Interview with Eric J. Hansen of SiteSpect

July 9th, 2007 by Lars

Eric J. Hansen, President & Founder of SiteSpect, answers questions about their solution. SiteSpect lets you run A/B split and multivariate tests.

Why should someone choose your solution instead of a solution from one of your competitors?

A few important reasons.

Speed. Because SiteSpect requires no site modifications — no page tags to add or maintain — web marketers and analysts launch tests in hours, not days (or weeks) that are typical with other products. The net result is that more time is spent on actual testing instead of tagging and setup, and this accelerates the entire testing lifecycle.
Flexibility. SiteSpect is the only multivariate testing product that works “out of the box” on dynamically-generated content. For example, let’s say you want to test layout or promotions on internal site-search results. Because of its non-intrusive nature, this is simple for SiteSpect - the technology literally modifies the page content on the fly at the network level. For competing products, the same type of test requires custom programming and technical workarounds - if it can even be done at all.
Depth. SiteSpect is uniquely able to track any type of user behavior, ranging from page requests, to streaming media consumption, to events like Ajax and Flash remote calls. Further, SiteSpect’s WATTS technology is the industry’s first and only Web Analytics solution that seamlessly integrates multivariate testing data into all major 3rd party platforms – including Omniture, Visual Sciences, Coremetrics, and Google Analytics – enabling test result analysis across virtually any segment. And again, all this happens without the need to modify, tag or rework any site content.

What does your typical customer look like?

Our customers run the gamut from niche site owners like RAD Direct to major e-commerce destinations such as Overstock.com and VEGAS.com. That said, our customers typically have dynamic websites, and thus flexibility and speed are some of the SiteSpect features that they most appreciate.

How do you think the market for solutions like yours will develop during the remainder of this year?

It’s growing, for sure. If there’s one thing that we appreciate about Web 2.0, it’s the notion of accountability. More site operators are realizing that in order to maximize success, you need to measure, analyze and optimize your site for effectiveness. We’re fortunate that this trend bodes extremely well for web analytics vendors like SiteSpect.

What share of your customers is located in Europe?

We have a small but growing customer base in Europe. We look forward to increasing our presence as our marketing efforts expand.

What is your biggest challenge at the moment?

We’ve taken a thought-leadership role in the industry, advocating that marketers think carefully and strategically about all of the changes (“improvements”) that they make to their sites. But people are eager to improve, and the challenge comes in coaching people to not be impetuous and instead be methodical. With all the rage (hype?) over social media, SEM, and RIA/Ajax, sometimes we find ourselves being the devil’s advocate — when a marketing exec says “I want to enhance my site with X, Y and Z”, we ask “what is the problem you are trying to solve, and how will the solution impact the user?” Sometimes it’s an uphill battle.

What’s your advice to a business wanting to get started with behavioral targeting?

Hehe - see above. Basically, behavioral targeting is a solution for a fairly specific set of problems. So, for site operators who are considering BT, I would first ask if they are already taking advantage of more fundamental approaches like multivariate testing. Are they asking questions and testing the main behavioral levers on their site, or are they beyond that and looking for incremental uptick in conversion?

When looking at behavioral targeting – or any technology for that matter - site owners are well advised to be cautiously optimistic. Set aside some time each week or month to learn about advances in site optimization; ask questions of fellow practitioners as well as the vendors; and, remember that it comes down to thinking strategically and looking at big picture. If you’re excited about a particular solution, don’t forget to consider if the problem that it solves is the right one to be solving at that time.

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