Making Web Metrics Decisions: KISSmetrics or Google Analytics?

Any beginner in the world of web analytics will tell you just how exciting and confusing it can be to choose the right tool that fits your business. With dozens of options out there, how do we really know if we’re choosing the right one?  Many of us are drawn to the light of Google. Why? Well; because it’s GOOGLE and anyone who practically re-engineered the web and how people around the world search for information ought to know a thing or two about how I can measure and analyze my company’s website. Although Google Analytics is a fascinating, and very powerful tool for web designers, marketers and IT professionals, there are still some other pretty powerful tools to explore.  This week, I’ve decided to take a deeper look into KISSmetrics.

 

            The first thing you will notice when you visit KISSmetric’s website is the phrase “Google Analytics tells you what’s happening. KISSmetrics tells you who’s doing it.” (Kissmetrics.com, 2014). This is a powerful statement that gains my attention as a marketer.  According to their website, KISSmetrics is a person-based analytics product that helps you identify, understand, and improve the metrics that drive your online business. KISSmetrics make it simple to get the information you need to make better product and marketing decisions. The company claims that they strive to make both installation and reporting as simple as possible (KISSmetrics Overview, 2014).  Some of the additional benefits of this company include enhanced tracking that goes beyond simply measuring pageviews or isolated events. KISSmetrics claims to track every single time a visitor comes to your website, even prior to their signing up.  The company is also known for its simple and quick reporting (KISSmetrics Overview, 2014).  Digging a little bit deeper, it is clear that KISSmetrics provides some additional insight into customer behavior that Google Analytics does not.

For example, one of the biggest differences between the tools is how they measure people.  According to a blog post written by KISSmetrics, “When a person visits your website for the first time, both KISSmetrics and Google Analytics assign an anonymous ID to that person.  For Google Analytics, the visit and registration must take place in the same visit session. If a person visits your website, leaves, and then comes back 10 days later and registers, only the last session is tied to the user ID. The first session is lost. Google Analytics connects data from only the session in which the user was identified. The only way around this is to find a way to identify people during as many sessions as possible. With KISSmetrics, all data from a person’s previous sessions is assigned to an alias.” (“What is the difference”, 2014)

As more of us are viewing websites on our tablets, phones, and mobile devices, it is important for marketers to also understand web analytics as it relates to mobile.  KISSmetrics outlines a common example again in their blog post that demonstrates some of the key attributes of their tools versus that of Google Analytics. Here is their example:

1) Anna registers on your site from her desktop.

2) A week later, she visits your site on her iPad but doesn’t log in.

3) Later that day, she visits your site again, this time logging in with her iPad.

With KISSmetrics, all the data from her desktop gets assigned to her alias once she registers. When she visits on her iPad, KISSmetrics assigns her a new anonymous ID. KISSmetrics doesn’t know this visitor is Anna until she logs in on her iPad. Once she logs in, all the sessions from her iPad are tied back to the ID she originally created when she registered on her desktop.

Anna registered on her first visit, so the activity from that session gets tied to her newly registered User ID. Since Anna’s second visit was on a new device and she didn’t log in, that data gets lost.  All her sessions going forward (on the same device) will be correctly assigned to her. (“What is the difference”, 2014)

This example shows just how intuitive KISSmetric’s data tracking is compared to Google Analytics, which connects data only from the session where the user was verified.

Strength Comparison: Who Does it Better?

 Google Analytics Vs. KISSmetrics

Use	Google Analytics	KISSmetrics
Tracking Visitors/Visits	✔
Bounce Rate	✔
Time on Page	✔
Exits	✔
Funnels		✔
Conversions Tracking	*Must set up Goals	*Must Set up Funnel
A/B Testing	*Can be done with separate URLs	Slightly easier with KM✔
Cohort Reports		✔

What happens when you combine KISSmetrics with Google Analytics?

According to some, this is the very best option. Although many of us have tight budgets, there are those fortunate enough to have used both Google Analytics and KISSmetrics together to strengthen the power of their data and get an even better insight into the customers who visit their websites.  According to the famous “Dummies.com” Google Analytics is one of many services that KISSmetrics works well with via API integration, and the setup is simple (Poston, n.d).  

KISSmetrics has many “out of the box” tools, while Google Analtyics’s tools typically require some expertise to use. Google Analytics can still provide much of the same data with some research and additional GA insights and know-how. 

Some of the Pros and Cons to Google Analytics are outlined below. It is important to note that with Google Analytics, visits to your site that don't execute the JavaScript file won't get counted. If the code doesn't run, then __utm.gif never gets requested from the GA servers and Google Analytics will never know about the visit. Likewise, if you take the code off your site or misconfigure it so that it's not working properly, the visits during that period won't be counted (ActualMetrics Blog, 204). Also, if a visitor deletes the Google Analytics cookies, they will be seen as a new visitor in the next visit, and all information from their previous visits will be lost.  This is one of the setbacks for marketers who depend on the GA tool for customer data.  To those of your who are new to using Google Analytics, it is also important to note that GA data is processed remotely. Once the data is in the account, mistakes in the historical data cannot be reprocessed.  Some experts recommend creating a duplicate profile to use as a sandbox so that you can test filters before you apply them to your production profile (ActualMetrics Blog, 2014).   Google Analytics is a tool that goes beyond simply tracking visitors to your site; it also allows you to create specific campaigns, goals, funnels, and reports that builds actionable data-sets and provides key insight into otherwise unclear data (Edelbrock, nd). 

 References:

Edelbrock, K. (n.d.). 6 Powerful Google Analytics Features. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/google-analytics-why-you-probably-dont-need-the-rest/

Google Analytics tells you what's happening. KISSmetrics tells you who's doing it. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from https://www.kissmetrics.com

KISSmetrics. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://support.kissmetrics.com/getting-started/overview.html#how-is-kissmetrics-different-from-other-analytics-solutions

Poston, L. (n.d.). How to Combine KISSmetrics with Google Analytics. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-combine-kissmetrics-with-google-analytics.html

Sparks, C. (2014, March 11). 10 Great Social and Web Analytics Tools - Search Engine Journal. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/10-great-social-web-analytics-tools/90629/

What is the Difference Between Google Analytics and KISSmetrics? (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-analytics-and-kissmetrics/

Multi-Platform Success with Social Media

The birth of social media flipped the world of marketing upside down, and it’s still only halfway up-right as many marketers struggle to find the right mix of traditional marketing and social media marketing that meets their company’s needs and keeps consumers connected to their brand.  According to Brian Solis, author of multiple social media books, “while businesses now have access to these rich channels, the true promise of social media lies in the direct connections between people who represent companies and the people who define markets of interest”.

According to a study conducted by the Altimeter Group:

·      Only half (52%) of companies say that their executives are informed, engaged, and aligned with the enterprise social strategy

·      A mere 26% of organizations self-describe as being “holistic” in their social media approach, where business functions operate against an enterprise-level vision and strategy

·      Just 17% of organizations self-described as being truly “strategic” in the execution of their social strategies

This demonstrates that many companies today are still confused when it comes to the right social media strategy for the business. Many times marketers are faced with tight budgets and strict guidelines from the C-suite to prove a positive ROI.  With C-suite concerns being elevated, marketers are under pressure to show results. Building social media campaigns take time, and fans, followers and the like must be nurtured. 

One of the key factors is first determining which social media platforms work best for your company.  In order to determine while platforms are best suited for your business you need to determine your target audience, and what social media sites they are active in the most.  Just because a site is popular doesn’t mean it is a good fit for you business!

Below is an infographic that shows some of the positive and negative aspects of different social media sites and what types of companies have success with each platform.

  

Source:http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/09/05/what-social-media-platforms-are-best-suited-for-your-business/?display=wide

One of my favorite examples of social media success is Whole Foods.  If you are not familiar with Whole Foods Market, they were founded in Austin, Texas, when four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format. Their founders were John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a staff of only 19 people. It was an immediate success. All Whole Foods Market retail stores are "certified organic." And in addition to our more than 140 stores, Whole Foods Market has facilities and product lines that have also been "certified organic" through their own organic handling plans.  So how does an Organic Grocer use social media successfully?  Part of their success is that they found what worked best and continued to grow those smaller  “local” social media campaigns into national ones on the social media sites that worked best for them and their intended audience.

The Whole Foods Strategy:

According to one source, Whole Foods’ social media strategy is built around their company web site and 6 additional social platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, their blog, and then the more recent additions of Foursquare and Pinterest.  One of the most unique aspects of Whole Foods’ social media campaign (Twitter in particular) is that they put a priority on the local component of their strategy. There is a community manager assigned at every store, who manages their customer engagement through multiple platform accounts. They focus on being where the customers are.  By making their content relevant, Whole Foods was able to reach their target audience in specific locations with content that was completely relevant to them at a specific point in time. According to a 2009 article on Mashable, Whole Foods encouraged all their stores to start their own Twitter accounts and tweet about events at their store and news related to that local area. They also created separate accounts for specific issues, such as one for wine and one for cheese, where the head of those departments post and interact with customers. In fact, with over 150 company Twitter accounts (in 2009) and new ones added regularly, they likely have one of the largest corporate presences on Twitter. 

Another great social media strategy take-away from Whole Foods is loosening control from the top in order to make interactions more personal and engaging. Many times companies are so worried about posting “the wrong thing” online and ending up in a PR nightmare.  Whole Foods seems to really understand that such a top-down approach does not work in the age of social media. While they encourage some basic guidelines, Whole Foods has learned that for social media to work well, whoever is managing an account needs to be authentic, allow his or her personality to come through, and have fun in the process. If management tries to exercise too much control, the account will be less likely to succeed at engaging people. This is one place where Whole Foods has activated both a content and conversation strategy in one.  They provide useful information to shoppers while keeping an open conversational dialogue.  I saw this first hand when my local Whole Foods Market (Plymouth Meeting, PA) had a bomb threat and the store closed suddenly. Throughout the situation the store manager was posting updates on social media making sure that all local Twitter followers knew exactly what was happening and also knew when the store had been cleared by the local authorities and re-opened. 

Finally, as stated earlier, Whole Foods employs the “go where your customers are” concept to their social media strategy. The goal is not just to pick one place and force customers to come to them, but to meet customers "on their home court," wherever that may be.

It is important for marketers to remember that on social media content is key. Developing the content necessary to drive social and other content marketing initiatives is just an extension of that marketing calendar.  When you have authentic content that drives conversation and sales, you can garner a winning social media strategy. Using multiple social media platforms can be a major benefit for many companies if implemented correctly.  Measuring social media engagement is one of the best ways to determine if the platforms you chose are working.  Using any of the available social media monitoring tools can be instrumental in keeping marketers ahead of the curve when it comes to explaining to C-suite executives why you are implementing a social media strategy.  Without the support from those above, it can be challenging to run a successful campaign. 

“Everything starts with recognizing that we must cater to an audience whose parts are, in fact, greater than its sum. We must partition our social strategy to engage the diversity of the social consumer and address the unique requirements and attention of each.” –Brian Solis, Engage!

Major Retailers Will Fight for Unique Visitors This Holiday Season

As the holiday season approaches many retailers are gearing up to attract customers.  As online shopping grows, major retailers like WalMart and Target are competing against online e-commerce giant Amazon.com. According to USA Today, for the first time, Wal-Mart is offering free shipping on what it considers the season's top 100 hottest gifts, from board games to items related to Disney's hit film "Frozen", starting Saturday, November 8. The move comes as rival Target began offering free shipping on all items, a program that started late October and will last through Dec. 20.  ABC News reports that Wal-Mart unveiled some of the details of its holiday strategy as it considers matching online prices from competitors such as Amazon.com, a move that could help grab more customers but could also hurt profit margins.

So what role does WalMart’s website play in all of this? Well, during November 2012, comScore Media Metrix showed Walmart.com with 55.8 million unique visitors compared to 58.5 million unique visitors during November 2011. Walmart was ranked 18th on the top 50 list both years. Meanwhile, 6th ranked Amazon.com was shown to have 116 million unique visitors in November 2012 compared to 112.8 in 2011. 

It’s important to note that retail sites had a near-monopoly on the top-gaining categories chart in November, as the entire category grew 5% to 191 million visitors – representing 87% of the total U.S. online population. Toys ranked as the fastest-growing category with a 30% increase compared to October’s to 23.9 million visitors. Toys-R-Us sites led the category with 12.4 million visitors (up 54%), followed by The LEGO Group with 3.8 million (up 34%), Disney Shopping with 2 million (up 11%), AmericanGirl.com with 1.9 million (up 60%) and Fisher Price with 1.3 million (up 28%).

If WalMart wants to compete in 2014 online, they will need to increase their unique visitors, or at least stay even with the amount of unique visitors clicking their way to rival, Amazon.com.  According to 24/7 WallStreet, no matter how many times Wal-Mart Stores Inc. retools and re-launches its Walmart.com sites, it cannot make up ground on Amazon.com Inc. The same source also reported that in July (based on comScore data), Amazon had 95.4 million unique visitors among those who visited the site on desktops. Walmart’s figure was 34.1 million. (Globally and on portable devices could make the gulf wider.) While Amazon’s sales are all from e-commerce activity, Walmart public filings show that less than 5% of its $420 billion in annual sales come from online activity. 

The game changer for all retailers lies in the hands of mobile consumers. Exactly one-third of online visitors to the sites and apps of the top 10 retailers as gauged by total monthly unique visitors only use mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) to shop those merchants online, according to new December 2013 data from web and mobile measurement firm comScore Inc.

Internet Retailer reports that Amazon.com Inc. is the No. 1 online shopping destination with 178 million monthly unique visitors—29% of those visitors only shop the e-retailer via mobile devices, comScore says. Target Corp. is the No. 4 online shopping destination with 66 million monthly unique visitors—43% of those visitors only shop the merchant online via mobile devices, comScore says.

Measuring unique visitors is not only key for retailers to determine if their e-commerce strategies are working, but it is also a great way to figure out where those visitors are coming from. When marketers and retailers can optimize the user experience, it gives consumers a better experience. When they have a better experience, they usually tend to spend more money (or at least come back).