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Web Analytics Association Outlook 2010: Survey Report page 1

Web Analytics Association

Outlook 2010: Survey Report

Prepared by the Web Analytics AssociationJanuary 2010

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 2009 ....................................................... 11

Part 2: The Industry Outlook for 2010 ........................................................... 22

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

Notice To ReadersCopyright and usage guidelines:Copyright ©2010, 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 ChairmanOnce again the Web Analytics Association surveyed our members and others in the industry to see where we stand, what we’re worried about and what sort of progress we’ve made. The Outlook 2010 Survey Report reveals quite a few interesting shifts since last year. Most of the results were not very surprising from these global respondents (one third from outside North America). People are using these tools primarily for optimizing website functionality and conversion, analyzing past performance and then optimizing their marketing efforts. A few more analytical budgets are growing this year than last. More respondents are using large-scale vendor tools (40%) than free (30%) or low-cost tools (15%) and most are satisfied with their tools suppliers (78%). The smaller solution vendors are suffering with the least satisfaction (43%) while large vendors enjoy a 76.5% satisfaction rate. Human nature would suggest that those who paid nothing are the happiest, and sure enough, 86% of free tools users agreed. With tools in place, training seems to be the top issue of the day (36%) with systems integration next (24%) and more tools and staff practically tied for third place (~19%). We are interested in gaining more knowledge of predictive analytics, social media metrics and measuring Web 2.0 technologies in order to make all the data we’re collecting actionable—and that we’re using it to drive business decisions. For the coming year, there is a strong desire to determine and implement key performance indicators formobile media, Twitter, consumer-generated content and viral marketing. We know they’re important, and that we can collect data about them, but we’re still not sure we know how to incorporate those numbers into a business-decision-making process. And there’s more interesting analysis inside. The Web Analytics Association Research Committee not only did another stellar job of fielding this study, but have taken the time to parse the results and deliver their insights herein. I think you’ll find that the worst of the economic storm for our industry is most likely behind us and we’re making the shift from keeping our heads down and doing the work to looking over the horizon again to see what’s coming. And what’s coming promises to be as interesting and exciting as ever. Happy reading. Jim SterneChairman, Web Analytics Association

About the WAAThe 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 November 4 to November 22, 2009, 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 638 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 2010, 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 2009, what were your top web analytics initiatives?• In 2010, what will be your top web analytics priorities?• In 2010, what is your investment outlook in web analytics?• Where will your investments go in 2010?• What will be your largest hurdles? • Have you established and implemented KPIs for measuring these technologies and • strategies in 2009? Do you plan to in 2010? • What’s missing from your web analytics toolbox currently? • What would you like to add in 2010?•



Findings include:

Spending Growth is Increasing (Slightly): This year, 55% of organizations indicated they’d be increasing their spending. Last year, 52% said they would. That’s an encouraging sign for the industry—and the economy.

Efficiency Will Be Key: Training will get the biggest share of budget for over 42% of organizations, and 39% will invest in consulting. However, data integration will also get more budget share (41.5%) as well as add-on tools (40%), as organizations try to get additional value from the solutions they have now.

Actionable Data is the Biggest Challenge: This year, 39% said taking action on the data would be their biggest challenge. More and more organizations are learning they must overcome a variety of hurdles in order to gain actionable insight.

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 web analysts (24.5%) and online marketers (22.4%) taking up about half of the group. Consultants take a distant third at 8.3%.

The “other” category includes business development, marketing research, product management, web strategist, and generalists who do a “little of everything.”

n=625

0.6%

1.1%

1.9%

2.6%

3.0%

3.8%

5.0%

5.9%

6.9%

8.3%

22.4%

24.5%

Finance

Content Development

Marketing: Primarily Offline

IT

Project Manager

ECommerce

Executive Management

Business Intelligence

Other (please specify)

Consultant

Marketing: Primarily Online

Web Analyst




Company Size

These organizations are concentrated on the small to mid-size side, with 46% saying they’re part of businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Last year 15% said they were at companies with over 5,000 employees, and this year that number increased to 21%, so there’s growth on the side of larger companies as well.

n=625

51-100 employees

9%

1,001-5,000 employees

11%

5,001+ employees

21%101-500

employees17%

1-50 employees

37%

501-1,000 employees

5%




Industry

Agencies and consultants are the majority with 24.8%, and next we have high tech, media, retail and business services. The “other” category includes government, automotive, manufacturing, publishing, and non-profits.

n=6281.8%

2.1%

2.1%

2.4%

2.4%

2.5%

2.7%

2.9%

2.9%

5.7%

6.8%

7.6%

10.8%

10.8%

11.6%

24.8%

Manufacturing

Automotive

Government

Entertainment

Telecommunications

Insurance

Healthcare

Travel & Hospitality

Education

Financial Services

Retail

Business Services

Media


High Tech

Agency/Consultancy




Geographical Location

The majority were from the US and Canada, with approximately 33% from the combination of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

n=622

Europe/Middle East/Africa

23%

US/Canada67%

Latin America3% Asia Pacific

7%



Survey Findings

We surveyed over 600 professionals in the web analytics industry to find out what their outlook will be in 2010.

• 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 2010.

1. Spending Growth is Increasing (Slightly): This year, 55% of organizations indicated they’d be increasing their spending. Last year, 52% said they would. That’s a small but encouraging sign. (Of course, two years ago, 70% of organizations said they would be increasing their investment in web analytics. But a lot has changed since 2008.)

2. Efficiency Will Be Key: Training will get the biggest share of budget for over 42% of organizations, and 39% will invest in consulting. But data integration will also get more budget share (41.5%) as well as add-on tools (40%), as organizations try to get additional value from the solutions they have now.

3. Actionable Data is the Biggest Challenge: This year, 39% said taking action on the data would be their biggest challenge. More and more organizations are learning that they must overcome a variety of hurdles in order to gain actionable insight.



Before we dive into the outlook for 2010, 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 web analytics savvy are practitioners feeling?

Let’s also get some insight into where analytics fits in to most organizations. It’s a rapidly changing landscape, especially over the last year. Because we have two past years of data (from the Outlook 2008 and 2009 surveys) to compare with the results of this 2010 survey, we’ll look into past results where relevant to get a feel for emerging trends as well.

Survey Results, Part 1: The State of the Industry in 2009




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 over the past two years. Last year, 76% were optimizing site functionality and conversion, and this year, 78% are. However, more organizations are using web analytics for budgeting and planning business objectives —this year, it’s 36%, compared to 31% last year.

It’s interesting to note how many organizations—72.4%—are using web analytics for a rear-view mirror look at past performance, while less than half—45%—are using them as predictive metrics for future campaigns.

n=4645.8%

36.2%

36.9%

48.7%

61.9%

72.4%

45%

78%


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



1.1%

3.3%

3.9%

6.6%

15.3%

29.7%

40.2%

None

Small vendor solution in one department,one domain

Home-grown solution


Moderate vendor solution acrossdepartments, more than one domain

Free vendor solution

Large-scale vendor solution

Free vendor solutions are continuing to grow in popularity… nearly 30% of organizations are using them, compared to 24% last year and 20% the year before. In social media, that number is even higher. According to MarketingProfs, “The State of Social Media,” (provided to eMarketer, December 10, 2009), 74.5% of social media marketers are using free analytics software.

Large-scale vendor solutions still lead the pack with 40.2%, moderate vendor solutions are being used by 15.3% of organizations, 3.9% are using home-grown solutions, and 3.3% have a small vendor solution in one department with one domain. The “other” category, at 6.6%, represents agencies that use multiple solutions depending on their clients’ preferences, or hybrid solutions.

The number of organizations who don’t use any kind of solution has gone from 2.7% last year to 1.1% in 2009. Maybe next year it will go down to zero.


What kind of web analytics solution do you use?

n=458




Are you satisfied with your vendor?

Good news for vendors… satisfaction has gone up again, to 78% (compared to 75.7% last year, and 69.5% the year before). That’s a significant majority of respondents who are satisfied with the vendors they’re using.

But were they talking about large or small-scale solutions, and how satisfied were those using free solutions? Let’s take a look.

n=448

Yes78%

No22%




Vendor satisfaction by size

Free vendor solutions have the greatest satisfaction level, with 85.6% of those using free solutions indicating that they’re happy with them. (It may be hard to find fault for something you’re not paying for!) Users of large-scale solutions indicate that 76.5% are satisfied customers, and those using moderate solutions give a 77.1% approval rating. Home-grown solutions are doing pretty well at 72.2%.

Small vendor solutions are the only ones with the dissatisfied users—57.1%—outpacing 42.9% who say they are satisfied customers. But is everyone really on the same page in the organizations we talked to? Are they using different solutions?

85.6%14.4%

72.2%27.8%

42.9%57.1%

77.1%22.9%

76.5%23.5%

1

Large-scale solution

Moderate solution

Small vendor solution

Home-grown solution

Free vendor solution

SatisfiedNot satisfied




Does your organization use more than one web analytics solution?

We’re approaching an even split on organizations that say they are using more than one solution. Last year, 44.3% of organizations indicated that various departments were using different vendors, and 55.7% said no, they were all using the same one.

Data integration will be a top priority in 2010 and no wonder—data existing in silos will continue to be a problem for many organizations. Either that or businesses (as well as their vendors) will need to learn how to ensure that multiple solutions can integrate seamlessly.

n=454

Yes49%

No51%




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

Nearly 70% of respondents rated their web analytics knowledge as good or excellent. Last year, that combined number was 62%. Taken together, fair and poor made up 30% of respondents. Does that mean web analytics practitioners have more experience these days? Let’s find out.

n=462

Expert: Extremely proficient

23%

Poor: Could be better

8%

Fair: Somewhat

able

Good: Capable at

web analysis47%




Web analytics experience

What a difference a year makes. In this survey, only 47% said they had fewer than three years’ experience in web analytics. Last year, that number was 62%. And the number who said they were 10-years plus practitioners doubled, from 5% last year to 10% this year. In 2010, web analytics professionals will have more expertise and more experience than before.

n=625

7 to 10 years14%

10+ years10%

1 to 3 years35%

Less than 1 year12%

4 to 6 years29%



19.6%

23.8%

24.3%

24.3%

24.5%

29.4%

40.6%

45.0%

52.3%

63.4%

68.4%

53.4%

Affiliate Marketing

Email Marketing

Content Management

Campaign Management

Creating Custom Reports

Paid Search Marketing

Natural Search Marketing or SEO

Targeting and Segmentation

A/B and Multivariate Testing

Measuring Web 2.0 Technologies

Social Media

Predictive Analytics


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

However, there’s always room for improvement. Let’s take a look at where people want to increase their levels of expertise. This year, we added two new knowledge areas to the survey, and they both shot right to the top of the list, with 68.4% of respondents hoping to improve their knowledge in predictive analytics and 63.4% in social media.

Of course, Web 2.0 measurement will be in high demand in the coming year with 53.4%. Testing and targeting are also key, as well as organic and paid search. In fact, according to the MAGNA 2010 Advertising Forecast, December 8, 2009, paid search is likely to generate $16.54 billion in online ad revenue in the US, up from $10.89 billion in 2009. No wonder people want to learn more.

n=453




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

Of the organizations we surveyed, 41.2% said that marketing was primarily responsible for their web analytics. Business Intelligence had about half that at 18.8%. Two years ago, IT was responsible for web analytics in 13% of the organizations we surveyed, and last year that dropped to 9.4%. This year, it’s 5.8%.

It seems that more and more, marketing is becoming the strategic leader in organizations. CMOs are buying their own technology, and making web analytics and online marketing tools a priority.

n=469

2.8%

3.4%

5.8%

9.2%

9.2%

18.8%

41.2%

Product development

Customer Experience/Marketing Science

IT

Web services

eCommerce/Online Operations

Business Intelligence/Analytics

Marketing



Minimal input29%

Major input30%

Average input30%

Don'tknow3%

Primary decision makers

7%


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. In fact, while only 7% said IT was the primary decision maker, 60% indicated that they have average to major input.

n=468



Survey Results, Part 2: The Industry Outlook for 2010

Now let’s look at the biggest trends to look for in 2010. 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 discover what the biggest hurdles will be for web analytics professionals in the coming year.




What will be your top Web analytics initiatives in 2010? (1-7)

The top initiative in 2010 is projected to be acting on the data to improve site performance. This is a choice we added this year and it saw a huge response, with nearly 69.2% of respondents indicating actionable data will be a significant goal in the coming year. And as we’ll see shortly, most people realize that it will also be one of their biggest challenges.

And so will the next initiative, ensuring that business decisions are driven by analytics. Most organizations seem to have all the information they need—but they realize that they aren’t using that information to its full advantage.

n=539

36.7%

41.0%

40.1%

40.6%

48.1%

63.5%

69.2%

Integration of currentand new solutions

Executive managementawareness and support

Developing process/implementing process

KPI development

Best practicesimplementation

Business decisionsdriven by analytics

Acting on the data toimprove siteperformance




What will be your top web analytics initiatives in 2010? (8-13)

And here is the rest of the list. As you can see, training, integrating systems, and tools selection will be important, and staffing, funding and product trials are at the bottom of the list. With vendor satisfaction so high, perhaps trying out new products will be less of a priority.

n=5398.7%

11.3%

18.7%

19.3%

23.7%

36.4%

Product trials

Funding

Staffing

Tools selection andtransition

Systems integration

Training and education




Top web analytics initiatives in 2009 and 2008

For purposes of comparison, let’s take a look at the top five web analytics initiatives in 2009 and 2008. They were very similar, and equally focused on productivity enhancement such as developing best practices, KPIs, and implementing processes—as well as getting executive management awareness and support.

n=559/59629.7%

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



1.5%

29.7%

68.8%

3.9%

52.1%

1.3%

43.5%

55.2%

44%

Declining: Decreasinginvestment inthe next year

Flat: Maintainingcurrent levelsof investment

Improving: Continuallyinvesting in

new tools and staff


In 2010, what is your investment outlook in web analytics? What was it in 2009 and 2008?

In the 2008 survey, 68.8% of respondents said they would be increasing their investment in web analytics. In 2009, that number went down to 52.1%. Now, it’s increased (slightly) to 55.2%. That’s good news, and so is this: Last year, 3.9% said they would be decreasing their spend—this year, that number is 1.3%—even lower than two years ago. Now those are some hopeful numbers. According to the Forrester US Web Analytics Forecast, 2008 To 2014, US businesses will spend $953 million dollars on web analytics software in 2014, with an average compound annual growth rate of 17%. It may be time for some cautious optimism.

As we’ll see when we take a look at the areas of growth in 2010, much of this investment will go to advanced and predictive analytics. According to Forrester, the Business Intelligence market is much less affected by the current economic crises than most other software markets and will continue to grow to $14 billion by 2014.

n=542/568/475

201020092008



11.9%

13.1%

14.4%

30.3%

38.2%

36.1%

41.1%

43.4%

8.1%

9.3%

9.3%

31.1%

38.8%

41.5%

40.3%

42.1%

Purchase of primary web analyticstools—migrating to a new platform with the

same solution/vendor

Switching your primary web analyticssolution/vendor

Purchase of primary web analyticstool—first installation

Staffing

Best practices consulting

Data integration with external or third-party applications

Add-on tools, such as behavioral targetingor paid search management

Training


In 2010, your investments will go towards which of the following? What were they in 2009?

Training, add-on tools and data integration will lead the pack in 2010. We can see that last year, training and add-on tools were the focus of investment as well. However, in 2010, more budget will be spent on data integration with external applications, as well as best practices consulting and staffing. And we see a decrease in the projected investment for purchasing or switching web analytics solutions.

n=559/596

20102009



24.6%

24.8%

26.9%

27.5%

28.7%

34.1%

37.2%

37.6%

39.0%

Internal collaboration betweendepartments

Data validity

Best practices implementation

Funding

Data integration with external or third-party applications

Failure to take action on the data

Executive management awareness andsupport of web analytics

Business decisions driven by analytics

Actionability of the data


In 2010, your biggest challenges will likely be which of the following?

Here’s an interesting shift. Last year, the largest hurdle organizations predicted for themselves in 2009 was funding—40% said it would be their biggest challenge, This year, funding has dropped to sixth place, with 27.5% saying it will be a big challenge for them in the coming year.

Clearly, many organizations have crossed the “investment chasm,” the first of three hurdles identified by Forrester as obstacles on the road to web analytics maturity. According to Forrester’s “The Hurdles and Pitfalls of Web Analytics,” the next hurdles are executive buy-in and corporate support for web analytics, which we clearly see supported in the responses here.

n=505



28.3%

21.2%

30.7%

53.4%

33.6%

45.7%

30.1%

34.3%

36.1%

44.9%

47.2%

49.0%

52.0%

56.1%

RSS

Widgets

Viral marketing

Video

Consumer-generated content

Twitter

Mobile media

2010

2009


Do you plan to establish and implement KPIs for measuring these technologies and strategies in 2010? Have you done so in 2009?

Next year, the organizations we surveyed planned to get better at measuring mobile, and it’s a good thing. According to eMarketer’s report, Mobile Advertising and Marketing: Change Is in the Air, “While many marketers have been reluctant to embrace a channel that lacks proven use cases, an increasing number have begun to realize the ‘additive effect’ of mobile on their other advertising and marketing efforts. eMarketer predicts that spending on mobile advertising will gain momentum over the next five years, reaching $1.56 billion by 2013.”

Right behind mobile is Twitter, with 45.7% of organizations measuring it right now, and 52% planning to do so in 2010. Consumer-generated content will see significantly more KPI measurement in 2010—currently only 33.6% are measuring it, but 49% plan to.

Video shows the most maturity, with 53.4% of organizations already measuring it. Viral strategies and widgets both see a big jump in the intention of respondents to keep tabs on them in the coming year. RSS will also see an increase, though not as large as any of the others.

n=396/339

20102009




What’s missing from your web analytics toolbox currently? (1-9)

Like last year, nearly half of respondents—49%—indicated that they lacked advanced behavior analysis. And again, nearly 49% say that the ability to measure Web 2.0 is also a huge gap for them. 39.3% say that the ability to provide up-sell and cross-sell recommendations is missing, which means a huge lost opportunity for them.

Here we also see that 38% said that they don’t have the ability to measure surveys or to hear the voice of their customers, and getting consistent measurement across channels remains elusive for 36% of those surveyed. This isn’t surprising, when we consider how many organizations are using different analytics solutions among departments.

n=46129.9%

31.2%

35.1%

39.3%

48.8%

31%

36%

38%

49%

Web 2.0 measurement:RIA, RSS

Advanced SEO/SEMreporting

Cross-channel view ofresults

Advanced segmentation

Consistent measurementacross channels

Voice of theCustomer/Surveys

Up-sell/cross-sellrecommendations

Web 2.0 measurement:social media

Advanced behavioranalysis



11.5%

13.2%

21.5%

23.2%

23.4%

24.9%

25.6%

26.2%

26.5%

Basic segmentation

Basic SEO/SEM reporting

Customizable features

Basic behavior analysis

More accurate data

Advanced analyticsreporting

Real-time reporting

Web 2.0 measurement:broadcast media

List generation for emailmarketing


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

List generation for email marketing is missing for roughly a quarter of organizations, which represents another huge missed opportunity. According to the Forrester US Email Marketing Volume Forecast, 2008 To 2013, “Email’s low cost and high ROI continue to drive email marketing volumes upward. In the US, volumes will reach a high point of 838 billion marketing messages in 2013.”

In eMarketer’s report, Getting and Keeping Customers: Search and E-Mail Tactics, we find that a full 30% of CMOs surveyed by Epsilon named email as the last tactic they would cut, followed by 18% who cited search. And we see at the bottom of this list that basic SEO/SEM reporting and basic segmentation are missing from 11.5% of respondents’ toolboxes, so apparently the majority of organizations have those basics covered.

n=461



About the Survey From November 4 to November 22, 2009, 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 638 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 2010, 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.

web analytics association...the web analytics association was founded in 2004 and opened to general...

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