What is Web analytics, and why is it so essential but challenging for today’s businesses?
What is web analytics?
Definition: Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. (Source: Web Analytics Association)
Why is it important?
Today, Web interactions between commercial businesses and their customers take place via e-commerce stores, customer service sites, interactive real-time chat, e-mail, and social media streams. These interactions are as important, if not more so, for a business’s growth as customer touches through traditional voice and bricks-and-mortar channels
Web data integrated with other channels provides a better picture of the customer–business relationship and helps in identifying customer trends
It is also useful in assessing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and optimizing marketing spend
And it improves the customer experience through faster service, thereby driving business growth and enhancing reputation
What are the challenges?
Data volume growth is accelerating, making it cumbersome to capture and analyze Web data
Unstructured social media data growth compounds the challenge, particularly as it must be integrated with enterprise structured data
Multiple Web interaction platforms (PC, smartphone, tablet) further add to data capture and integration challenges
Location and other smartphone sensor-based feeds also increase the complexity of continuous/real-time data capture
There is no single tool available to capture and analyze all types of data
Web and social media analytics: A data and technology perspective
