ad tech- 5 new things marketers should know about analytics

Everything is measurable (and that includes Flash assets)

If digital marketers are held responsible for each dollar spent (and they most certainly are), then web analytics is like their accountant. Thanks to its measuring and tracking power, marketers can vouch for and boast about revenue generated online.

The good news in 2010 is that marketers will have new depths of visibility into how users engage with their web properties.

Everyone likes a website with Flash components because they’re, well, flashy. However, before this year, Adobe Flash assets were a bit of a mystery. They were difficult to track without complicated, customized implementations and costly server calls (depending on the vendor). Adobe’s 2009 acquisition of Omniture, a leading analytics provider, will change this. Analytics professionals will now have a more holistic view of user behavior because Adobe can enhance its current products with tracking tools.

The ability to embed Omniture tracking capabilities within Adobe files will be extremely valuable to marketers, as they will finally have insight into how users interact with their websites and web properties. Measurement functionality will show interactions with the content (e.g., where people are abandoning within a PDF and what content is visible above the drop-off area), which will enable marketers to better optimize their efforts.

Respect free tools

Google Analytics announced new product features in 2009 that are keeping free tools as an extremely viable option for marketers to employ. The updated products allow for additional customization that was previously available only with enterprise solutions. Monitoring and tracking that was once only available through a subscription is now possible with free tools. With these solutions, marketers can customize what’s being tracked and how dashboards display analytics reports. Another improvement is the ability to set additional goals monitored by the software. This means that marketers can set additional alerts to notify them when web performance dips or exceeds pre-set thresholds.

There are pros and cons with using free tools. The main downfall is a lack of privacy and control over tracked data. Depending on the company, free solutions will more than suffice, but for others, enterprise solutions are a better analytics solution. I recommend revisiting these tools with each new release to ensure you're implementing the most comprehensive analytics plan possible.

Multichannel analysis is a must

This year more than ever, marketers will want to analyze data sources across multiple touch points to improve overall customer satisfaction. It will be imperative to understand cross-channel behavior and identify patterns that will help improve end results. Initially, this may seem a bit intimidating; however, there are simple approaches that don't require a major integration of data sources. For example, correlate online marketing campaigns with unique 800 numbers or segment by geographic markets based on offline marketing tactics in those markets.

The key is planning ahead for multichannel campaigns. It’s much easier to incorporate tracking in the beginning instead of playing catch up. You could miss out on valuable data.

Social media integration

This year, marketers need to view social media as a marketing channel that contributes to online revenue. This mentality is already infiltrating most marketing departments, but before launching a campaign, web analytics needs to be considered. How are we going to track this? What if consumers complete a conversion offline?

Tracking promotions is the easiest implementation, as unique links and landing pages can be used to segment referral traffic. However, social media is a fantastic mode for brand awareness. Connecting the dots between a brand-building campaign and other conversion touch points requires upfront, strategic consideration. If marketers can do this, they will have opportunities to learn from socially driven traffic spikes that will provide deeper insight into which stories, posts, or tweets drive buzz across the web.

Mobile devices need to be factored in

I am not here to say that 2010 is going to be the year of mobile. For all intents and purposes, users are already using their mobile devices, and marketers are already using mobile as an advertising medium.

From an analytics perspective, mobile is here. eMarketer reports that 42 percent of mobile users accessed the internet through their devices in 2009, 25 percent used their phones to update a social network, and 30 percent conducted online research on their phone. Measuring and analyzing this behavior will be crucial in 2010 as marketers find new ways to utilize this medium. Mobile users are active and engaged; if marketers can connect here, they can expand these relationships across any number of platforms.