Conversion Analytics: Rock Stars, World Tours and Titles
- October 28, 2009
- by Rob Jackson
It’s been a busy month for the Conversion Analytics team which consisted of two new accreditations, an analytics rock star and three time zones.
We were recently accredited with Google’s new Conversion Professional status, becoming one of the only companies in Europe to make the grade. Google’s program helps companies boost marketing ROI by improving on-site conversion. We had to prove to Google that we can use a variety of techniques, tools and methods to identify conversion issues and optimise accordingly. This accreditation came after the team gained no less than 3 others from Google and Yahoo in 6 months.
Following this festival of accreditations was SMX East in New York where I was speaking about how advertisers can get actionable insights from their analytics data for PPC campaigns. Despite my northern English tones I was able to get my point across that it is no longer acceptable for PPC professionals to just look at conversions and visits as metrics for success. The full presentation is available here www.prezi.com with the username “conversionanalytics@latitudegroup.com” and password “smxeast09”.
There was a full section of the conference devoted to conversion and analytics on the first day and I spent most of the time in there. The highlight was Scott Brinker, President & CTO of ion interactive giving a fantastic presentation on Site Usability. This is an area we feel many website owners under value in their analytics mix and it was great to see some Stateside counterparts with the same passion.
There were many other good sessions, but my other highlight was the Cross Media Attribution Battle hosted by Sara Holoubek the President of SEMPO. This panel was interesting after my recent blog post. This truly was a battle; with some panellists claiming to have solved the problem through ad serving platforms, while others like Tony Wright of WrightIMC believing attribution can only be fully understood by listening to customers. He even referred to the John Wanamaker quote I used by saying it is a fact that half of your marketing dollars are wasted, but pure fiction to think that attribution technology will solve this. The fiery debate spread to the crowd for questions, and it was great to see such open topical discussion. No clear winners though!
Skip forward 24 hours and I managed to rendezvous with the rest of the Conversion Analytics team for the 2009 GAAC | WOAC | USAC Summit in Mountain View California. Each year Google invites representatives from its analytics partner schemes to their HQ to collaborate, learn, network and progress as ambassadors for the products.
Each day was jam packed with knowledge, insight and new features. A highlight for the team was meeting with Avinash Kaushik, Google’s main product evangelist, author and renowned “Rock Star” of web analytics. He did an excellent passion filled session at the beginning of day two, where he addressed some of the hurdles and opportunities for the space in 2010. He challenged us to look at how the web is changing, and to recognise how web analytics must also change to accommodate it. In a world where content is no longer just consumed by users, but also created and distributed through the many available channels, how will marketers judge the value of their campaigns using traditional methods such as Javascript?
“H.I.T.S – How Idiots Track Success”
Avinash Kaushik 2009
The Answer he tells us; smarter metrics :
1. Engagement
2. Reach
3. Velocity
4. Demand
5. Network strength
6. Activity
He discussed interesting new analytics tools that are cropping up and how their developers are innovating quicker than some of the larger analytics players. It is these guys who will help change the world of tracking and we must assist them.
What really struck a chord with the team was the collaborative nature of the event. GAACs from around the world were keen to share knowledge and experiences, even though we all work in the same space. It gave a positive feel and really emphasised how valuable the GAAC and WOAC forums are to us and our clients.
Finally I have to mention a buzz going around the conference attendees; Conversion Optimisation. Since the Google Conversion Professional program is only available to a limited number of territories in Europe there were jealous glances from some of our US counterparts. It was clear that Conversion Optimisation is a big focus at the minute and more than a couple of times I heard it being referred to as the “new SEO”. Controversial I know, but you heard it here first.
2 Comments
DIGITAL MARKETING MATTERS
Scott Brinker
Hi, Rob. Thanks for the kind remarks about my presentation! I enjoyed yours very much as well and look forward to hearing more at future conferences. Congratulations on your new accreditation too!