MODULE 4

WEB ANALYTICS & EMERGING TRENDS

Web Analytics
Web Analytics is the methodological study of online/offline patterns and trends. It is a
technique that you can employ to collect, measure, report, and analyse your website data. It is
normally carried out to analyse the performance of a website and optimize its web [Link]
use web analytics to track key metrics and analyse visitors’ activity and traffic flow. It is a
tactical approach to collect data and generate reports.

Importance of Web Analytics

We need Web Analytics to assess the success rate of a website and its associated business.
Using Web Analytics, we can −

 Assess web content problems so that they can be rectified

 Have a clear perspective of website trends
 Monitor web traffic and user flow
 Demonstrate goals acquisition
 Figure out potential keywords
 Identify segments for improvement
 Find out referring sources

Web Analytics Process

The primary objective of carrying out Web Analytics is to optimize the website in order to
provide better user experience. It provides a data-driven report to measure visitors’ flow
throughout the website.

Take a look at the following illustration. It depicts the process of web analytics.

 Set the business goals.

 To track the goal achievement, set the Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
 Collect correct and suitable data.
 To extract insights, Analyze data.
 Based on assumptions learned from the data analysis, Test alternatives.
 Based on either data analysis or website testing, Implement insights.
Web Analytics is an on-going process that helps in attracting more traffic to a site and
thereby, increasing the Return on Investment.

Analytics Tools offer an insight into the performance of your website, visitors’ behavior, and
data flow. These tools are inexpensive and easy to use. Sometimes, they are even free.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a freemium analytic tool that provides a detailed statistics of the web
traffic. It is used by more than 60% of website owners.

Google analytics helps you to track and measure visitors, traffic sources, goals, conversion,
and other metrics (as shown in the above image).
It basically generates reports on −

 Audience Analysis
 Acquisition Analysis
 Behaviour Analysis
 Conversion Analysis
 Audience Analysis

As the name suggests, audience analysis gives you an overview of the audience who visit
your site along with their session history, page-views, bounce rate, etc. You can trace the
new as well as the returning users along with their geographical locations.

Acquisition Analysis

Acquisition means ‘to acquire.’ Acquisition analysis is carried out to find out the sources
from where your web traffic originates. Using acquisition analysis, you can −Capture
traffic from all channels, See traffic from search engines and Track social media traffic.

Behaviour Analysis

Behaviour analysis monitors users’ activities on a website. You can find behavioural data
under the following four segments −Site Content, Landing page, Site Speed.

Conversion Analysis

Conversion is a goal completion or a transaction by a user on your website. For example,

download checkout, buy, etc. To track conversions in analytics, you need to define a goal
and set a URL that is traceable.

Data-Driven Decision-Making
Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) is an approach that emphasizes using data and
analysis instead of intuition to inform business decisions. It involves leveraging data
sources such as customer feedback, market trends and financial data to guide the
decision-making process. By collecting, analysing and interpreting data, organizations
can make better decisions that more closely align with business goals and objectives.

Benefits of data-driven decision-making

 Customer engagement and satisfaction

A global online retailer uses customer data extensively to build targeted marketing
campaigns and enhance its recommendation engine. Analysing this data allows the
organization to create personalized shopping experiences and highly targeted marketing
campaigns. In addition to personalizing product recommendations; the organization uses
customer data for dynamic pricing strategies. By monitoring competitor prices, market
trends and customer demand in real time, the organization adjusts its prices to remain
competitive and optimize revenue.

 Increasing customer retention

A popular online streaming service uses data to personalize recommendations and reduce
customer churn. The platform uses vast amounts of customer data, including viewing
 history, ratings and even the amount of time spent watching specific content, to tailor its
recommendations. This personalization is driven by sophisticated algorithms that analyse
user behaviour to suggest content that aligns with individual preferences.

 Better strategic planning

Data insight helps formulate realistic strategic plans. A global coffee brand optimizes its
site selection strategy by using geographic information system (GIS) technology. This
technology allows it to analyse local demographics, traffic patterns and other relevant
data—this precision site selection strategy results in improved performance and higher
sales for new stores.

 Growth opportunities

E-commerce retailers who analyse and understand market dynamics and customer
preferences can identify untapped customer segments and develop innovative products
and services to identify new markets, customer segments and product opportunities. The
iterative data-driven decision-making approach enables businesses to refine their
strategies and remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment. A major streaming
video service uses data analytics to inform aspects of its content creation and market
expansion process.

Best practices for data-driven decision-making

Every organization can benefit from taking six steps to integrate data-based decisions
throughout the company. By adopting these best practices, strategies derived from data
analysis can be implemented and their impact measured.

1. Define objectives: This step involves clearly articulating the organization's goals.
After objectives are defined, the company can make a focused and purposeful effort to
meet them.
2. Identify, prepare and collect data: In this step, the organization sets clear objectives,
determines data needs, evaluates and prepares data sources and then systematically
gathers and validates the data.
3. Organize and explore: Here, the data is structured to uncover new patterns, trends and
valuable insights. Cleaning data protects its accuracy and reliability. Visualizing the
data helps identify patterns, outliers and trends that are not immediately obvious from
raw data.
4. Perform data analysis: This step transforms raw data into actionable insights by using
various techniques and methodologies to uncover patterns, correlations and trends that
inform business strategy. By performing data analysis, organizations can drive
strategic decisions and improve overall performance.
5. Draw conclusions: Here, key data analysis findings are reviewed and placed in the
correct business context to form actionable insights and recommendations. Practical
conclusions lead to meaningful actions that drive business success.
6. Implement and evaluate: This final step is crucial for validating insights and
measuring outcomes. Action plans are developed based on data-driven
 recommendations, resources are allocated and the initiative's progress is continuously
monitored. Outcomes are measured against predefined key performance indicators
(KPIs), results are analysed, feedback is gathered and based on that information, and
adjustments are made in a continuous cycle of monitoring and iterative improvement.
This step provides a basis for making informed adjustments to strategies and plans
based on empirical evidence and feedback.

Investing in the right tools

For organizations looking to invest in data-driven decision-making tools, several advanced
technologies and platforms are available to help collect, analyze and use data effectively.

 Business intelligence tools

BI tools provide data visualization capabilities that allow users to create interactive
and shareable dashboards. They connect to multiple data sources and are widely used
for data analysis.
 Data warehousing solutions
Cloud-based data warehouses offer scalability and flexibility and support various data
integration and analytics tools.
 Machine learning and AI platforms
These platforms provide a comprehensive suite of machine learning tools and
services, such as AutoML, which allows users to build customized ML models
without extensive coding experience. These platforms often offer cloud-based training
environments and integrate with various analytics services.
 Data integration and ETL (extract, transform, load) tools
These tools help organizations manage and transform data from various sources into a
unified format. They often support data governance and cloud data management for
complex integration needs.
 Data analytics and visualization
These tools offer data visualizations and support associative data indexing so users
can uncover hidden insights. They can also connect directly to databases to allow for
real-time data analysis and reporting.
 Big data processing frameworks
There are many open-source big data processing frameworks. Organizations that need
to use large amounts of data need to consider a platform that supports batch and
stream processing for speed and the ability to handle large-scale analytics.
 Data governance tools
Governance platforms help organizations manage data quality, lineage and
compliance. They provide tools for data stewardship and metadata management.

Conversion Tracking
Conversion Tracking allows you to evaluate how effective your campaign is in driving a
particular post-click through action (such as making a purchase). With this feature you can
monitor and report on the success of a campaign (with link-tracking enabled) based on its
resulting conversions.
A typical conversion occurs after a campaign recipient receives your email message and takes
some desired action (purchases an advertised product, signs up for a newsletter or a training
class, pledges for a charity, etc.) as requested in your originating campaign message.

When a recipient clicks your email link, this click through action is recorded. If the recipient
then completes the desired action, the recipient's browser is then directed to your specified
confirmation browser page, known as the Conversion Acknowledgment page..

Emerging Trends in Digital Marketing

1. AI’s use in marketing examines the marketer’s role in driving strategy, the self-
learning nature of the technology, the need for new skills, and the importance of co-
creation.
2. In social media, we explore the rise of Instagram Threads, why you should take
LinkedIn seriously, and how AI is going to play more of a part in social media
platforms.
3. SEO trends are focused on marketers preparing for Google’s AI Overviews, with an
emphasis on valuable and shareable content, E-E-A-T, and the value of user
experience.
4. In PPC, Google Ads urges us to look at AI as an assistant and to avoid pressure from
Google reps to change campaigns.
5. In digital marketing strategy, you’ll hear about the increased importance of data
privacy and sustainability.
6. When it comes to digital marketing careers, 2024 is an employers’ market, and while
AI won’t take your job, someone with AI skills will.

The future of digital marketing

The future of digital marketing is expected to be driven by technological advancements and
changes in consumer behaviour. Some trends that may emerge include:

 AI and machine learning

AI and machine learning algorithms will be used to personalize marketing strategies
and customer interactions. AI-powered Chabots will be able to answer complex
queries and handle sales.
 Voice search and voice-activated assistants
Voice search and voice-activated assistants will become more prevalent, so businesses
will need to optimize their content for voice search.
 Virtual and augmented reality
Virtual reality will be used to create immersive experiences for customers, while
augmented reality will provide personalized ads and information based on the user's
location, interests, and demographics.
 Video advertising
Video advertising will continue to grow as video becomes the preferred medium for
content consumption.
 Visual search technology
Visual search technology will allow users to search for products or content using
images.
 Data-driven decision-making
Data will drive decision-making, and block chain may offer solutions to critical
marketing challenges.
 Shifts in the media landscape
Some digital channels will see declining use by consumers and brands, while other
channels see growth.
 Shifts in the regulatory and platform landscape
Privacy and other restrictions will complicate audience tracking efforts, but build
consumer trust.