Following on from my post on Monday I thought I would ramble some more musings about the wonderful world of web analytics.
The key to successful web measurement is t understand why things are happening rather than what is happening.
The “what” is easy. We have endless data on what someone did when they arrived at your site. How they got there and the path they followed through. You’ve probably had pages and pages of reports given to you by your web master or web marketing company that prove more people are coming from Google and heading to the contact page.
Its the “Why” that requires us to change the way in which we measure. So how does one go about collecting this qualitative data?
The two that I personally prefer are Usability testing where we observe users in controlled conditions and A/B multivarient testing which allows us to understand a little more about the areas that make a difference on your web page.
The other big one is surveying (which is arguably one of the best and one I don’t personally do enough of).
Whichever you choose to implement its important that you do implement. If we can understand why a potential customer is doing something rather than just what they are doing you’ll find the edge in a market place that is getting more and more competitive every day.
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