As much as I enjoy the world of web marketing and the infinite possibilities of measuring media, specifically web analytics, there are days where I simply find my job mind-numbing and painful. OK, OK, OK. I’ll admit that web analytics can deliver the euphoria of discovering hidden nuggets of insight and the ecstasy of uncovering an untapped market segment. And I’ll also admit that I like to liken myself to Indiana Jones - following trails, using my intellect to find hidden treasure. However, just like Dr. Jones, I feel like I get beat up a lot as I crawl through a good amount of filth to get where I’m going. It’s during times like these when it feels crappy to be a web analyst. Avinash Kaushik never told me there’d by days like these…

The ugly side of web analytics

Web analytics is a new(er) field. Everyone knows this (right?). The industry still comprises of professionals who are more or less, for a lack of a better word, jacks-of-all trades and master-of-some - out of necessity, if not by design. Web analysts are usually part-developer, part-marketer, part-salesman, part-teacher and unfortunately for too often, part grunt. No one told me that I’d spend hours upon hours overseeing developers (aka herding cats) as they botch up implementation after implementation. Nowhere in the job description does it say that the client sometimes just won’t listen - no matter how many times I explain something to them. Nowhere is it advertised that I would have to have to spend so much time working around so many unbelievably frustrating limitations of analytics packages. Though I was briefed that I would have to wear many hats, I didn’t know I would have to wear a helmet and a cup.

Forget insight, what about hindsight?

So much talk about the information I can extract. So much talk about how to convince hippos. Oh Avinash, why didn’t you warn me about how slow-to-react analytics vendors would be to true business needs? Why don’t their filters work? Why are the reporting abilities limited? What about those missing bounce rate metrics? Don’t get me started about having to crunch numbers in Excel…

The fact of the matter is that as sophisticated as many web analytics solutions are right now, they aren’t that advanced. They lack percentage points, standard deviations, variances, significance and simple forecasting. All these common managerial tools are virtually non-existent. However, they all do give me averages… Forgive me as I rub my temples. Oh, did I mention that a lot of these solutions are slow?  No one told me that I’d have to wait days for some data queries. I’m not a BI analyst per se, but days seems awfully long considering the basic nature of the data. And as most you know, my analyst brothers and sisters, these short-comings have been around for years. Analytics tools come out every quarter - all missing some important piece of the puzzle. It’s like they don’t listen to us. If only Avinash would of warned me - I could of braced myself. *grumble* This situation, while better than 5 years ago, still “sucks”.

Macro-economic theory, take me away

It is said that if one or two companies hold the lion’s share of an industry, it’s because they have an initial technological edge. But overtime, as more entrants enter the market, this advantage fades - leveling the playing field. I can’t wait for that day. But until then, I’ll continue to create work-arounds, I’ll continue to crunch the numbers in Excel, and I’ll continue to double-tag. I’ll suffer through all of this because the rush of helping a client leverage a once unknown piece of intelligence is just too seductive. It feels too satisfying to give up. At least this part of the job Avinash did tell me about it.

Oh, OK. I get it now. Never mind.