Analytics light the way to better customer experience, but only with focus
Web analytics can generate a plethora of data on shoppers’ paths through retail sites–-but if retailers are to use the data effectively to improve customers` experience on their sites, they must be selective in applying analytics to the measurement of their sites. “The danger of too much data is wasting time on stuff that’s not a big deal,” says Jonathan Heller, vice president of strategy at DoubleClick, Inc., which recently launched a set of analytics tools for merchants to measure web site effectiveness.
To direct customers down productive pathways and to drive the best site performance as a result, retailers must prioritize and focus analytics where they will have the greatest impact. One DoubleClick client, for example, came up with a list of several dozen business questions for the analytics tool. To narrow the field and rank the questions in order of priority, DoubleClick did an initial analysis that showed that one question involved a situation that could affect 10% of the site’s revenues and 14% of its traffic. “That was a big one, so it went to the top of the list,” Heller says.
Another question was going to affect only about 1% of revenue and 0.5% of traffic so that went to the bottom of the list.
Heller advises clients using analytics to improve customer experience on sites to start by looking at particular sections of the site to determine whether they are generating desired revenue, then decide if the section could generate more revenue with a different treatment. They can next look at different audience segments, seeing if they are following the path toward successful completion of an intended act, such as completing a purchase, and consider alterations there. Another key way for retailers to use analytics is to identify the top most-browsed products that aren’t begin purchased, which may suggest that pricing changes or promotions are needed to draw customers more effectively.
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