How Googles's new Universal Analytics and other planned features add to the tools available to improve business insight
The relentless pace of change at Google
I joined Google in 2005 - just after the acquisition of Urchin, the forerunner of Google Analytics. A big factor for me coming on board with Google (it was not a "no-brainer" as I had my own business and staff to consider), was the promise of the continued development of the product.
At the time, many an industry "luminary" predicted that once acquired, Urchin would just be another product/tool on Google's shelf. Many mergers and acquisitions are like that - once acquired the interest of the acquiring company moves on to the next thing - but not Google. In fact, what still amazes me is that after 7 years since the launch of Google Analytics, the pace of change is even more rapid than during the first 3 years...
Take…
A new free presentation and guide to developing an mCommerce strategy
How to manage the opportunities and challenges of mobile marketing is one of today's biggest issues for digital marketers. As we have shown in our compilation of mCommerce statistics, consumer use of smartphones and tablets is growing at a dizzying pace.
To help marketers navigate the decisions needed about mCommerce, eibDigital asked us to develop a new guide to mCommerce. We launched this at the start of October 2012; you can (download it from the Developing Revenues eCommerce best practice site from eibDIGITAL).
On 10th November 2012 we ran a webinar on the same topic which I also wanted to alert you to. You can view this at the end of this post.
I thought it would also be interesting to share some of the feedback on how companies are responding to mobile marketing. During the webinar I asked two questions... Thanks if…
This is a great infographic - communicating 5 principles of B2B lead generation, it's useful for any company marketing to business buyers.
There's some good basic reminders on here, here's our favourite in Mobile (principle #5) - click to call: have a clickable phone number as well as a form. It's these simple things that make the difference.
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A matrix to help you review the tools, services and software that you use to manage digital marketing
As digital marketers we're certainly not short of tools to review and improve our marketing. There are many free tools available and certainly some that are worth paying for too.
A recent Redeye/Econsultancy report on Conversion Rate Optimisation contained useful charts for considering the use of marketing technology to impact on bottom line and resource intensiveness. I compiled some of these charts into a matrix to help show where the opportunities lie for marketers who are assessing technology expenditure:
As a digital strategist you can use this matrix to assess your current use of digital tools and plan new tools into your budget for future year(s).
From the report we can draw that conversion optimisation technology is underutilised by organisations yet has the biggest chance of improving…
Our summary of the latest developments to be aware of from October 2012
The most obvious developments in October were the introduction of new hardware platforms that you couldn’t fail to miss, thanks to coverage in the main stream media. We cover these in our user experience and conversion section where we also have reviews covering the business relevance of two major Google Analytics developments.
Although there was a flurry of new feature announcements in October after the summer “break” which we cover below, we believe that defining a strategic approach to marketing is what is most important and this is where we start our summary.
On a lighter note, this video simulation This video simulation of the way we will use our phones in 2025 was one of our most popular posts in October, although many felt it didn’t give a positive image of life or marketing in the future…
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Google provides a new interface for integrating customer data into Google Analytics to enable more customer-centred analysis
Value/Importance: Most businesses [rating=1] Large and tech-savvy businesses [rating=4]
Recommended link: Google’s announcement of Universal Analytics
I must admit I found the explanation from Google short on details of the options for businesses to apply the features of its new “Measurement Protocol” data integration feature announced at this weeks Google Analytics Summit. With headings in the announcement post such as “the world is mobile” and “your business is unique” it wasn’t as clear as I’ve come to expect.
So, I’ve been talking about the implications for digital marketers of Universal Analytics (UA) to analytics specialist Dan Barker who helps many businesses on Google Analytics (GA) setup and using it for sales optimisation and who is better at reading between the lines…
Google's framework for multichannel success
I appreciate the headline might be a bit controversial, but it's a genuine question. It's a natural follow-up to my previous post reviewing McKinsey's New consumer Decision Journey. After all - Google are saying that their Zero Moment of Truth model represents the death of the sales funnel. Really? I don't think so…
Of course we already know that P&G first realised the idea of 'moments of truth' in 2005, they said that the first moment was "in front of the shelf," and that the "second moment of truth" was gained through product trial and experience. So compared with McKinsey's Consumer Decision Journey, what is ZMOT adding? The aim of ZMOT is to explain how the consumer's research and decision-making journey on the way to purchase is now fundamentally different, that there's a step prior to P&G's first moment of truth, called ZMOT.
ZMOT also explains that this…
A practical guide to help you manage your website more effectively
Web Governance is the discipline that describes how to manage a website in a controlled and orderly way. Until quite recently few online professionals were interested in Governance. There were too many other problems that needed fixing first, like poor design and content. But not any more!
A new generation of Executives for whom the web is neither cool nor cryptic are lifting the lid on operations and discovering teams that are poorly structured and under-resourced. What is the answer? To set things right, they need a practical Framework upon which to build a revised system of Web Governance.
In this article we’ll explore a new model that explains in clear language how Governance works and a first step towards changing it for the better which can be applied to companies of different sizes.
A new system of Web Governance
At its most basic, governance…
Digital creates new battlegrounds where brands can win (or lose)
Dave and I were reminded of this 2009 McKinsey model recently since it raises useful questions about modern marketing which marketing managers need to answer when creating plans to get the best results. In 2012 Google's Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) which paints a similar picture of changing consumer behaviour is also gaining a lot of interest. Originally published in 2011, it's worth downloading the latest free 2012 PDF handbook .
Both new models show that funnel models of purchase are becoming less useful (if they ever were) and we need to use new models to plan effectively. We thought it best to summarise both models in a two-part format under the umbrella of 'customer purchase journeys'. So here, in Part 1 I review the relevance of the McKinsey consumer purchase journey.
A question originally asked by Procter & Gamble
It's important to credit Procter…
Will social media become a broadcast channel?
We've reviewed the implications of previous reports by GlobalWebIndex; they're a really good source to inform your approach.
In their latest report, GlobalWebIndex revealed that 517 million individuals have created an account on Twitter, half actively used the platform in the past month, and half of those users had posted a tweet. On Facebook, 22 percent of the 845 million users that had visited Facebook in the past month did not make a single contribution.
We can also see the growing importance of Google+ and how social networks are often accessed on mobile or tablet.
Overall, the report suggests that consumers are moving focus in their use of social media, from publishing to the world and communicating with friends or peers, to digesting content from trusted…
