Guest Post by John Butler, Senior Consultant, Analytics and Optimization, Numeric Analytics —
Why Integrate?
Predictive analytics is the process of analyzing current and historical facts to make predictions about future events. The use of statistical analysis to extract information from data and use it to predict future trends and behavior conjures images of the film "Minority Report," where powerful computer systems (and the aid of some special skills individuals) are able to predict what people will do, before they do it, preemptively eliminating crime in this future world.
This type of predictive analytics is the ultimate goal for those of us who work in web analytics: the ability to proactively determine issues before they become problems. Predictive analytics is also the ability to understand our web site visitors so well that we can predict what issues they might have and fix them before they ever experience them. Fortunately for us, unlike in Minority Report, our e-business decisions won't ruin lives if the computer makes a mistake.
While predictive analytics is already in use in many areas—like actuarial science, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, retail, travel, healthcare and even criminal investigations—it is still evolving for the world of e-business and web analytics. We are now collecting more data than ever but the trick is in slicing and dicing the data we have in ways that allow us to proactively determine what needs to be fixed in our environments. Clickstream tools like Adobe SiteCatalyst do a great job of answering the high-level quantitative 'what' questions like:
Why Integrate?
Predictive analytics is the process of analyzing current and historical facts to make predictions about future events. The use of statistical analysis to extract information from data and use it to predict future trends and behavior conjures images of the film "Minority Report," where powerful computer systems (and the aid of some special skills individuals) are able to predict what people will do, before they do it, preemptively eliminating crime in this future world.
This type of predictive analytics is the ultimate goal for those of us who work in web analytics: the ability to proactively determine issues before they become problems. Predictive analytics is also the ability to understand our web site visitors so well that we can predict what issues they might have and fix them before they ever experience them. Fortunately for us, unlike in Minority Report, our e-business decisions won't ruin lives if the computer makes a mistake.
While predictive analytics is already in use in many areas—like actuarial science, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, retail, travel, healthcare and even criminal investigations—it is still evolving for the world of e-business and web analytics. We are now collecting more data than ever but the trick is in slicing and dicing the data we have in ways that allow us to proactively determine what needs to be fixed in our environments. Clickstream tools like Adobe SiteCatalyst do a great job of answering the high-level quantitative 'what' questions like:
- What is the conversion rate?
- What is the most popular page(s)?
- What path do our visitors follow?
However, once you know the conversion rate and you want to improve it, web analytics fall short in helping you determine why the conversion rate is low or how to improve it if it's due to website functionality. To answer the 'why' questions, we need to use a tool more focused on qualitative data like Tealeaf. Tealeaf is a Customer Experience Management (CEM) solution that captures data in a very different way than your traditional clickstream JavaScript tagging methods. Tealeaf collects data by passively listening to the data stream between the visitor and your web servers, capturing every page, every click, and every interaction for every customer. With a tool like Tealeaf, you have the ability to answer the tough why questions like:
- Why do visitors fail to complete checkout?
- Why do visitors have difficulty completing registration?
- Why are visitors on our site?
By combining two tools like SiteCatalyst and Tealeaf, we gain a more holistic view of the online experience and move one step closer to building a proactive, data-driven analytics environment. Being able to answer the difficult what and why questions is the first step toward making this happen, and I see Tealeaf as a keystone to this strategy. Let me explain why:
Tealeaf has the ability to integrate seamlessly with business intelligence, analytics and web site optimization solutions for achieving cross-channel and customer behavior analysis. The ability to integrate with these other solutions is what makes the difference. With these tools, you can combine different qualitative and quantitative data to gain a deep understanding of your site visitors, and this type of deep understanding will take your analytics to another level. The ability to pivot between quantitative data in SiteCatalyst and qualitative data in Tealeaf reveals the answers to what and why questions faster and more effectively than ever before. As you know, there is no shortage of data in the world of web analytics. The trick is not collecting the data and storing it in a massive database, it's putting all this data together in a meaningful way that leads to actionable insights. Tealeaf does just that. With massive amounts of data and limited time, integrating your analytics tools only makes sense.
While we are nowhere near true predictive analytics (yet!), the ability to add clarity to the massive amounts of data you are collecting is certainly a good step in that direction. The better we can understand the data we are collecting, the better we understand our customers, what they want and need, and possibly even what they will want in the future.
Numeric Analytics is the leading organization in North America focused on marketing analytics, optimization and automation.
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