Earlier today I went to a meeting in our community of practice, where one of the members talked about their approach to web analytics. In their organisation they have the saying that “a website without statistics is just a hobby”.
Today most organisations recognize that web statistics are important in many different contexts like marketing, sales, communication and recruitment. However, few organisations dedicate themselves to ‘the art of analytics,’ which was confirmed when asking around the table in the meeting. This tendency was further confirmed when talking to web analytics expert Phil Kemelor. He said that while many organisations have analytics on their site, few actually use it. So while web analytics can be quite easy to set up, you still need to think about what to do with the numbers. Without proper numbers that have a business impact, management will see your web projects as hobbies, which aren’t really that important.
A part of the challenge here is to determine roles and responsibilities. Usually the answer involves multiple departments, governance, and perhaps even an element of strategy?
Change may be coming in 2009. Many members have stated that analytics is an area that is getting more attention in future projects.
What is your approach to websites – is it just a hobby? Do you have any best practices you can share?
