These articles outline the six steps that are the components pivoting you towards being able to achieve ultimate success for content or commerce driven websites and other (Omni) channels of engagement:

Part one of Two Installments on Analytics

In the last article, we discussed Executive Engagement as the first mandatory step in working towards having successful and ROI positive multi- channel content or commerce sites and their ultimate integration. In this piece, we will be focusing on Step 2 - Needs Assessment, which uncovers what is under the covers of your existing business. This step needs to be taken prior to making any decisions about planning and deploying solutions. Now that we have a clear vision from the executive team which aligns and can alert the analytics team properly, you can begin to research the "as is" situation across each channel of the business, whether content or commerce driven. And with software solutionstechnology becoming more and more robust and entering the arena at an alarmingly quickened pace, you need to work urgently to assess and understand what is going on currently with respect to all critical measurable components of your business channels and the metrics which will help you to understand your current situation. During this assessment period, you will begin to automatically problem solve and solution as things come into focus. Interpreting the data will give you the information to make crystal clear choices, guided by the scientific numbers we now have with our analytics tools. If you have a static website, you will find the information you need to understand what the next step is (content first, then commerce or content without commerce or directly to commerce). If you don't an have analytics tool or a customer feedback tool, deploy them first and then come back and continue reading. If you do have analytics, read on.

Bravo. You have the tools implemented. There is a lot of work that needs to be done now to understand what the critical path metrics are for your business based upon the executive positioning of the enterprise as a whole. But now you are armed. At this point, you may find that the reports you are getting (if you outsource) or the reports that your team are providing (if in house) are not customized enough for you based upon your new knowledge about the criteria that are important to you. (Keep in mind that while your URL may have no ecommerce capabilities or have sales that may not even represent single digit percentages of your gross revenues, the time is now to set the stage and this requires a no holds barred approach with analytics as its predecessor).

Customization of reports and requirements for analysis is different for commerce and content sites with respect to the metrics that need to be measured as criteria for benchmarking and subsequent improvement with specific and focused calls to action. For example, it might not be enough to know that your customer stayed on a certain page for a certain time, but where they went next and what percent went from that page to another page. This is called scenario analysis.

Scenario analysis is a process of analyzing possible future events by considering alternative possible outcomes (scenarios), and this point- to- point tracking is very helpful in identifying customer patterns as well as checking existing or new functionality on your website. Scenario analysis is also helpful when setting up customized reports. Scenario analysis allows tracking of customer behavior as they interact with your site to track whether the customer went from point A to point B and at what percentage they did so. For example, do customers move from "sign in" to "shopping" to "add to cart" to "complete order"? By defining a scenario analysis, you can learn where visitors abandon a process and identify areas of weakness in your site. Using this information, you can make changes to your site to help improve visitor retention and conversions. As you continue your deep dive in information collection, other areas of interest, like where the customer came from prior to going on your site and where they then went when they left your site, will become key pieces of data to use for future marketing efforts.

Visitor Intelligence is a relatively new module that can be added to most analytics tools, if not already there and waiting for set up and implementation. Visitor intelligence takes the next step in understanding the customer psychodynamics in a more segmented way, allowing for future targeting of personalized messages and experiences for your customers, optimizing your strategy and helping to set up campaigns that will increase the success of marketing endeavors, conversion rates and ultimately, sales. Examples include demographic information, gender and age information as well as other data perfect for email segmentation and loyalty marketing efforts. "Visitor Intelligence" is a dynamic method of accumulating and analyzing information about online visitors, their behavior and specifications. This allows us to finally make an in-depth 360 degree visitor view to extend knowledge and insights about online visitors and to use this to build stronger engagement and retentive relationships with customers.

Online intelligence combined with offline information from your CRM (customer relationship management) system for the perfect complement of information that can lead to the individualization and personalization of your relationships with customers. By understanding the real needs of your online visitors you are able to anticipate by targeted marketing and content optimization. Visitor Intelligence enables you to outrank competitors by enabling the building of bridges first to segregate out groups and finally to the individual level. Today online customers are looking for interaction and personalization. It is important to fully understand your online customers to be able to communicate with them individually to provide this personalized user experience.

Visitor Loyalty can be achieved through the use of these tools and provide the scientific basis for moving forward with decisions that will increase loyalty and preference with your customer base while they engage with you online. If you can use this information to target promotions that are segmented, at least into groups, and ultimately to individuals and personalize the experience across channels, thus achieving the objective of loyalty. You might have noticed that I snuck in, "across channels". We have not discussed this yet, but as you are just becoming adept at putting together proper reporting and analysis online, the mobile revolution has begun. With it, its own set of criteria and analytics will be necessary as the mobile customer is not necessarily the same at this point in time. My estimate is that in within five years, customers will be able to use other channels interoperabilily and at that point, we are really providing the value that a customer needs to have convenience with choice, leading to the best value. They will then use the channel they want when they want it, for each channel will provide the same value and reliable experience. For right now, early adopters of cross channel commerce or content may not be the same customer as the traditional brick and mortar customer. Until we integrate our channels fully, we will not see this evolution. But, we will need to catch up very quickly and start benchmarking the mobile customer as we are the online customer. Let's save mobile strategies for understanding customer behavior for another time.

Part Two will contain, "Customization  of Analytic Tools, Benchmarking, Final Recommendations and a Few Serious Quick Tips"