Comparing IBM Digital Analytics with Google Analytics

In 2010, IBM acquired the website analytics software system Coremetrics. At the time of the purchase Coremetrics was a direct competitor to Google Analytics and offered enhanced features beyond web analytics such as impression monitoring outside of the site. Coremetrics at that time was also at the forefront of pioneering industry class benchmarking for web analytics metrics (WAR, 2011).

IBM has since re-branded the platform to IBM Digital Analytics as part of its IBM Marketing Optimization Solution. This platform is now an enterprise level digital marketing tool which is generally designed for larger organizations with larger marketing analytics budgets who engage multiple digital platforms. IBM Digital Analytics primarily competes with other digital analytics solutions like Adobe Omniture, WebTrends as well as Google Analytics, among others (Ciotti, 2014).

Much like Google Analytics, IBM Digital Analytics  is a cloud based platform which enables easy integration with other digital marketing optimization platforms. One of IBM’s objectives with this product is to construct the capability to enhance engagement with other marketing segments such as ecommerce through its Websphere program, and cross channel marketing campaign management managed through IBM’s Interact software. Right now IBM’s digital programs include a wide array of plugin platforms and API reporting capability (IBM, 2016). These additional tools enable IBM Digital Analytics to cover a broader spectrum of digital customer relationship management capabilities and presents additional analytic options than the Google Analytics platform currently offers.  

While Google Analytics is a great tool for understanding how users are engaging with a site, many organizations today are looking for an integrated solution in terms of data, and engagement tracking beyond website analytics. For many the goal is to create a view of the customer experience and journey, and intuitive reporting capabilities which marketers and business leaders can act upon quickly (Miltimore, 2016). Through IBM Digital Analytics the organization is looking to meet that need and create a customizable turnkey solution which creates actionable insights for its clients. It accomplishes this by integrating the ability to not only track and store information about website visitors over an extended period of time it can deliver the ability to track activity beyond the website. For example if an organization sends out an email to a prospect, it tracks the response even if the prospect searches and purchases a product from a competitor it can track that as well.

The Google Analytics free program offers robust website analytics reporting. In contrast to bring on the IBM Digital Analytics platform there is a cost for the product and as it is built out and customized it can become an expensive solution. Google Analytics is a great platform, particularly since it is free, to improve organizations knowledge, skills and abilities surrounding website analytics. As organizations evolve their acumen and capability in using Google Analytics it can greatly assist in helping a business develop its goals and objectives as it evolves its capabilities. In other words since Google Analytics is a free service, it is a great place to learn before making a pricey investment in a product such as IBM’s Digital Analytics.  

IBM Digital Analytics is a strong offering for retail ecommerce businesses. The native functionality includes metrics available around product views, items added and abandoned, as well as the ability to remarket to the individual user based on that information (Runyon, 2014). From this perspective the IBM Digital Analytics tool offers more functionality than the standard Google Analytics package. However when you couple programs such as Google AdWords and Google AdSense, the Google Analytics package does then present some of the same metric and tracking functionality.

Reporting

Some of the reporting functionality in IBM Digital Analytics is slightly limited. For example historical segmentation can only be run for the last 93 days. To gain deeper analysis reports have to be run in a secondary system. Comparatively Google Analytics reporting is highly customizable and can generate data for historical reports dating back to 2005.

In the IBM Digital Analytics Platform certain reports cannot have segments applied. This makes answering some simple questions more difficult. The IBM system is also limited in some aspects of inverse reporting.  For example the systems allow the creation of a segment around mobile devices and applying it to a marketing channel report. However the system cannot create a marketing channel segment and apply it to the mobile reports (Runyon, 2014). While Google Analytics does not match all objects in all reporting features it does allow deep inverse reporting in many instances (Ciotti, 2014).

Customizations

The IBM Digital Analytics platform helps users determine how to share credit for conversions among multiple touchpoints by choosing from a variety of standard and custom designation models. In the conversion arena Google Analytics offers similar functionality, for example both deliver the capability of evaluating individual channels as well as the combined effect of multiple marketing touchpoints. Each system also provides users the option to assign different values to each attribution segment.

For example in Google Analytics a linear model can be set up in both systems to track a conversion journey and enables the ability to assign credit values to custom segments. In the linear model the second example provides additional credit to paid advertising.

Conversion Tracking 
Google Analytics Multiple Marketing Touchpoints

The IBM Digital Analytics platform offers similar features in the option to create custom conversion models. In this example the program enables the user to customize conversion tracking by setting up ad hoc goals. This tracking is set up specifically for iPhone users who place an order on the organizations website (IBM, 2016).

Conversion Tracking
IBM Digital Analytics Custom Segmentation

The IBM Digital Analytics platform appears to be more comparative to a combination of Google AdWords, Google AdSense and Google Analytics when it is bundled as one platform. From a pure web analytics reporting compared to the IBM system, Google Analytics generally appears to be not as strong out of the box. This consists of areas such as depth of product reporting including metrics such as product views, and abandoned carts (Miltimore, 2016).  With some customization however Google Analytics can generate the same end results achieved through custom variables, but that does require custom coding.  In other areas Google Analytics does enable a reporting API, it is however not nearly as streamlined as IBM's (Runyon, 2014).

Works Cited

Ciotti, G. (2014). The Top 10 Best Web Analytic Tools. Retrieved from Sparring Mind: http://www.sparringmind.com/best-web-analytics/

IBM. (2016). IBM Digital Analytics. Retrieved from IBM: http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/digital-analytics

IBM. (2016). IBM digital analytics features. Retrieved from IBM: http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/digital-analytics

Miltimore, J. (2016, February 16). Review: "Google Analytics: the perfect tool For understanding how users engage your site". Retrieved from Trust Radius: https://www.trustradius.com/reviews/google-analytics-2016-02-16-11-16-38

Runyon, J. (2014, May 22). "IBM Digital Analytics Review". Retrieved from Trust Radius: https://www.trustradius.com/reviews/ibm-digital-analytics-2014-05-21-11-38-15

WAR. (2011). Coremetrics 2010 review. Retrieved from Web Analytics Review: http://web-analytics-review.toptenreviews.com/coremetrics-review.html

Should a Business Adopt more than one Platform as its Primary Social Media Channel?

Social media is no longer considered a prevailing fashion, popular trend or emerging pattern. It is now solidly established as a persistent reality of an online presence and for marketers it is an imperative. The social media environment provides significant opportunity for brands and businesses to engage with their customers, prospects and target audience. Social media's potential for customer interaction and customer retention is also significant. Today's consumers are often deeply engaged in their chosen social media platforms and they frequently expect organizations will satisfy their needs, how and when they want (Sklar, 2013).

Sites focused on social media are evolving as a key channel to interact with customers to not only build a relationship, but it also provides an opportunity to build affinity and following for your brand. A strong and effective commitment to social media provides a chance to maximize customer engagement and nurture prospects. Today customers are also more informed and have more choice than ever before, so if their expectations aren't met, they will often move on quickly. Engaged customers, however generally reward consistently strong service by spending more and becoming influential brand advocates on social channels.

Social media engagements can help businesses build trust and loyalty through communications and conversations (Brown, 2014). Among these exchanges businesses can create opportunities through communications such as storytelling which offer the prospect to humanize the organization in the eyes of the consumer and target audience. For example in some cases telling personal stories about employees can help improve the image of the organization and initiate differentiation from close competitors.

Deciding Where to be Active

One of the primary questions to answer when deciding where to be in social media is defining where your audience is actually spending time. What social media outlets do they most frequent and where are they most active? Ultimately the decision of where to be on social media should be driven by understanding where your customers have gathered and creating a presence on the platforms that are most relevant to them. Organizations and businesses should also be mindful of the types of customers they have and those they consider as prospects, understanding there may be differences between the two. For example a brand or product may have an older customer base, perhaps dominated by the Baby Boomer cohort, but the organization may want or need a younger demographic. In this case marketing in robust manner on two or more platforms might be an effective strategy to reach both groups (Jones & Li, 2014). This strategy also offers an opportunity to speak and tailor content to different audiences.

For many consumers engaged in the digital environment, online networking has transitioned into a fixation and a way of life for a large number of users. Social media is changing the way we speak and engage with our partners, friends and family, and the brands and businesses we patronize. Right now there are a number of popular social media platforms and there are a handful which dominate in the category of registered users (Jones K. , 2013). 

                  

          

It is obvious platforms such as Facebook with its nearly 1.6 billion active users is dominating. Other sites such as Whatsapp, Tumbler, Instagram and Twitter rank among the highest in registered users but there are other criteria to consider when making the decision on where create a presence (Statista, 2016). These considerations include the type of social platform and what users are doing when they engage.

           Platforms such as Facebook or Google+ are highly focused on exchanges between friends and family and are constantly pushing interaction through features like photo or status sharing. Other social networks like Tumblr or Twitter are more about rapid communication and are appropriately termed microblogs. Some social networks focus on community while others highlight and display user-generated content (Statista, 2016).  Understanding the premise behind social platforms is important when considering where to be active.

How does Content vs. Conversation Factor into the Decision?

One of the factors to consider when operating in the social media environment is the rate of engagement and dialog a brand or business may expect and its relationship to the amount of generated posts and communications an organization may anticipate.  In social media both of these factors are important and a business can and should expect to be active in both.

Creating and posting relevant content in the social media environment can help build brand awareness and assist organizations in constructing brand meaning through strong and favorable associations with consumers and its target audience. Posting, liking, sharing and tweeting are often the engagements brands are looking for when they post content. These actions help perpetuate positive association with consumers and ultimately build loyalty and affinity with a brand or product.

In generating dialog in the social media environment consumers can interact with their favorite brands by tweeting or posting to the company’s feeds or on their walls. Consumers can also complain about a product, or share their favorite aspects of the product or business. This conversation provides brands with an opportunity to directly engage with customers, prospects or just general social media users who have something to say (Brown, 2014). When brands respond and respond promptly they can create an opportunity to educate consumers about their product, right a wrong that perhaps occurred during a transaction or just let consumers know there is a voice associated with the business. Social media presents an incredible opportunity to rethink what it means to connect with and influence customers and direct conversation gives businesses an opportunity to speak openly with consumers and the ability to control dialog regarding their brand (Kaushik, 2011).  

Making the Choice

It is often the case many brands and organizations will opt to be active in just a few social media platforms depending on your brand and its objectives relative to the relationship with a target audience. For example a retailer focused on women clothing may choose to be active on Facebook and Instagram to engage directly with that target audience and showcase its products. Once an organization has made the decision to become active on one or more social media platforms it is vitally important to be consistent, remain active and by all means respond when a customer or prospect engages, has a complaint or simply has a question (Jones & Li, 2014). Once a business is ready to start it should also ensure it has effective social listening and communication tools in place and an understanding of how to effectively use them. Brands and businesses should also ensure they have adequate resources in place to communicate and respond with their target audience. From this perspective limited resources should also be a decision factor relative to the number of social platforms an organization can engage.

When an organization becomes active on social media it can provide a significant opportunity to establish brand identity and build a breadth and depth of awareness (Keller, 2011). Effective social media engagements build affinity, following and loyalty for a brand or product and acting effectively in this environment can be a significant part of a balanced marketing communication program. In the end brands should evaluate which social channels and engagement elements can provide the most value and then weigh the investment against the potential gains.

Works Cited

Brown, M. (2014, December). Which social media accounts really matter and why. Retrieved from Kissmetrics: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/which-social-accounts-matter/

Jones, A., & Li, C. (2014, June 12). Leveraging Social Identity: know and engage customers better to build more valuable relationships. Retrieved from Altimeter: http://getcommandpost.com/assets/2014/07/Leveraging-Social-Identity-Altimeter-Group.pdf

Jones, K. (2013, November 15). The growth of social media v2.0 . Retrieved from Search Engine Journal: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/growth-social-media-2-0-infographic/77055/

Kaushik, A. (2011). Best social media metrics: conversation, amplification, applause, economic value. Retrieved from Occam's Razor: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/best-social-media-metrics-conversation-amplification-applause-economic-value/

Keller, K. L. (2011). Building customer- based brand equity:a blueprint for creating strong brands. Retrieved from Marketing Science Institute: http://mktg.uni-svishtov.bg/ivm/resources/CustomerBasedbrandEquityModel.pdf

Sklar, C. (2013, March 13). How to use social media to understand and engage your customers. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/mar/13/social-media-customer-engagement

Statista. (2016, April). Leading social networks worldwide as of April 2016, ranked by number of active users (in millions). Retrieved from Statista: http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/

The Impact of the Landing Page on Website Performance

In measuring the performance of your website it is important to understand the characteristics and behaviors of the user during a website engagement. By using specific metrics a marketer can create an understanding of the user intent and their experience as they navigate from a source and as they enter a website. These metrics can be classified as Visit Characterization and they include a range of specific measures which provide insight on the effectiveness of your website and whether the site is accomplishing your goals and objectives (Reed College, 2016). Visit Characterization provides awareness on where website visits are originating and through what sources they are being referred from other sites or digital media platforms. These measures also include an understanding on how and where visitors are entering your website. 

Visit Characterization metrics include:

• ·        Entry Page
• ·        Landing Page
• ·        Exit Page
• ·        Visit Duration
• ·        Referrer
• ·        Page Referrer
• ·        Session Referrer
• ·        Visitor Referrer
• ·        Click-through
• ·        Click-through Rate/Ratio

Each one of these measures provides insight on specific characteristics of a given website visit. Analyzing these events can give marketers a better understanding of consumer interests through the actions they have taken. One of the most critical components of the start of a visit is the landing page as it often plays a key role in attracting new visitors to a website as it is often the first impression in a website visit.

The Landing Page

To build website traffic marketers will often create campaigns or initiate other marketing efforts to attract and engage users.  Landing pages are a significant tool for any promotion specific marketing particularly for marketing efforts where a measured ROI is essential. Landing pages are a fundamental part of a successful inbound marketing strategy and can be linked directly to a campaigns metrics and result.

Landing pages are often the foundation of lead generation efforts. Creating unique landing pages which are designed to appeal directly to a target audience enables marketers to link website performance to a specific marketing effort (Hussain, 2013). As a result unique campaign specific landing pages should be designed and utilized every time a marketing effort is planned to build traffic to your site.

          Key Landing Page Features

In developing marketing campaigns landing pages are often optimized for specific keywords, themes, or calls to action. Since landing pages represent a touch point or an opportunity to present a message to the visitor, they have a particular importance in conveying information that appeals to the target audience and motivates the visitor to become more engaged with the site (WAS, 2006).

          The Headline

There are several areas to consider when designing a landing page to maximize the opportunity to attract new visitors and build traffic to your website. Among the key features includes the page headline. The landing page headline is one of the first things a visitor will see and read. The headline should relate to the offer that is on your landing page. It should also convey benefits and very quickly communicate what problem this page can solve. An effective headline should clearly and concisely convey the intent of the page and must compel the user to take a closer look.

          Measure, Test, Adjust

As you analyze the results of your web traffic and realize adjustment to your web landing page is needed it is often a simple task to make changes. For example if click through rates are not generating the desired activity. One of the best features about marketing in the digital environment is the ability to quickly make adjustments to a website and modify campaigns as you comprehend and learn what users like and what they do not like. Making a link bolder and more visible may make a significant difference in improving a click through rate (Sloan, 2013).  

As marketers modify the content of their web landing page they can make changes to items such as text, images and call to action to see what resonates most with users. Marketers can also conduct A/B testing by creating two different site designs and testing them against each other (Dane, 2015). A/B testing can be effective when used against a baseline control and compared to a variety of test samples to improve response rates. Test samples can include modifying the call to action or smaller subtle changes such as changing buttons or colors or even modifying the copy slightly.

Monitoring and measuring the performance of your website through website analytics provides marketers with an opportunity to understand what is happening on their site and a strong analysis program can help provide insight on what is working and what needs adjustment. The landing page is but one component in a marketing effort and an overall website experience. Developing an effective landing page however can often significantly impact the success of a specific marketing effort and greatly assist in accomplishing your marketing and website objectives.

Works Cited

Dane, J. (2015, December 21). 3 landing page best practices debunked. Retrieved from Optimezly: https://blog.optimizely.com/2015/12/21/landing-page-best-practices-debunked/

Hussain, A. (2013, April 12). 7 key design tips for high-converting landing pages. Retrieved from Hub Spot: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/7-landing-page-design-tips#sm.0001y364vfrnyd2fqfq1dfnm0te63

Reed College. (2016). Week 1 lesson: intro to web analytics and the basics of web analytics. Retrieved from West Virginia University: https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_64077_1&content_id=_2976590_1&framesetWrapped=true

Sloan, E. (2013, November 14). 3 essential ingredients of landing page headlines that convert. Retrieved from Unbounce: http://unbounce.com/landing-page-examples/successful-landing-page-headlines/

WAS. (2006). Web analytics “big three” definitions. Retrieved from Web Analytics Association: http://www.digitalanalyticsassociation.org/Files/PDF_standards/WebAnalyticsDefinitionsBig3.pdf

What is “Unique” about Foundational Measures in Web Analytics?

In developing sound concepts surrounding website performance an organization must have an effective understanding and working knowledge that is focused on the primary metrics needed to measure website activity (Reed College, 2016).  A solid foundational competence provides opportunity for increased success and helps marketers strategically gather online information to measure traffic, engagement and potential impact on ROI. Measuring how visitors interact with a website, how they consume content, engage and navigate your website is the means in which you gain insight on ways to refine and improve the user experience. 

Understanding website metrics and how consumers are navigating their way through a website aids marketers and organizations in making continuous improvement. As websites user interface and content are improved it delivers opportunity to provide an increased level of visitor satisfaction, deeper engagement, improved conversion rates and ultimately a higher profit margin (Teixeira, 2011).

                                                             (Jellyfish, 2016)

Developing a solid understanding of these concepts includes a deep comprehension around the exclusive terms, measures and actions web analytics programs utilize in gauging website performance. Terms such as page views, visits and sessions along with events and unique visitors form the foundation in assessing and quantifying website performance (Kaushik, 2010). Understanding the differences in these terms and the significance of their function is critical.

The Unique Visitor

One of the key foundational measures of website performance is the unique visitor.  The term unique visitor is essentially the “Number of inferred individual people within a designated reporting timeframe, with activity consisting of one or more visits to a site”. The key metric here is each individual is counted only once in the unique visitor measure for the reporting period (WAS, 2006). While a unique visitor may return to a site multiple times during a given reporting period the unique visitor metric helps marketers and organizations understand whether the number of actual users of a website are growing or declining. 

The Not So Unique Visitor

One of the evolving realities in today’s digital market place is the propensity for consumers to use more than one device or multiple browsers to access a website. For example an individual navigating to your digital property may access a site in the morning using a mobile smartphone. This same user may access the same website later in the day while using a desktop computer during work hours. While the same person has accessed the same website two times in the same day, there is a high likelihood the web analytics system most organizations employ to measure website usage will likely count this user twice creating two unique visits when in reality there is just one visitor. To further complicate this scenario this same user may make use of different web browsers located on their desktop computer further increasing the propensity for a web analytics system to overestimate the number of unique users accessing a website. Finally this same user at the end of the day may access the same website again but this time through a mobile tablet device unit again providing the opportunity to overestimate the number of unique visitors.  

Generally, the most common reasons above will affect the unique visitor count again further inflating the number of distinctive users visiting a given site. (Mason, 2010). What is important is that marketers need to be aware of these scenarios in an effort to quantify the true number of audience members they have for their website. 

                                                                  (Chaffey, 2016)

Why Unique Visitors Matter

The unique visitor metric gives organizations and marketers a sense of the size their audience. The relative significance of the unique visitor metric rests on the purpose of the website and what the site is ultimately looking to accomplish. If you are a brand, you may want to maximize the number of people that come to your site, with little regard for how many pages they access, as long as they follow chosen path through the site and perhaps ultimately execute a desired outcome such as make a purchase (Valela, 2016). If a site is a focused on publishing and creating content, the focus may be on depth of engagement and loyalty by clicking deep into the site and generating page views. Ultimately the unique visitor metric can be an important denominator when making usage calculations for a website. For example the number of events or sessions per unique visitor can provide marketers significant insight on the frequency an individual uses website and by which channel they arrive. Studying the unique visitors is a good way to look at users and user behavior instead of just looking at one particular visit or other visitor associated metrics.

The unique visitor is a foundational metric in a websites performance and one of the primary tools you need to benchmark activity need to measure success. Since every session is not always an opportunity to get a customer to hit submit, order or execute a conversion in some manner, the unique visitor provides insight on how much interaction website visitors need before they may execute a desired outcome.

Works Cited

Chaffey, D. (2016, April 27). Mobile marketing statistics compilation. Retrieved from Smart Insights: http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

Jellyfish. (2016). Analytics insights training course. Retrieved from Jellyfish: http://www.jellyfish.co.uk/digital-marketing-courses/analytics-insights/

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0. Indianapolis: Wiley.

Mason, N. (2010, May 2010). Analytics basics: unique visitors, new vs. returning visitors. Retrieved from Click Z: https://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1703608/analytics-basics-unique-visitors-new-vs-returning-visitors

Reed College. (2016). Week 1 lesson: intro to web analytics and the basics of web analytics. Retrieved from West Virginia University: https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_64077_1&content_id=_2976590_1&framesetWrapped=true

Teixeira, J. (2011, May 25). Entrances, bounces, and exits – what does it all mean? Retrieved from http://www.morevisibility.com/blogs/analytics/entrances-bounces-and-exits-what-does-it-all-mean.html

Valela, A. (2016, March 31). What’s more important: page views or unique visitors? Retrieved from Agility: http://blog.agilitycms.com/content-managers/what-s-more-important-page-views-or-unique-visitors

WAS. (2006). Web analytics “big three” definitions. Retrieved from Web Analytics Association: http://www.digitalanalyticsassociation.org/Files/PDF_standards/WebAnalyticsDefinitionsBig3.pdf