Importance of Web Analytics – Fairmont Hotels

Overview – Web Analytics

            Remember the title of this blog – Novice Introduction to Web Analytics, so the author wants to give an overview of web analytics to start.  In the author’s opinion, it is very important for businesses to base decisions on Web analytics.  Web analytics systems “do an excellent job of supporting the creation and deployment of digital dashboards and key performance indications that provide business a critical view of sight activity” (Peterson, 2008). The system quantifies visitors’ action such as visits to the site, pages views, etc. Peterson states as more companies shift to doing business online the worst thing is not understanding or analyzing what customers are doing to online.  In Peterson’s view executives that “aggressively pursue” a better understanding of a customer’s experience online “will have a substantial advantage over those who insist on a simplified view of visitor behavior on the Internet” (Peterson, 2008). 

            Web analytics provide insights to eight different metrics:  “Visits and Unique Visitors, Time on Page and Time on Site, Bounce Rates, Exit Rates, Conversion Rates, and Engagement” (Kauskik, 2010, p. 59).  Visits [sessions] reports include numbers of visits to website.  Unique visitors approximate the number of different people to the website.  Time on page measures the time a visitor stays on a page and then time spent on a site.  Bounce rates “measures customer behavior, perhaps the most holy of the holy goals in measurement” (Kauskik, 2010, p. 51).  Exit rate “measures how many people left the website from a certain page” (Kauskik, 2010, p. 54) Conversion rates are either a visitor or a unique visitor that turn into a purchase from a company’s site.  Finally, engagement is “trying to create a website experience that draw favorable attention” (Kauskik, 2010, p. 56).  Because of the overwhelming amount of data that can be obtained from Web Analytic tools, it is important for companies to decide on what to measure that is ultimately important examples include sales, customer satisfaction and/or loyalty.   

            The author believes Google Analytics is the tool to use.   “More than half of Fortune 500 companies are now using Google Analytics or Google Analytics Premium and 30 new enterprises have switched to or added Google Analytics in the past 9 months” (Farnia, 2012).  No reason to use another tool is there? The most important reason is GA provides almost all needed metrics and is free.  GA Analytics “can show: 1) how people find a site; 2) how they explore it; and, 3) how a site owner can enhance the visitor’s experience” (Reed College of Media, 2015 – Lesson 5)

Fairmont Hotel – Google Analytics Use

            The author looked at one of the case studies highlighted on Google’s Success Story website – Fairmont Hotels.  Fairmont “is a leader in the global hospitality industry, with a distinctive collection and a worldwide reputation for excellence” (Fairmont.com, 2015).  Fairmont “is a luxury hotel company with more than 60 distinctive hotels and resorts worldwide” (Google.com, 2015). The author would consider Fairmont Hotels an e-commerce site because many hotels chains find most people are booking stays online. “With 57% of all hotel bookings made online and 97% of all travelers searching for a place to stay using the Internet, the importance for hotels to adapt best e-commerce practices is more important today more than ever. A hotel’s website should be the property’s best sales representative, persuading potential guests to book a room [on the site] and not with your competitors” (n.d., 2014).  

Fairmont’s Web Analytic Approaches 

            Fairmont “wanted to gain a better understanding and optimize social media marketing efforts” because “more and more marketers are engaging with their customers through social media channels” (Google.com, 2015).  To better understand how Fairmont used Google listen to the following video:

            Fairmont “used campaign tracking variables to monitor [particularly] Twitter campaign performance,” and, also, “employed advanced segments to measure user behavior and conversion data” (Google.com, 2015).  How did it work?  Fairmount used Twitter to create an online buzz to drive traffic to it online sites within its portfolio of hotels.  However, the goal was for Fairmount to detect and track website traffic produced by their tweets and see the results of conversions.  It is easy to traffic the referrals from twitter.com to the website but the difficulty arises because “a significant proportion of Twitter traffic doesn’t originate from twitter.com; many Twitter users don’t use the web interface…many use desktops or mobile apps…and a link might be forwarded” (Google.com, 2015).  So how would Fairmont be able to determine how this campaign worked?

            The problem was solved by using Google Analytics’ campaign tracking variables.  Barbara Pezzi, said, “The problem was solved.  Campaign tracking variables allowed Fairmont to tag links so that Google Analytics can recognize and measure  non-AdWords campaigns that brought visitors to Fairmont’s site” (Google.com, 2015).  Simply stated, tracking variables were applied to links in Fairmont’s tweets, these variable then can correctly be attributed back to the respective tweet “regardless of where the visitor found and click on the link” (Google.com).  The process involves creating different URLs and then using a shortening service to abbreviate them.

 What data did Fairmont collect?

            Fairmont was able “to view how many visits each campaign tweet generated as well as additional data such as bounce rate and the number of percentage of new visitor” (Google.com, 2015). Fairmont could determine “how tweets contributed to room billings, revenue and conversion objective by clicking the ‘Goal Set’” (Google.com, 2015).  Additionally, Fairmont could see what stories resounded the most with customers.  From this the Fairmont took another step further to see what visitor looked at on the site using more advance segments.  Overall results reported the “insights into effectiveness of Fairmont’s social media campaigns” and “improved understanding of social media referred visitors” (Google.com, 2015). 

Other Idea

            Fairmont has an incredibly extensive website from the company’s history to special deals, etc. One thing the author did not see was a blog.  This may be something that Fairmont may consider using.  Additionally, the author would suggest possibly generating the same campaign using another social media channel such as Facebook.  There is large segment of people in what the author assumes in their target market not on Twitter and solely uses Facebook.   One interesting thing the author found on the Fairmont site is an Affiliate Program.  The premise is an affiliated partner that promotes Fairmont on their site could actually receive a commission.   The author assumes a retail website could use this program.  Certainly, Fairmont is tracking this through analytics.  One last note about Fairmont, the company understand how important web analytics is by actually employing a Director of Analytics and Search Optimization. In the author’s opinion because of how important the web site is to Fairmont, having this position in house make sense.

           

References:

n.d. (2014).  10 Best e-commerce practices for hotels.  Retrieved December 6, 2015 from: http://smartguests.com/blog/10-best-e-commerce-practices-for-hotels/#.VmRmjL9WLKE

Farina, C. (2012).  51% of Fortune 500 companies use Google Analytics.  Retrieved December 5, 2015 from: https://www.e-nor.com/blog/web-analytics/51-of-fortune-500-companies-use-google-analytics

Google.com. (2015).  Retrieved December 5, 2015 from:  https://www.google.com/analytics/standard/success-stories/#?modal_active=none

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0: The art of online accountability & science of customer centricity. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing. ISBN# 978-0470529393

Peterson, E.T. (2008). The voice of customer: Qualitative data as a critical input to Web site optimization. ForeSee Results.

Reed College of Media. (2015).  Lesson 5: Google Analytics

           

Google the 800 Pound Gorilla

Title: Google the 800 Pound Gorilla

            Ever ponder the question if one rules the world can that person still continue to be moral or does the idea of power enthuse more power especially where stockholders and profits are concerned.  “Power [seems to] corrupt” (Clemons, 2012).  Does Enron scandal come to mind?  Enron was a company in early 2000 that because of leadership’s greed “artificially increased profits and hid losses and debts…[and then] swiftly collapsed, taking with it the fortunes and retirement savings of thousands of employees” (New York Times, 2006). “Powerful firms have more opportunities for maximizing profits and shareholder wealth than smaller firms” (Clemons, 2012).  Google business is different than Enron but the bottom line is both companies have to report to stockholders.    

Who or what is Google?  Or the real question to ask who has not heard of Google?

            Google started from humble beginnings.  “Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in Stanford, California.  The first funding for Google was an August 1998 contribution of US $100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim by 2012 Google hit $50 billion in revenue” (Statistic Brain Institute, 2015).  In the author’s opinion, Google today is an 800 pound gorilla.  Google  “collects data from millions of its account every day…and owns: the top-ranked search portal, popular e-mail service, widely-used customizable home page, leading fee reader, top-ranked feed management system, top-ranked analytics product, largest distributed ad network, most widely-distributed traffic monitoring toolbar, and largest video content hosting site” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  The paradox in Google’s case is Google also provides one of the most power web analytics tools free.  So is there an ethical problem here?  Well, first one needs to understand ow important is Web analytics to businesses?

Web Analytics

            “Web analytics is the process of analyzing the behavior of visitors to a Web site.  The use of Web analytics enables a business to attract more visitors, retain or attract new customers for good or service or to increase the dollar volume each person spends” (Reed College of Media, 2015). Web

Google's Annual Search Statistics

analytics is extremely important to the bottom-line.  “Understanding Web Analytics and search engine optimization (SEO) is of great use in the analysis and evaluation of marketing and sales campaigns [as well]” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  Where do most people search for products or services today - online?          

            More than five billion people use Google to search every day (See Chart). “While Web Analytics tools are certainly very powerful, understanding visitor behavior is as much a function of qualitatively determining interests and intent as it is quantifying clicks from page to page” (Peterson, 2008).  Knowing behavior, site owners can design websites to increase engagement and consequently increase revenue.  Google’s free analytical tool gives a site owner the ability to measure visitor behavior, determine interest, and clicks. 

Google’s Power

            “Google has the power to do almost anything it wants” (Clemons, 2012).  In 2012 Google announced changes to its privacy policy.  Google’s “privacy policy went beyond anything the world had seen before, in which Google asserts the right to  combine all the information it can obtain from any sources, including those never authorized by the provider, like the sender of email to a Gmail account” (Clemons 2012).  Basically, Google owns a site visitor search history, and if a person using an Android device knows about a person’s activity in that account.  Google Analytics allows site owners to understand Web visitor (customer) behavior on their sites. This is actually good for site owners to obtain this information.  “Using this information [and daily timeline] brands can join users who seek answers to their uniquely personal questions and explore their uniquely personal curiosities and interests…it’s an efficient way to connect with many people in highly relevant and personal ways. You can deliver the right message at the right time, accompanying and assisting someone in her everyday life, rather than broadcasting a generic ad and hoping she’ll pay attention to it” (deFreites, 2013).   But is this really ethical given “Google account holders cannot opt out of the new policy” (Washington Post, 2012)?

            Another issue with Google to knowing all is that site owners must establish an account with Google in order to use its powerful free analytics.  According to some Google’s ethics include that  “a) people want to know your deviances or b) [just do not do]  “bad” things” …At base Google is failing to recognize its position in a constellation of power structures — a constellation (call it the State, capital, Empire) that will crush anything that threatens it, while assimilating that which doesn’t” (Lennard, 2013).  Are these harsh words for powerhouse like Google?

             Clemons writes that the “governance at Google is broken and apparently will remain broken” because three people own 66 percent of the voting shares (Clemons, 2012). Google does have an Ethics and Compliance team that works “with outside ethics counsel to ensure compliance with all relevant political laws and the associated filings and reports.” And, Google does have a Code of Conduct.  The Conclusion is stated below:

IV. Conclusion

We rely on one another’s good judgment to uphold a high standard of integrity for ourselves and our company. We expect all Board members and employees to be guided by both the letter and the spirit of this Code.

Adopted October 2, 2015 (Google.com, 2015

            The author is concerned with Google collect data from millions of account holder and that Google intrudes on their privacy.  Additionally, the author believes many of these people have no idea that this information is being collected.    As a marketer, the author found the GA tool most helpful and really sees the benefits of such a tool especially for small to medium sized companies.  The data collected is generalized and not specific as to names making the use just a bit more acceptable. Google does have transparency dashboards so users can know what information is being collected. But should a person be concerned?  Truly, “When an all-powerful company acts honorably, then regulation can be done without a heavy hand, and without being especially intrusive” (Clemons, 2012).  If companies cannot act responsibly then government needs to be involved.   Hopefully, Google will stick to its core mantra of “don’t be evil.” As Google states: “At the core of this [Google.com, 2015] code is the mantra, “don’t be evil.” Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally—following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect” (Google.com, 2015).   Maybe this author is naïve but with this as the mantra, and as a marketer, the author finds the tools useful and intend to use them.

References:

Clemons, E. (2012).  “Say it ain’t so, Joe, again, and again, and again”: A legacy of continued bad behavior at Google.  Retrieved November 28, 2015 from:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/google-privacy-issues/

deFreites, C. (2013).  The meaning of search: How it shapes our lives and builds brands. Retrieved October 25, 2015 from: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/meaning-of-search.html

Google.com (2015).  Code of Conduct.  Retrieved November 28, 2015 from: https://investor.google.com/corporate/google-code-of-conduct.html

Lennard, N. (2013).  The dangerous ethics behind Google’s transparency claims.  Retrieved November 24, 2015 from: http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/the_dangerous_ethics_behind_googles_transparency_claims/

Peterson, E.T. (2008). The voice of customer: Qualitative data as a critical input to Web site optimization. ForeSee Results.

Reed College of Media. (2015).  Lesson 1: Intro to Web Analytics.  Retrieved November 28, 2015 from:  https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_2558932_1&course_id=_51583_1&framesetWrapped=true

Reed College of Media (2015).  Lesson 6:  Exploring Google Analytics.  Retrieved November 28, 2015 from: https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_51583_1&content_id=_2558942_1&framesetWrapped=true

Statistic Brain Research Institute. (2015).  Google Official Resource.  Retrieved November 28, 2015 from: http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/

New York Times (2006).  10 Enron players: where they landed after the fall.  Retrieved November 28, 2015 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/business/businessspecial3/29profiles.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Amazing Tools

Amazing Analytic Tools

            Web Analytics tools available to marketers today are amazing.  However, the amount of data obtainable from these tools can be overwhelming.  “The importance of Web analytic tools is that they give companies more clarity about the results of their advertising campaigns” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  What is even more remarkable is how much these tools are constantly updating reporting measures.  “A wide variety of emerging tools are being used to measure Web analytics” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  For the most part these tools can be divided into two main categories:

• ·         Traditional Analytics Tools (e.g. Google Analytics, WebTrends, Omniture).  These tools are used to track site activity and ROI. (Reed College of Media, 2015)
• ·         Social Analytic Tools (e.g., Radian6, Hootsuite, ArgyleSocial).  These are only three of the vast amount of tools available to monitor social media results.  (Reed College of Media, 2015)

            This blog is going to concentrate on two traditional analytic tools, Google Analytics (GA) and WebTrends (WT).   Google Analytics and WebTrends are similar in the collection of web metrics data that track visitors’ activity. “With digital channels stretching from customer portals and emails to mobile apps and social media, analytics is necessary for improving the way customers engage” (Webtrends.com, 2015). 

Similarities - Google Analytics and WebTrends  

            Both GA and WT use Web profile or view that “is a set of rules that define the reports that [site owners] see” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  One Web site view corresponds with a domain. (Reed College of Media, 2015)  Site owners can set up filters in these analytics to find information out about subdomains.  “Assigning users to the appropriate view will ensure that site owners are viewing reports that apply to that set of users” (Reed College of Media, 2015). 

           Both GA and WT produce an Overview report that essentially contain the same foundational metrics.  These metrics are particularly valuable and would be for most businesses. 

WebTrends' Overview Report

Overview reports produced by both  “provide information on the characteristics of the audience that is visiting a site” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  Basically both vendors’ reports include sessions, pages/session, users, average session duration, pageviews and bounce rates.  In 2014, GA changed “Visits” into “Sessions” and “Unique Visitors” into “Users” (Alhlou, 2014).  What are and how do site owners interpret the findings of these valued metrics?

• ·         “Visits represent the number of individual sessions initiated by all the visitors to a site” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  “The initial session by a user during any given date range is considered to be an additional visit and an added visitor” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  Important to note, visitors coming back will be counted towards the number of sessions but not as additional users. (Reed College of Media, 2015).  Sessions increase from new visitors and returning visitors if the site gains popularity.  If gaining popularity is goal this could one way to measure this. WT adds a metric of average visitors per day.

  

  Google Analytics Overview Report

• ·         “A Pageview is defined as a view of a page on the site that is being tracked using the tracking code…and is the view of a page on a site that is being tracked” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  In this case pageviews matched session, which make sense because the blog does not have other pages.  This would be important if pages were added to the site to track so see which pages have more traffic.           
• ·         Bounce rate is defined as “the percentage of sessions on your website with only one page view” (Kaushik, 2010).  For this blog, it makes sense that the bounce rate is high since there is only one page to the blog.   This does not mean the user did not read the page.  “A bounce means “when someone comes to a site and leaves without engaging with other pages” (Cleary, 2015).   Adding more pages would decrease the bounce rate.  “The more pages visitors go to during a session, the more engaged they might be. It means they are following your internal links and exploring more of your sites” (Cleary, 2015).  If a blog has internal links on its website this would be a good thing to measure to see if the visitor is staying on the website.  Also, this may help in knowing what pages a visitor finds interesting if the site had other pages.

            “Because Analytics attempts to answer a variety of questions about user behavior, it sues different calculations types or attribution models to arrive at data site visitors wan in the reports” (Google.com, 2015).  An example of particular importance to site owner would be “Which internal search terms contributed to a transactions [really conversions to purchases]?” (Google.com, 2015).  Both GA and WT have capabilities of producing customized report and have the ability to produce more metrics than site owners can absorb. 

Google Analytics – Overview

            Google Analytics (GA) is free and provides complex reports about traffic on a Web site. (Reed College of Media, 2015) Because GA is free, businesses, especially small to medium size business, “can invest in optimizing their website layout, rolling out an internal site search solution or search engine marketing” as opposed to spending money to hire an outside firm that can produce Web analytic reports. (Reed College of Media, 2015)  By placing a tracking code on the web site, site owners can use GA to “configure profiles and utilize more advanced features” such as dashboard reporting. (Reed College of Media, 2015) 

            “Every report in Google Analytics is made up of dimensions and metrics” (Google.com, 2015).  Google defines dimension as the “characteristics of users, their sessions and action” (Google.com).  For instance dimensions includes city from where the session was initiated.  Metrics are “quantitative measurements” such as the number of session and/or pages/session.   The amount of information GA provides is almost endless.  GA is an amazing free tool.

WebTrends - Overview

            WebTrends is private company as oppose to Google, a public company, headquartered in Portland, Oregon.  Similarly to GA, as mentioned above, WT has many reporting that provide solutions to digital marketing efforts .  But the difference, in the author’s opinion, is WT goes beyond what may be considered basic reporting.  WT “Analytics are no longer limited to visitor counts and website hits” (Webtrends.com, 2015).  The author is under the impression that WT provides individualized, customize reports for businesses using customer support which GA does not.  WT describes their reporting structure as a way to:

Perfect your customer journey with WT

Don’t rely on your gut to design your brand’s customer journey. With Webtrends Optimize, you can build a foundation of behavioral data, optimize the customer journey through A/B and multivariate testing and develop targeted experiences. Don’t know where to start? Our expert team of Optimization Consultants can manage an end-to-end program for you or help develop your team’s expertise, so you can build tests and targeted experiences yourself. (WebTrends.com, 2015).

            WT advertises that their “portfolio of cross-channel, real-time, individualized and actionable solutions pairs superior technology with a team of experts who ensure your unique goals are met at every step” (Webtrends, 2015).  WT is not free and even notes its value by reminding customers that “data collected via analytics solutions belong to the customer” (Webtrend.com, 2015).  “Vendors who offer so-called ‘free’ solutions today actually make use of that collected data to drive their ad revenue” (Webtrends.com, 2015).  This remark is directly aimed at combating GA’s free tools.

            To conclude, Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0, “compares buying a Web analytics tool to buying car – you can do all the online research you want, but you have to take the car for a test to see

how you really feel about it” (Reed College of Media, 2015).  Unfortunately, the author could not test drive the WT car.  Given Microsoft and several larger business noted on the web site, WT maybe a company better suited for larger ecommerce business that have the money to invest.  Rather than hire the expertise in-house, in the author’s opinion for these larger companies, it may be wiser to hire company with tremendous knowledge in this complex, constantly changing environment.

References:

Google.com (2015).  Dimensions and metrics.  Retrieved November 21, 2015 from: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033861?hl=en&vid=1-635783780143482033-594387579

Cleary, I. (2015).  How to use Google Analytics to measure engagement on your blog.  Retrieved November 12, 2015 from: http://www.razorsocial.com/google-analytics-measuring-engagement/

Reed College of Media. (2015). 642 – Lesson 4: Tools Introduction and Selection

Reed College of Media. (2015).  642- Lesson 5: Google Analytics

WebTrends. (2015). Retrieved November 21, 2015 from: http://www.webtrends.com/