This article in ClickZ asks some very good questions about what companies are getting out of their analytics programs. When implementing analytics with our clients, it is sometimes difficult to gather truly impactful data when certain upfront requirements aren’t met. These are the questions that really need to be answered before your analytics program is going to be worth the cost and energy of implementing:
1. What are your site goals?
2. Are your analytics set up to gather data for those goals?
3. Are you looking at multiple types of data for a clear picture? Comparing several sources of traffic is invaluable
4. Is the data being shared with the people that can make necessary changes?
5. When changes are decided, can the updates be made quickly?
6. Are you prioritizing the changes so the team doesn’t get overwhelmed once needed updates are determined?
7. Finally, are you examining the impact these updates have had after implementing so you can see if any more tweaks need to be made?
You can read the entire article here for more detailed explanations of these questions. Just having analytics isn’t enough, it’s what you do with the data that matters.
