Role of Web Analytics in Cross Channel Marketing
Cross channel marketing exists today, but in its crudest form. The rich integration of customer information and behavioural data with marketing strategy is imminent – it’s just a matter of getting the formula right.
The formula we’re talking about has web analytics as the key variable. Web analytics as a standalone solution has limited value, but team it with other customer information and you’ve got powerful information at your fingertips.
Think about it. On its own, web analytics has the capacity to study behavioural data, which is often anonymous. The insights gained are primarily used for site optimisation purposes. This is valuable – but there is potential for so much more. By integrating web analytics with other data, you have the ability to make strategic decisions about the online channel and start optimising the campaigns that, in the end, deliver the most tangible results.
We know that web analytics delivers real value when the data it produces can be used in actionable, meaningful ways, for measurable results. Let’s look at a cross channel marketing example.
You merge the online behavioural and transactional data captured by your web analytics software, with offline profiling data in your CRM software. This gives you a more in-depth view of your online customers.
Armed with this information, you serve targeted, customised content in DM and email marketing or even at the branches – so the customers are offered what is relevant to them. You can then measure their response – whether it’s a conversion to sale, engagement, or any other variable – to see if the campaign has had an impact on their subsequent online and offline behaviour.
It all sounds easy, right?
It is, as long as the software you’re using enables it. Your web analytics software essentially needs to talk to all the other tools and technologies you use in marketing to start making these big leaps in campaign strategy. Some of categories you may have invested in already include:
- CRM
- Email marketing
- Ad serving
- Bid management for search engine marketing
- Content management
- Behavioural targeting
- Testing and optimisation
- Site search
- Survey
With a list this long, it’s little wonder that actionable integration, until now, has caused something of a headache for the marketers in charge of managing all these disparate systems.
The good news is that we’re starting to see great leaps forward by the major vendors, such as WebTrends, Omniture, Unica and SAS. These vendors are opening up their solutions through APIs and by collaborating with other solution platforms, to create real-time marketing ecosystems. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer.
WebTrends offers Open Exchange, an open platform for exchanging data via ODBC access or web services APIs. WebTrends has partnered with vendors specialising in all the categories listed above to provide out of the box integration with their solutions. In response to customer demand, we expect many others to become Open Exchange partners and make their solutions more connected.
Omniture Genesis similarly integrates marketing tools to facilitate measurement of the many technologies in your mix. Instead of having half a dozen different applications working in isolation, this plug-and-play application automates the integration of marketing tools. With a list of accredited application partners already signed up, other online solution providers can become accredited with Omniture to slot into the Genesis platform too.
On the other side of the spectrum sits vendors such as Unica and SAS who provide integrated cross channel marketing and business intelligence platforms with formidable web analytics capabilities. Both vendors store online behavioural data in industry standard databases, enabling data and platform integration with marketing solutions you have invested in.
The bottom line for integrating web analytics solutions is the time savings for marketers, who no longer have to sift through mountains of disparate information about their customers and campaigns; and inherently more powerful marketing campaigns that utilise multiple online and offline channels in a truly targeted fashion.
As marketers continue to embrace online as a primary platform for connecting with customers, we’ll see the role of web analytics continue to grow, in everything from tracking and reporting to having a real-time role to play in making snap decisions about what information to send to which customer, and how.
Integrating marketing solutions will open up new opportunities for each organisation. So take an inventory of your marketing practices, add your dream marketing campaigns, and develop scenarios for integrated cross channel marketing. Then talk to the vendors of your marketing solution platforms about integration.
If you are selecting a new platform, always go for the ones with open architectures – and ideally one that many others have already integrated their solutions to.
Some of the more exciting possibilities of cross channel marketing are explored in Bienalto Blog post titled “Cross channel marketing best practices“.