Infidelity Rate and Google Infidelity Share for Web Analytics Vendors

August 14th, 2009 by Lars Johansson

Stéphane Hamel was kind enough to let me have a look through the raw WASP data from his study of 400 Swedish websites.

Based on that data, I’ve calculated two new KPIs for analyzing web analytics vendors: Web Analytics Vendor Infidelity Rate and Google Analytics Infidelity Share. The former measures to what extent users of a tool also use additional tools, and the latter measures to what extent Google is responsible for that user infidelity.

Infidelity Rate for web analytics vendors

Vendors not mentioned had too few installations to be included.

Some findings:

More than half (55%) of all websites using a paid web analytics tool also use one from Google.
Half of all websites in this study using Omniture’s tools are unfaithful.
One in seven of websites using Webtrends with JavaScript tagging is unfaithful. This study does not cover log file analysis, meaning that potentially not all Webtrends users are included. In other words, Webtrends’ figures may be skewed.
Three out of four websites using Nielsen’s tool for web analytics are unfaithful. The reason for this is likely that many website owners started using Nielsen Online’s SiteCensus years ago, when it was one of just two tools approved by KIA-index, a list comparing the traffic to Swedish websites. Many have kept SiteCensus despite moving on to other tools for analysis.
The Google Infidelity Share tells you to what extent Google is the home wrecker in the vendor-website owner relationship.
Google is not immune. However, the simple fact that Google Analytics is the easy (no pun intended) and cheap (no pun intended now either) additional choice makes it likely to co-exist alongside a primary (or secondary, for that matter) tool. Therefore nearly one-third of website owners using Google Analytics are cheaters.
Of all websites using at least one web analytics tool utilizing client-side data collection, nearly one-third (30 %) are in bed with at least a second web analytics vendor. Log file analysis tools are not included in this study since they can’t be detected.

The vendors mentioned above were not singled out for any other reason than having enough data to be mentioned. For instance, out of the 400 websites in the study, only one used Nedstat, and only one used ClickTracks.

I believe it would be interesting to expand this study to include all, global, data collected by WASP and trend it. Over time it would become apparent which vendors are gaining, and which are losing, ground. No more relying on retention rates reported by vendors.

What do you think? Can Infidelity Rate be used to predict the growth of a vendor? Any caveats?

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Robert Bergquist, CEO of Widemile, Comments the Acquisition

August 13th, 2009 by Lars Johansson

I have asked Robert Bergquist, CEO and President of Widemile, a few questions about Webtrends‘ acquisition of Widemile.

What makes Widemile and Webtrends a good match?

Robert Bergquist, CEO Widemile: Both Widemile and Webtrends have been committed to building best-of-breed technology featuring open integration and very high ease-of-use characteristics. We at Widemile recognized that web testing and targeting were rapidly becoming natural extensions of web analytics and decided to partner with the best company in the analytics category. Alex, Webtrends’ CEO, and I quickly realized we shared the same vision for the future of web optimization and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

What kind of integration can we expect?

Robert Bergquist, CEO Widemile: Prior to the acquisition, Widemile Optimize test results were already available within the Webtrends analytics interface. Going forward, expect the most integrated web optimization and targeting solution available from any company. Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to disclose future product details.

What’s the first thing Widemile’s customers will notice?

Robert Bergquist, CEO Widemile: Widemile customers have already been embraced by Webtrends and continue to experience the same expert service. They will also benefit from the much larger global professional services group, accelerated product development and, as indicated above, full integration with the other Webtrends products.

Further reading:

Webtrends, Widemile, Web Analytics, and Website Optimization — Interview with Alex Yoder, CEO, Webtrends

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Webtrends, Widemile, Web Analytics, and Website Optimization — Interview with Alex Yoder, CEO, Webtrends

August 11th, 2009 by Lars Johansson

Webtrends acquisition of a platform for testing is long overdue. That’s why their purchase of Widemile is so exciting. I took the opportunity to ask Alex Yoder, President and CEO of Webtrends, a few questions about the news.

The Webtrends acquisition of Widemile certainly fills a gap, but why did you make the move now?

Alex Yoder, CEO, Webtrends: Probably for four primary reasons. First, we needed to get our organization focused in the right direction around our core competencies and customer satisfaction. The release of Analytics 9 and the highest customer satisfaction and customer value ratings in the recent Forrester Wave report are evidence that we have made successful headway in these areas.

Second, we wanted to first execute on the “openness” of our platform before adding complementary solutions. The biggest challenge in the market right now is having solutions that don’t integrate. Customers are tired of hearing presentations that discuss integration, but where it doesn’t truly exist. Our approach is to be sure that we are prepared to deliver in integration through a truly open platform. This approach will allow us to accelerate adoption and value for the customer from all of our products.

Third, the market for optimization technology was still pretty fragmented and not very well developed. The market has now clearly begun to cross the chasm, which represents a perfect time to enter the market—let others invest and uncover the challenges, let us step in and take advantage of the knowledge.

Finally, the timing is right from an investment standpoint. One of our competitors spent $120M to get the same set of solutions that we just brought into the Webtrends family. Another competitor spent almost $70M to get just the A/B and Multivariate Testing portion of the product, without any comprehensive targeting capabilities. We’ve done extensive due-diligence and found the Widemile technology to be far superior to that of our competitors, who spent…a lot.

Why do you think your offering will be stronger compared to your competitors’ offering?

Alex Yoder, CEO, Webtrends: As I just mentioned, we did a great deal of diligence. We actually had partnerships with most of the offerings in the market and you may recall that I personally was involved with Test and Target in its infancy at Omniture. Widemile has spent the last five years perfecting this technology and has invested heavily in development of the technology and support systems, but simply did not invest in marketing and sales—they had an indirect sales approach that was not successful.

One thing that many in the marketplace (even purported testing experts) are likely not aware of is that the years of development have culminated in a recently released platform that most of the market has not seen. We leverage a “design of experiments” approach that allows for the use of the best possible combination of Full Factorial, Fractional Factorial and Taguchi, which allows for the greatest number of levels and options, but maximizes the time to value. In other words, some testing methods are very complex and take 30-60 days to see results, unless traffic volume is very high, or the options are very low. Our approach allows for the maximization of balancing time to value with complexity of testing. Speed to value is also enhanced because of the simplicity of our tagging approach—one tag for the page, instead of a tag for each element tested, like our competitor’s solutions.

Another key point is that Widemile had built behind the same core value of openness. It is very easy to exchange data. Finally, our market intelligence told us that other solutions were too difficult to use without technical resources or outside consultants/contractors. We spent a lot of time focused on building a user interface designed specifically for non-technical marketers. We tested it ourselves. Literally, a member of our marketing department used the solution with no training, or outside support.

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Infidelity Rate and Google Infidelity Share for Web Analytics Vendors

Robert Bergquist, CEO of Widemile, Comments the Acquisition

Webtrends, Widemile, Web Analytics, and Website Optimization — Interview with Alex Yoder, CEO, Webtrends

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