Web Analytics Association · 2013-03-01 · Web Analytics Association Outlook 2009: Survey Report...

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Web Analytics Association Outlook 2009: Survey Report page 1

Web Analytics Association

Outlook 2009: Survey Report

Prepared by the Web Analytics AssociationJanuary 2009

All Rights Reserved



Table of Contents

Table of Contents ................................................................................................... 2

Notice to Readers ................................................................................................... 2

A Message from the Chairman .............................................................................. 3

About the WAA ...................................................................................................... 3

Executive Summary ............................................................................................... 4

About the Participants ............................................................................................ 6

Job Function ..................................................................................................... 6

Company Size .................................................................................................. 7

Industry ............................................................................................................ 8

Geographical Location ..................................................................................... 9

Survey Findings ................................................................................................... 10

Part 1: The State of the Industry in 2008 ....................................................... 11

Part 2: The Industry Outlook for 2009 ........................................................... 22

About the Survey ................................................................................................. 32

Notice To Readers

Copyright and usage guidelines:Copyright ©2009, by Web Analytics Association. All rights reserved.

This report is provided to members of the Web Analytics Association (WAA) as a benefit of membership. Specific charts may be used for public presentations by WAA members, but the full report may only be distributed by the WAA. Any public usage of data from this report must include an acknowledgement of the source (Web Analytics Association) and the WAA logo.



A Message from the Chairman

2008 was a turbulent year—there’s no doubt about it. What will 2009 bring? The Web Analytics Association Second Annual Web Analytics Outlook Survey was created to find out. Over 650 web analytics practitioners from around the world responded to the survey and sent us three very clear messages:

1. Budgets are tight. 2. Training and best practices consulting are important. 3. We are still trying to get the message through to top management.

It might be the perfect storm.

This time of fiscal adversity is our opportunity to prove our relevance and value to our organizations. As we strive to focus on “Business decisions driven by analytics becoming more important” (65.1%) and “Best practices implementation” (49.4%), this is our opportunity to say, “Excuse me, boss... you should see something that can make the difference for us this year.”

While we are busy optimizing web site functionality, analyzing past performance and optimizing marketing performance, we can show senior management how we can also use this information to predict the outcomes of future campaigns. We can point the way to the best marketing ROI.

Forrester Research says growth in U.S. information technology spending might reach 1.6% in 2009, down from 6.1%. At the same time, our survey respondents say that they will be investing in training and process. In other words, we are investing in ourselves.

This is the time to sharpen our skills as analysts and business advisors. It might just be our chance to save the day.

Jim SterneChairman, WAA

About the WAA

The Web Analytics Association was founded in 2004 and opened to general membership in February 2005. The WAA unites and fosters the interests of industry practitioners, vendors, consultants, and educators, who use, sell, install, implement, consult, teach, or train in the field of web analytics. With over 1,500 members, the organization has committees and initiatives for education, advocacy, standards, research, events, marketing, public sector, international, and membership. More information about the WAA can be found at webanalyticsassociation.org.



Executive Summary

From October 19 to December 3, 2008, The Web Analytics Association presented the second annual web analytics outlook survey to web analytics end-users, who were asked to participate through web analytics-related websites, emails and events. A total of 653 web analytics users from around the world participated in the survey. Respondents were asked approximately 30 questions about their use of web analytics today and their planned usage in 2009, their personal experience and level of expertise in the field of web analytics, as well as company size, job function, and geographical location.

The survey delved into the current state of the web analytics industry, and asked participants questions such as:

What is the purpose of web analytics in your organization?• What kind of web analytics solution do you use?• Are you satisfied with your vendor?• How would you rate your knowledge of the latest web analytics trends, strategies • and technologies?In which areas would you most like to improve your knowledge?• Which department in your company is primarily responsible for web analytics?• How much of a role does IT play in the decision-making process when selecting • web analytics solutions?

The survey also asked questions about current and future initiatives and priorities, such as:In 2008, what were your top web analytics initiatives?• In 2009, what will be your top web analytics priorities?• In 2009, what is your investment outlook in web analytics?• Where will your investments will go in 2009?• What will be your largest hurdles? • Have you established and implemented KPIs for measuring these technologies and • strategies in 2008? Do you plan to in 2009? • What’s missing from your web analytics toolbox currently? • What would you like to add in 2009?•



Findings include:

Spending Growth is Decreasing: Last year, nearly 70% of organizations said they would be increasing their investment in web analytics during the coming year. This year, only 52% say they will.

Expertise is Still Needed: Training will get the biggest share of budget for over 43% of organizations, and 38% will invest in consulting. They may need it… over 62% of respondents said they have fewer than three years of web analytics experience.

Funding is the Biggest Hurdle: Over 40% of organizations say getting funding is their most serious challenge next year—not a surprise with the decrease in spending and a challenging economic forecast.

Before we examine the key findings of the survey, let’s take a look at the profile of our participants: their job function, company size, industry, and geographical location.



About the Participants

Job Function

Here we see a wide range of job functions, with online marketers (25.4%) and web analysts (20.7%) taking up about half of the group. The “Other” category includes Business Develop-ment, Marketing Research, and Product Management.

0.6%

1.3%

2.4%

2.4%

3.0%

3.9%

4.9%

7.0%

7.4%

9.6%

11.4%

20.7%

25.4%

Merchandising

Finance

Content Development

IT

Marketing: Primarily Offline

Project Manager

Business Intelligence

ECommerce

Executive Management

Consultant

Other (please specify)

Web Analyst

Marketing: Primarily Online

n=639




Company Size

These organizations are concentrated on the smaller side, with 42% having fifty employees or less. While the majority of the participants work for organizations with fifty employees or fewer, one fourth (25%) work for companies with 51-500 people. And one third (33%) are working in organizations with over 500 employees.

n=635

51-100 employees

8%

1,001-5,000 employees

11%

5,001+ employees

15%

101-500 employees

17%

1-50 employees

42%

501-1,000 employees

7%




Industry

Agencies and consultants are the majority with 20%, and we also see media, retail and business services at about 10% each. The “other” category includes Entertainment, Government, Automotive, Insurance, Real Estate, Web Analytics, and Non-Profits.

n=632

1.1%

1.7%

2.1%

2.2%

3.2%

3.5%

3.8%

4.0%

4.0%

6.8%

7.8%

9.5%

9.7%

9.7%

10.9%

20.3%

Insurance

Automotive

Government

Entertainment

Telecommunications

Healthcare

Education

Travel & Hospitality

Manufacturing

Financial Services

High Tech

Business Services

Retail

Media


Agency/Consultancy




Geographical Location

The majority of participants were from the US and Canada, with approximately 39% from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. It’s interesting to note that we had more participation from around the world this year. Last year, we had about 27% of respondents from outside the US and Canada.

n=632

US/Canada61%

Europe/Middle East/Africa

26%

Asia Pacific11%

Latin America2%



Survey Findings

We surveyed over 600 professionals in the web analytics industry to find out what their outlook will be in 2009.

• What are their challenges? • Where will they be spending their budgets? • What are the most important issues they foresee, and how will they be turning those potential

pitfalls into huge growth opportunities?

From the results of our survey, we gained insight into the three main trends for 2009.

1. Spending Growth is Decreasing: In 2008, nearly 70% of the organizations we polled said they would be increasing their spending on web analytics in 2008. Roughly 30% said they’d be maintaining current levels of investment, with a mere 1.5% planning to decrease their spending. This year, the numbers suggest some belt-tightening: 52.1% will be continually investing in new tools and staff, 44% said they’d maintain current levels, and 3.9% will be decreasing investments. But when we consider the current economic outlook, the fact that 96.1% of organizations will be maintaining or growing their investments, it’s actually quite encouraging. 2. Expertise is Still Needed: Like last year, most of the investments made in the coming year will go to training, consulting, and staffing. And since over 62% of respondents said they have less than three years of web analytics experience, clearly, there’s still a need for expertise. When asked where their investments will go in 2009, 43% of organizations said they will invest in training, and 38% will invest in best practices consulting.

3. Funding is the Biggert Hurdle: Over 40% of organizations say getting funding is their biggest challenge next year. Last year, the top challenge was getting executive management awareness and support of web analytics. This year, funding challenges are followed closely by executive awareness (with 32%), staffing (30.5%) and making sure business decisions are driven by analytics (30.5%).



Before we dive into the outlook for 2009, let’s take a look at the current state of the industry. Where does web analytics fit into the organization? What’s the customer satisfaction index for vendor solutions? How savvy are web analytics practitioners feeling?

Let’s also get some insight into just how much of an impact the economic outlook will have on the web analytics industry. It’s a situation that changes more rapidly than the stock market, but there are some emerging trends, as we’ll see.

Survey Results, Part 1: The State of the Industry in 2008




What is the purpose of web analytics as a function in your organization?

Most organizations have been using web analytics to optimize their site… and that hasn’t changed much from last year’s survey. Last year, 79% were optimizing site functionality and conversion, and this year, 76% are. Last year, 66% were optimizing their marketing campaigns. This year, that number has dropped slightly to 59%. In both 2007 as well as 2008, 70% of organizations were using web analytics as a rear-view mirror on past results.

n=451

4.4%

31.3%

35.9%

46.3%

47.5%

58.5%

70.1%

75.8%


Budgeting/planning forbusiness objectives

Determining creativeexecutions/testing

Predictive metrics forfuture campaigns

Baseline information forsite redesign

Optimizing marketingperformance/conversions

Analysis of pastperformance

Optimizing web sitefunctionality/conversion



Free vendor solutions are growing in popularity… 24% as compared to nearly 20% . In fact, last year, nearly half of all organizations were using a large scale vendor solution. Now that number is just under 40%. Last year, 4% were using small solutions; this year, 7.2% are. And usage of home-grown solutions have remained about the same at 4.3%.


What kind of web analytics solution do you use?

2.7%

4.0%

4.3%

7.2%

18.2%

24.2%

39.5%

None


Home-grown solution

Small vendor solution in one department,one domain

Moderate vendor solution acrossdepartments, more than one domain

Free vendor solution

Large-scale vendor solution

n=446




Are you satisfied with your vendor?

Good news for vendors—satisfaction has gone up to 75.7%, compared to 69.5% last year. But were these organizations using large- or small-scale solutions, and how satisfied were those using free solutions? Let’s take a look.

75.5%

24.3%

1Yes Non=428




Vendor satisfaction by size

Out of the organizations we surveyed, 26% say they are satisfied, while 19% say they are not satisfied with their free vendor solution. Users of large-scale solutions indicate that 42% are satisfied customers, and 38.5% are not. Everyone else fares less well. The biggest gap between dissatisfied (25%) and satisfied (17%) users appears with organizations that are using moderate-scale solutions.

But is everyone really on the same page in the organizations we talked to? If they using different solutions, how can they tell?

Large-scale solution

Moderate solution

Small vendor solution

Home-grown solution

Free vendor solution19.2%

4.8%

9.6%

25.0%

38.5%

25.9%

3.7%

6.5%

17.0%

42.0%

1Satisfied

Not satisfied



44.3%

55.7%

1Yes No


Does your organization use more than one web analytics solution?

Amazingly, 44.3% said yes, various departments use different vendors. And 55.7% said no, that they all use the same solution. What are the chances that those departments are able to share data between them, when they’re using a variety of solutions? Clearly, data existing in silos continues to be a problem for many organizations.

n=438




How would you rate your knowledge of the latest web analytics trends, strategies and technologies?

Nearly 62% of respondents rated their web analytics knowledge as good or excellent. Which is interesting, when we look at the number of years of web analytics experience they have—or rather, don’t have.

n=449

Poor: Could be better11%

Fair: Somewhat

able27%

Good: Capable at web analysis

43%

Expert: Extremely proficient

19%




Web analytics experience

A lot of web analytics players are new to the game. Over 62% of respondents said they have fewer than three years of web analytics experience. Last year, that number was 59%.

n=637

1 to 3 years37%

Less than 1 year25%

4 to 6 years20%

10+ years5%

7 to 10 years13%




In which areas would you most like to improve your knowledge?

Measuring Web 2.0 Technologies continues to see the most interest for learning. This year, Targeting and Segmentation edges out A/B and Multivariate Testing for second place, but the other results are very similar.

As we’ll see later when we look at the outlook for 2009, the ability to measure the impact of Web 2.0 technologies—and social media in particular—will be in high demand in the coming year. Vendors who have these capabilities and consultants with this specialized knowledge will have a huge advantage over the competition in 2009.

29.1%

32.2%

34.0%

35.8%

37.8%

41.2%

48.6%

49.8%

57.2%

60.8%

Affiliate Marketing

Email Marketing

Creating Custom Reports

Content Management

Campaign Management

Paid Search Marketing

Natural Search Marketing or SEO

A/B and Multivariate Testing

Targeting and Segmentation

Measuring Web 2.0 Technologies

n=444




Which department in your company is primarily responsible for web analytics?

Nearly half of the organizations surveyed said that marketing is responsible for web analytics. Last year, 54% said marketing was primarily responsible. Last year, IT was responsible for web analytics in only 13% of the organizations we surveyed, and this year they’re responsible for 9.4%. The other category primarily includes Analytics, Customer Experience and E-Commerce.

2.1%

3.6%

9.4%

10.1%

11.8%

16.7%

46.3%

Audiencedevelopment

Productdevelopment

IT

Businessintelligence

Web services

Other (pleasespecify)

Marketing

n=467




How much of a role does IT play in the decision- making process when selecting web analytics solutions or marketing applications?

However, IT continues to play a role in the decision making process. 8% said IT was the primary decision maker, and 30% indicated that they have major input. So in 73% of organizations surveyed, IT has average or major input, or is the primary role. That’s a significant impact—something vendors may want to keep in mind.

n=468

Minimal input24%

Average input35%

Major input30%

Don'tknow3%

Primary decision makers

8%



Survey Results, Part 2: The Industry Outlook for 2009

Now let’s look at the biggest trends to look for in 2009. We’ll see what organizations like yours have been focused on in the past year, and what’s changing in the months ahead.

Plus we’ll find out what’s missing from the web analytics practitioner’s toolbox, and find out what the biggest hurdles will be for web analytics professionals.




What will be your top Web analytics initiatives in 2009? What were they in 2008? (top 5)

As we said before, making sure business decisions are driven by analytics will be a big driver in 2009. It was also a top focus in 2008, but there’s a significant increase in the number of organizations keeping this top of mind in the next year. Clearly, when budgets are tight, demonstrating ROI is going to be key. It may also have increased significantly because organizations are more aware of the vital role web analytics plays in demonstrating the effectiveness of campaigns. Maybe increased vendor satisfaction is also playing a role here—organizations feel they can confidently make business decisions on reliable data.

Best practices implementation is also a top initiative for 2009, as well as KPI development anddeveloping and implementing process. Executive management awareness and support of web analytics is still important, but there’s a small drop from 2008 to 2009.

29.7%

43.5%

37.4%

40.4%

39.3%

47.8%

37.9%

39.4%

41.5%

41.9%

49.4%

65.1%

Integration of currentand new solutions

Executive managementawareness and support

Developingprocess/implementing

process

KPI development

Best practicesimplementation

Business decisionsdriven by analytics

20092008

n=559/596



5.2%

13.8%

11.1%

16.9%

29.4%

17.6%

34.9%

29.7%

4.8%

13.1%

14.3%

16.8%

21.6%

26.3%

34.3%

37.9%


Product trials

Funding

Staffing

Tools selection andtransition

Systems integration

Training and education


20092008


What will be your top web analytics initiatives in 2009? What were they in 2008? (top 7-13)

And here’s the rest of the list. Integration of current and new solutions will be seeing more focus this year than in 2008, with an increase from 30% to 38%. Perhaps this is also a function of organizations using more than one web analtyics tool—they may be seeing the value of unified data, available to all. Systems integration get more attention as well, increasing from 17.6% last year to 26.3% in 2009.

Tools selection and transition will be seeing significantly less focus in the upcoming year. Presumably, most organization have many of the tools they need already—they just need to integrate them more efficiently.

n=559/596




In 2009, what is your investment outlook in web analytics?

Here we see a significant drop in spending growth projected for 2009. Last year, nearly 69% of survey respondents said they would be increasing their investment in web analytics. This year, that number has gone down to 52.1%. And so, 10% more will be keeping their investments about the same, and nearly 4% will be decreasing them in the next year.

The troubled economy is obviously having an impact on the technology world. According to Forrester (US IT Market Outlook: Q4 2008), growth in information technology spending next year is expected to reach 1.6% in the United States, a significant drop from previous forecasts.

That being said, it makes sense that while tech spending overall may be reducing, web analytics spending may not be—according to an Epsilon CMO survey, senior marketing executives intend to increase interactive and online marketing by 63%, and 23% expect it to stay the same. Only 14% say it will decrease. Tracking those online advertising investments will be a high priority.

1.5%

29.7%

68.8%

3.9%

44.0%

52.1%

Declining:Decreasing

investment inthe next year

Flat: Maintainingcurrent levelsof investment

Improving:Continuallyinvesting in

new tools and staff

n=568




In 2009, your investments will go towards which of the following?

With spending under scrutiny, what exactly will organizations be investing in during 2009? Like last year, training, add-on tools and consulting will lead the pack. 43% of organizations will invest in training, 41% will be buying add-on tools such as behavioral targeting or paid search management, 38% will invest in best practices consulting, and 36% will be spending money to integrate data with external applications.

n=52111.9%

13.1%

14.4%

30.3%

36.1%

38.2%

41.1%

43.4%

Purchase of primary WA: newplatform, same vendor

Switching primary WAsolution/vendor

Purchasing first installation of WA

Staffing

Data integration

Best practices consulting

Add-on tools: behavioral targetingor paid search

Training




In 2009, your largest hurdles will likely be which of the following? (top 6)

And so it comes as no surprise that the largest hurdle in 2009 will be funding. In fact, 40% said funding was going to be a big barrier, compared to 28% last year,

Last year, the top hurdles were making sure business decisions were driven by analytics, executive management awareness and support of web analytics, and staffing. They’re still important, but funding has shot from fifth last year to number one.

Staffing, training and education are all high on the list, and again, data integration with external or third-party applications is going to be a hurdle as well as a priority.

24.6%

26.0%

30.5%

30.5%

32.2%

40.4%

Training and education

Data integration with external or third-party applications

Staffing

Business decisionsdriven by analytics

Executive management awarenessand support of web analytics

Funding

n=512




In 2009, your largest hurdles will likely be which of the following? (top 7-13)

Like last year, lower on the list are integrating solutions, best practices, KPI development, and systems integration. Tool selection and product trials aren’t seen as significant hurdles by most organizations, which isn’t surprising, since they’re not top initiatives, either.

n=5126.3%

10.5%

17.2%

18.2%

18.2%

18.4%

18.6%

Product trials

Tools selection andtransition

KPI development


Systems integration

Best practicesimplementation

Developing process/implementing process




Do you plan to establish and implement KPIs for mea-suring these technologies and strategies in 2009? Have you done so in 2008?

Video is strong and will only get stronger, but the biggest growth will be in measuring KPIs for Mobile Media, which will more than double. According to eMarketer (Video Content: Harnessing a Mass Audience), a huge video market is developing, with the US audience expected to grow to 190 million people by 2012, 88% of the Internet user population.

According Forrester (US Mobile Marketing: Easier Done Than Said), 83% of marketers believe that mobile marketing will grow in effectiveness over the next three years. And that to test the new medium while managing these early risks, US marketers should apply lessons learned from other digital channels to launch effective mobile campaigns.

It appears that marketers are doing just that by thinking now about the KPIs that they’ll implement in the coming year.

45.8%

33.1%

40.7%

40.9%

49.3%

59.3%

21.8%

21.8%

33.9%

27.4%

42.3%

44.6%

Mobile media

Widgets

RSS

Viral marketing

Consumer-generatedcontent

Video

2009

2008

n=369/307




What’s missing from your web analytics toolbox currently? (top 9)

Nearly half of respondents—48%—indicate that they currently lack advanced behavior analysis. And of course, that’s leading to blind spots that make advanced segmentation virtually impossible.

The ability to measure Web 2.0 is also a huge gap for web analysts. 48% said they can’t measure the effectiveness of social media, 40% don’t have the tools to gage RIA and RSS activity, and 33% lack the ability to determine the effectiveness of broadcast media.

These numbers are very similar to last year’s survey—we added social media this year, and it shot up to number two in priority. Consistent measurement across channels is being missed more. Last year, it was number 12 on the list with 23%, and this year it’s sixth, with 36.6%.

32.0%

32.5%

35.7%

36.6%

37.5%

39.8%

42.0%

47.7%

48.4%

List generation for email marketing

Web 2.0 measurement: broadcast media

Advanced SEO/SEM reporting

Consistent measurement across channels

Up-sell/cross-sell recommendations

Web 2.0 measurement: RIA, RSS

Advanced segmentation

Web 2.0 measurement: social media

Advanced behavior analysis

n=440



5.9%

8.4%

15.2%

17.5%

23.2%

26.8%

30.2%

30.2%

31.6%


Basic analytics reporting

Basic SEO/SEM reporting

Basic segmentation

More accurate data

Basic behavior analysis

Advanced analytics reporting

Customizable features

Cross-channel view of results


What’s missing from your web analytics toolbox currently? (top 10-18)

A cross-channel view of results remains important, which isn’t surprising, when we consider how many organizations are using different analytics solutions among departments. It looks like nearly everyone feels like they have basic analytics reporting covered—only 8.4% are lacking it.

n=440



About the Survey From October 19 to December 3, 2008, The Web Analytics Association presented a survey to web analytics end-users, who were asked to participate through web analytics-related websites, emails and events. A total of 653 web analytics users from the around the world participated in the survey. Respondents were asked approximately 30 questions about their use of web analytics today and their planned usage in 2009, their personal experience and level of expertise in the field of web analytics, as well as company size, job function, and geographical location.

Respondents received an email invitation to participate in the survey with a URL linked to the web-based survey form. Many of the questions included multiple-choice answers in which the respondents were asked to choose all that apply. Respondents were not required to answer every question in order to complete the survey. The methods used to gather data were similar to last year’s survey. Some questions were refined for clarity with additional response choices added.

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