I know I am a nerd, but when I got access to my full Twitter archive (details here) I found it fascinating to look back at the Twitter clients I have gone through over the years. So naturally, I had to visualise this and add some annotations.
Caution: Nerd Alert.
PS. I chose not to go back and calculate the cost of changing Twitter clients so often, nor the total amount I’ve spent. Moving right along …
I am excited to announce I am embarking on a new adventure as a Partner at Web Analytics Demystified. I will be heading up the dedicated analytics practice, helping Demystified clients identify new opportunities, as well as develop their in-house analytics practices.
Web Analytics Demystified is home to amazing leaders in the digital analytics space, and I am honoured to join Eric T. Peterson, John Lovett, Adam Greco, Brian Hawkins and Kevin Willeitner, working with some of the biggest brands in the world.
While this blog will still be here, head on over to michele.webanalyticsdemystified.com to read more.
In case you missed it live under a rock, privacy and use of consumer data has been rearing up as a major issue in our increasing digital world. Recently I wrote about how troubling I find it that marketers are treating control over data use as something that’s being taken away from us. (I argue it was never ours to begin with.)
I feel like we all know the drill. Consumer data use needs to be an exchange of cost (sharing data about yourself) and benefit (personalised content, more applicable advertising.) And while we don’t ever expect consumers to fully understand the technology like we do, it is important they understand it well enough to not be thoroughly creeped out. The reason targeted advertising is so creepy? People genuinely believe there is some central repository of data that knows everything about them. (After all, how could the same ad follow them around so many websites?!) So yes, education is absolutely critical.
However, if we really want consumers to understand the benefit of data use, we need to start providing data to help our customers make better decisions. Not just use it for our own business.
If companies can 1) Provide data to benefit customers, 2) Help customers understand this is being powered by data and how their data contributes and 3) Be transparent about how they’re using it (transparency = less scary!) we can move towards a more educated discussion of privacy and data use.
So what are some examples of using data to benefit customers?
This list is by no means exhaustive, and I don’t think we’ve truly begun to explore how this explosion of data can benefit consumers and businesses alike. The problem with the current privacy debate is that there’s everything in it for businesses, and not nearly enough benefit for the consumer.
What can your company do to share the benefit of your data with your customers?
Last week, I attended the Direct Marketing Association conference in Las Vegas, and one of the things that struck me was the attitude of marketers to privacy. At one session, an impassioned speech was given by the president of the DMA to “rise up” against the “privacy zealots”, and that failure to do so would be the end of the relevant internet.
In short, marketers seem to perceive restrictions in data use as something being taken away from us.
So I have to wonder: Do we even have a right to react that way? Was carte blanch access to customers’ data ever really ours? Or were we just lucky to skate by using it so far?
Who owns the data?
Organisations capture and store customer data. However, the data represents the actions of consumers. So, who “owns” it?
As an analogy, consider medical information. A doctor’s office or hospital captures and stores this information. But at any time, a patient has the right to request it, and has control over whether one doctor can share it with another. If digital consumer data is treated in this way, it seems that a consumer may have similar control.
Education and Trust
The exchange of data for benefit is one that requires education and trust. And herein lies the issue. To date, we (digital marketers, analysts) have not done a good job of either.
By using data in the ways we have, without having educated along the way, we created this environment. Until the privacy uproar began, there was little or nothing done by marketers to put limits in place. We had to respond to raps on the knuckles before taking (what appear to be) begrudging actions. No wonder consumers don’t trust us!
We have failed to educate, and by developing new and ill-understood technologies, this was our responsibility. After all, when air travel first become possible, customers had to weigh a benefit (getting there quickly) versus the risk (being harmed.) For airlines to succeed, they had to educate consumers about both the benefits and risks of air travel. Of course, I’m not arguing this was done out of the goodness of the travel industry’s hearts – air travel is a very clear “opt in” situation, and success required it.
But had we educated – what a difference it might have made already. Think about what consumers find “creepy”. Going to a grocery store website, ordering groceries online, then having the store recommend recipes to use these ingredients? Perfectly okay. Being followed on the internet by advertising related to products you’ve previously browsed? Creepy. Why? Because consumers don’t understand why they are seeing these ads. They understand how their actions led to recipe recommendations. Re-targeting, on the other hand, makes them feel as though they are being watched on every site they visit, and that this information is somehow stored in some central “spy” repository.
Too complex to educate?
Yes, there is some complexity in how digital marketing technologies work. However, education is not impossible, and complexity is no excuse.
Let’s consider another medical example. Doctors need to seek informed consent prior to patients undergoing medical treatments. Medical procedures are often far more complex than digital tracking, and the consequences of making the wrong choice can be severe. (We are literally talking life and death!) If doctors can educate patients regarding complex medical procedures, we can certainly educate regarding digital marketing and tracking.
Balancing benefits
Education is, of course, critical. The consumer must understand the two sides of the equation: the concerns they have with digital tracking and targeting, and the benefits they receive from it.
But marketers must ensure there are two sides of the equation. Every use we make of data needs to have some benefit for the consumer, or all the education in the world won’t help us.
Fighting for the consumer
Marketers are fighting for their right to market.
Privacy advocates are fighting for tougher restrictions.
What we need is to fight for the consumer. To empower them with education, so they can balance the risks and benefits, and reach their own decisions. Only by providing benefits, unbiased education and allowing consumers to reach a decision (then truly respecting that decision) can we build the trust we’ll need to move forward.
[Credit: Thanks to Bryan Pearson for the great food for thought at DMA2012. You can read more about consumer perception of targeting and tracking in LoyaltyOne’s 2012 Privacy Research: http://loyalty.com/knowledge/articles/2012-privacy-research]
Big data
“Big data” is the buzz word of the year. But sadly, most companies aren’t doing enough with their “small data” to even think of tackling “big data”. It’s easy to think that big data is just “more data”, but in truth, it will fundamentally change the way we need to look at data, the tools we need and the skillsets we need to hire. We are already facing a huge talent shortage, and this will only continue to grow.
But more than that, the future is not just about big data, but also new data. The proliferation of channels and data streams is not slowing. This data can be actionable, but first, we need to get it all in one place. This is easier said than done!
Focus on action
I would argue that most companies are fairly well sold on the need for, and value of, data. However, in the end, the best data doesn’t necessarily win – the first person to act on it does.
Something that struck me was Chris Anderson’s comment, “Correlation is not causation, but it is something.” He cautioned against getting so bogged down in understanding exactly what caused something. Instead, get comfortable with not knowing, and taking action on what you have. After all, Bayesian statistics tells us to focus on probability, not certainty, as there is no “right”, there is only “right-er.”
Andrew Edwards discussed the data driven organisation. Some of the critical factors setting apart data driven organisations are that they understand and measure against their business goals (rather than measuring what is easy!), are organized around the intelligence they get from the data, know how to say no to what is ineffective, and iteratively analyse and learn from what they do.
The power of the consumer
Historically, what happened if someone was unhappy with a company? They wrote a letter, maybe told their family over dinner. Now, consumers can take to social media and their message can become quickly amplified. Take the customer who called out Papa John’s on Twitter – she only had 30 followers, yet this was quickly picked up and spread by Scott Stratten, who had tens of thousands.
The average customer is reachable on 7+ channels, and has high expectations! Not only are we active on multiple channels, but we expect companies to recognise us as we move between them. This isn’t going away – technology will continue to increase this fragmentation.
Marketing today is not about defining your brand, or pushing out a message. You no longer define your brand – your customer’s perceptions, how they share those with others, truly define you. Now, everything needs to be viewed as marketing, including hiring. Your employees are the ones who represent your brand every day, and they deliver the message about who you are. (Not your expensive ad campaign!)
The reality is, while businesses have the data, consumers now have the power. However, when companies try to seize the upper hand by exploiting data, it leads to trouble … Namely, the privacy debate.
Privacy
Not surprisingly, privacy was a key topic at this year’s DMA. Bryan Pearson ran a fantastic session, which still has me thinking.
Some sobering stats:
Privacy is goes hand in hand with trust. Consumers tend to be more concerned about data and privacy with companies that they don’t have an existing relationship with. Pearson recommends working within what he calls the “virtuous cycle”: Get permission, Build trust and Develop relationship. Then repeat. You want more data? Back to Get permission. Giving customers a choice of whether to share or not will actually build trust, and makes that sharing more likely.
“You don’t know me. You know some things about me.”
-Lester Wunderman
The reality is, data use and privacy has been something of a “wild wild west.” There’s a need for governance around this, and if companies can not or will not self- and industry-govern, legislative action is likely. All it takes is one company to be caught doing something unsavoury, and everyone is quickly tarnished. But it doesn’t even take action. Just collecting data with no clear intention of what you’ll use it for, and how that will benefit consumers, is a recipe for disaster. So stop and think – would you stand up in a court of public opinion and be comfortable defending how you use and protect customer data? Are you treating consumer’s data with the reverence that you should?
In the end, “Information can be very powerful, but it’s what we use it for that will define us.”
Across different companies, there are differing attitudes towards the value of conferences, training and industry events. Sometimes (more commonly on the agency or consulting side) attendance at conferences is considered to be of benefit to the business, as it is considered marketing, and may lead to new clients. However, an employee’s desire to attend events and up-skill often goes unsupported. Or, if education is begrudgingly permitted, the time is almost treated as if the employee is “on vacation.”
In my humble opinion, the best digital analytics professionals want to attend conferences or training, be constantly learning and growing. It’s a sign that you hired well! These are the analysts who will go the extra mile, and do more than you even thought of.
But companies do the wrong math. They think about the price of a conference plus travel and accommodation, and think, “What’s in it for me?”
Here’s what’s in it for you. Think of the cost of conferences and training for your employees. Now think of the cost of employee turnover, recruiting, time spent understaffed, and retraining. Now add in the number of times you’ll do this, as you continue to lose great people (in an industry where 51% have changed jobs in the last 12 months!) – people to whom continual growth and education is critical to their job satisfaction.
The math seems pretty simple to me.
Last week was another great eMetrics, this time in my (new) hometown, Boston. In case you missed the 10,000 tweets, here are a few of my key takeaways, as well as a few of the giggles that entertained me.
Top themes:
1. It’s (still) about people
If you are reading this, I don’t need to tell you about the challenges of attracting, nurturing and retaining talent in this industry. However, while the focus was absolutely on the people within an analytics team (with an entire track was devoted to recruiting and career advice!) other sessions highlighted the need to focus on people more generally. From building your team to communicating with others to building a culture of analytics, here were some of “thoughts of the day(s)”:
2. It’s not about the tools
As Gilligan said, “Do not ask – which tools do we need? Ask – what data do we want?” Recruiting advice (and practices!) are even moving away from the tools. As Eric Feinberg said: “Hire for mindset, not toolset.” Keep in mind that in the end, “all the tools in the world can feed your brain but they’re not going to give you insight. Your brain creates insight.” – Jim Sterne. And: “I don’t care if you have a Formula One in your driveway if you can’t drive it” – it is critical to be leveraging tools, technology, and integrating them! – Stephane Hamel.
Speaking of tools, while tag management vendors have been around for a while, this was certainly the first eMetrics where they stole the show.
In case you live under a rock missed it, Google announced a free tag management solution, and eMetrics was crawling with assorted tag management vendors. It’s easy to think of tag management as the newest “fad” or the newest shiny tool. However, I hope it allows us to move away from focusing on “the tools”, put them into the context and the process they need to be, and focus on the outcomes we’re driving and the value we’re delivering.
3. It’s not even about data
The term “big data” is being thrown all over the place these days, but I think Eric Feinberg said it best: “It’s not about big data, it’s about big judgment.” Using the data, making big decisions and taking big actions is what matters – no matter how big or small your data is. After all: “Research without insights is just trivia.” – KD Paine
Parting thoughts
But in the end, this really stuck with me:
“My key takeaways from eMetrics were: 1) I am not alone and my problems are shared. 2) The tools for success are there but the balancing act is on you.” – @doubleks (for someone with only four tweets, he sure made them profound!)
PS. There’s always time for fun
(And the people in our industry are tons of it!)
A few of my favourite moments:
Rocking the Satellite Bandana
Fenway Park
DAA Fenway Event
If you didn’t get to attend the DAA Fenway event, I have to say … you missed out. Speaker Tim Zue was fascinating talking about how the Red Sox use data to manage everything from ticket prices to understanding no-shows and more, and even gave out valuable prizes for questions! The feedback from DAA members and event attendees was that it was a resounding success, so check out the next member event near you!
Lobby Bar
Chocolate, eMetrics Style - Thanks Rene!
Oh yeah, and …
'Nuff said...
Until next time, eMetrics … “Where did you go?!”
A few fun facts about eMetrics Boston on Twitter:
MicheleJKiss 295 (don’t judge me)
BloggerKrista 189
measurefuture 138
june_li 112
eswayne 76
andrewjanis 75
rdo 67
RachaelGerson 66
deniseburns 65
jimsterne 47
Stuart_Wood 45
AnyaPrimavera 43
LdsWebAnalytics 43
codydbailey 40
iwanttobesocial 40
SashaVerbitsky 39
tgwilson 39
Wilson_Lopez 39
johnlovett 35
emetrics 33
JoseAnalytics 33
The tweet that reached the furthest (thanks TweetReach!) with over 430,000 impressions was:
Ahh…LOVE THIS > “Do not ask which tools do we need. Ask what data do we want?” ~@tgwilson #eMetrics
— John Lovett (@johnlovett) October 2, 2012
(And in case you’re curious, the second highest also mentioned Gilligan.)
And in case you’re curious what we were talking about:
Thank you to the lovely and clever people at TweetReach for the spiffy data!
For those who might be interested, check out my presentation from eMetrics Boston: “The Most Undervalued Analytics Tool: Communication”
[Originally published in Colorado Biz]
The advent of digital brought with it the incredible measurability of the online channel. When coupled with a recession, where every dollar counts and profitability of every move is questioned, data-informed decisions have become critical to many companies. Analytics is not just reserved for companies at the top, but is becoming a cost of successfully doing business.
It’s not just about the collection of copious amounts of data, but on the integration and use of it. Ultimately, companies need the right resources in place to analyze, interpret and recommend new courses of action. A heavy investment in tools, without investment in people, is seldom successful.
Welcome to the new breed of analysts. Whether companies are hiring a “web”, “digital”, “cross-channel”, “marketing” or “business” analyst, there’s no doubt that it’s a great time to be a data geek.
Increased demand
The demand for analysts is directly related to the growth of online business, aided by the proliferation of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. The responsibility of the “Web Analyst”, whose role was initially focused just on behavior on a company’s website, has already expanded in scope, evolving to include online, mobile, social and traditional channels, as well as the integration of online and offline.
Those already working in digital analytics can attest to the barrage of recruiter calls to coax experienced analysts over to a new company, as the demand exceeds the number of analytics professionals available in the market.
Greater awareness at the college level
Growing awareness of the profession at the college level will help to (slowly) fill some of this demand. Educational institutions are starting to introduce courses tailored specifically at this new field. The University of British Columbia began offering an award program in web analytics in 2005, and other schools are following suit, with certificate programs or course work within marketing focusing on digital analytics.
The existence of these programs can help make students aware of a career in digital analytics. Programs such as Marketing, IT, Business, Economics, Mathematics and Statistics continue to lay a great foundation for a career in digital analytics, and still represent the majority of the entry points into the field, but these new dedicated courses allow students to learn enough to hit the ground running in a junior role.
An abundance of resources
For someone interested in joining this growing field, there are a number of ways to get involved. The Digital Analytics Association (DAA) has chapters across the U.S. and provides local events, education, conference discounts, research, standards, training, awards, certification and great professional networking opportunities.
The Analysis Exchange is a program that provides a “student” of analytics with hands-on experience tackling the analytics challenges of a non-profit, supported by an experienced mentor. Another option to gain experience is to volunteer your services to a local charity or small business. The availability of free tools means anyone can get their feet wet in this industry.
For professional networking and to talk to those already in the industry, attend a Web Analytics Wednesdays or DAA local symposium, or getting involved via social media. There are digital analytics groups on Twitter via the #measure hashtag, Facebook, Linked In and Yahoo. Ask questions, and you’ll be surprised at who will take the time to answer them.
In addition, companies are creating more opportunities for those looking to break into the field. For example, Red Door Interactive created an internship program that helps students get hands on experience in a variety of areas, including analytics. The interns not only help collect and analyse data, but they learn how an agency works and how to be a part of a cross-functional team.
For companies needing to hire analytics professionals, it can be tough, and it’s not likely to change soon. Good analysts are typically happily employed and frequently recruited, so companies need to be open to developing entry-level or junior analysts on the job, consider internal candidates with compatible skill sets, allow flexible working arrangements (like remote employees) or make an offer too good to refuse. As long as demand continues to exceed the availability of resources, it will continue to be an analyst’s market.