2. Behavior: What should people do on your site? What are the actions they should take? How do you influence their behavior?
3. Outcomes: What are the goals? (see previous summary)

11 Digital Marketing “Crimes Against Humanity”

1. Not spending 15% of your marketing budget on new stuff
2. Not having a fast, functional, mobile-friendly website
3. Use of Flash
4. Campaigns that lead to nowhere
5. Not having a vibrant, engaging blog
6. “Shouting” on Twitter / Facebook
7. Buying links is your SEO strategy
8. Not following the 10/90 rule
9. Not using the Web Analytics Measurement Model (previous summary)
10. Using lame metrics: Impressions, Page Views, etc.
11. Not centering your digital existence on Economic Value