NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 CIO BlackBerry News and Tips
 CIO Research and Analysis
 CIO Microsoft
 CIO Insider
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 


Fri, Jul 10, 2009 18:10 EDT

Google Analytics Users: We Need New Tools to Turn Website Conversion

Topic: Enterprise Management

Current Rating: 5 Comments: 0

As the web analytics’ market matures, web teams seek proactive intervention with individual visitors (post session remarketing) to drive website conversion

Targeted email remarketing helps follow up on abandoned shopping carts and forms, and is set to become a top tactic in website conversion, Google Analytics users poll shows

When most people think about tactics to improve website conversion, their first thought is to try a number of steps in the conversion process itself: 1) the need to tune pages 2) refine page layouts, and 3) make discount or promotion offers to boost conversion.

But a survey of Google Analytics users conducted by SeeWhy yesterday shows that proactive techniques targeting the individual visitor are set to grow dramatically. Of these new techniques, post session remarketing is set to grow fastest at 152 percent.

This growth mirrors recent research findings by the US trade body E-Tailing Group. In its 2009 merchant survey of US e-retailers, 76 percent of e-tailers ranked “Targeted Email” as the top initiative to improve website conversion.

The SeeWhy survey was conducted in a live online session, on June 30, 2009 with 139 US-based Google Analytics users. Here is what we found:
 Post session remarketing is currently used by 25 percent of Google Analytics Users
 63 percent plan to deploy session (or website) abandonment follow-up as a technique of increasing website conversion

One of these techniques in re-marketing to abandoned site visitors is the use of targeted email in real-time, which is not possible with traditional web analytics dashboards like Google Analytics. Web analytics tools only provide valuable data to help website teams to understand historical performance of the site.

It’s clear from the research however that there is significant demand to become proactive, intervening in the session itself, or following up on abandoned sessions immediately afterwards. These tactics all have the following characteristics in common:
1. Focus on individual actions
2. Act in real time
3. Feature a personal one-to-one marketing approach
4. Focus on reducing abandonment by delivering great service

Of these techniques, Post-session remarketing is set to grow the fastest at a growth rate of 152 percent.

Other third party tools including In-session surveys (79 percent) and click to call / chat (59 percent) are also set for fast growth at the expense of traditional on site optimization.

This highlights a broader trend towards more proactive intervention, where the organization publishing the website seeks to intervene to either stop the abandonment in-session, or to win back the visitor through remarketing after the session.

These proactive intervention techniques are set to grow at the expense of traditional onsite optimization, though optimizing the site experience remains, unsurprisingly, the single largest category of optimization. This reflects a growing maturity of the web analytics market as new tools become available to move beyond static reporting of historical data.

Since the audience was Google specific, SeeWhy also surveyed to see how extensively Google’s Conversion Funnels tracking is used. The results were higher than expected, at 57 percent currently using conversion funnels, compared with previous data which suggests that the percentage is as low at 25 percent. This may reflect that the participants in this research are more sophisticated, and potentially not representative of the Google base. When asked about future use of Google Analytics conversion funnels, 77 percent said they planned to use the feature in the future.

A more detailed question on remarketing specifically showed that while 23 percent do follow up on website abandonment, only 2 percent do so within the hour. Several authoritative studies by industry analysts have all pointed to immediate follow up being best practice, but it is clear that this is beyond the reach of many due to challenges with integration between the web

You do not have flash or javascript support.
Average (1 vote)
5
 

Post new comment

* Subject:
* Username:
* E-mail:
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Homepage:
* Body:
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <blockquote> <strike> <p> <br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
More information about formatting options

* Denotes required field.

Hot Conversations

Ex-Microsofties Look Back in Anger

Posted by Shane ONeill in News | 4 comments

The Price of IT Outsourcing

Posted by Beth Bacheldor in Best Practices | 2 comments

Start a Conversation
Click to post

Got something to say? We want to hear it! Click the Post button to get started. GO»

EXPERT ADVICE
See our roster of experts.

Advice & Opinion from more than 115 of IT's most insightful thinkers.

  PARTNERS       WEBCASTS    
 

Windows 7 Webcast Series

There's a lot of buzz about Windows 7 out there. Each month in our webcast series, listen to analysts and customers discuss how Windows 7 and the Windows Optimized Desktop is impacting large companies around the world. Learn how they evaluated Windows 7, including the cost of deployment, deployment strategies, and tangible benefits.

Sponsored by Microsoft  Listen to on-demand Recordings »

 

A Framework for Better Application Delivery

The complexity of application delivery is driven in part by the evolving applications environment. Instead of approaching application delivery from a siloed fashion, this handbook looks at end-to-end guidance and discusses the impact of ignoring the WAN, Web apps that are chatty, data center consolidation, SaaS, Web 2.0 and virtualization.

Sponsored by Riverbed  Read this White Paper »

 

Microsoft® Exchange 2010 includes archiving - but is it enough?

Microsoft® Exchange 2010 includes basic email archiving. But many organizations will find that it does not meet their requirements. This paper describes why organizations need to archive, what capabilities Exchange 2010 includes and why 3rd party archiving solutions will be necessary for most organizations.

Sponsored by Google, Inc.   Read this White Paper »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

Enterprise Capture: Your Onramp to Business Process Automation

Today more than ever companies are seeking to reduce costs and...  View Now »

 

The True Cost of Legacy Systems

How well are you maximizing existing software assets? This webcast reveals the results of a commissioned study on top migration and modernization priorities for IT leaders.   View Now »

 

How To Maximize Your Virtualization Strategy and Deployment

Join award-winning technology journalist Stan Gibson in this webcast as he discusses how to enhance your virtualization strategy with the ROI, planning, implementation and platform advice. Exploit the business benefits of virtualization and successfully expand your current deployment.   View Now »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

 
NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for the Blogs & Discussion Newsletter




*Required fields

By clicking the sign-up button, you agree to the Privacy Policy.

View all newsletters »

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Manage limitless content todayread EMCs 15-minute guide to ECM.

HP Exstream. Get a Free Document Assessment for Financial Services.

Take the Netezza TwinFin TestDrive!

Webinar: Jump-start your in-house e-discovery with Ringtail QuickCull from FTI Technology

Let Progress Software help your business make progress.

Best Practices to Reduce IT Operational Costs

Real-world testing ranks Trend Micro #1 against malware. See results.

Forrester: The real-world financial impact of Windows 7

Turn your desk phone and mobile phone into one with Sprint Mobile Integration.

Maximizing efficiencies with unified communications.

Stay informed with custom newsletters from Tech Dispenser

Selecting the Right Reporting Technology

An IT Leadership Action Plan for the Economic Recovery

Consolidate data centers and lower IT service costs. Learn How.

WAN optimization techniques significantly improve application performance. Read More.

The Revolution and Evolution of Private Cloud Computing

ROI of Application Delivery Controllers

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management

Enterprise Capture: Your Onramp to Business Process Automation

Adobe® LiveCycle®solutions for intuitive user experience

Unlocking the Mainframe: Modernizing Legacy System to SOA

State of the Data Integration Market

Enhance Customer Loyalty through Higher Responsiveness

Achieving Business Agility with Application Grid

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Does your IDS really work? Find out with a free Endace Audit

Verint Systems. Discover the Power of Intelligence in Action"

CA ARCserve r12.5 is More Than Backup! Download Trial Version Today

Enterprise search helps employees get more done. Get the facts from Google.

See why ShoreTel is named best overall VoIP provider by Nemertes Research

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

AT&T Application Management & Hosting. Let us help you STRETCH

Microsofts new client operating system helped Pella reduce power consumption.

Efficiency goes up. Costs come down.

Dark Fiber from Sunesys Save on Unlimited Bandwidth with Fixed Costs.

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

Webcast: Solve Your Data Visualization Needs with Open Source BI

Webcast: Delivering the Enterprise-Ready Cloud

Ensure cost effective application delivery. Learn More.

Cloud Computing: The Impact CIOs See

What's Next for Enterprise Resource Planning?

Gartner Magic Quadrant, Application Delivery Controllers 2009

Global Research: CIOs Weigh In On Virtualization

Adobe® LiveCycle® solutions for business process automation

What's New in SOA Suite 11g?

Unleash the Power of Java with Oracle JRockit Real Time

SOA Best Practices and Design Patterns

Application Grid: Ideal Platform for IT Consolidation

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level