As marketers become more and more accountable for justifying ROI on any spending, many companies are turning to outsourcing their Web reporting to outside Web analysts. And although anyone can call themselves an expert, it is worth doing the ‘due diligence’ to make sure that you are getting your money’s worth before making any long-term commitment.

When selecting an analyst or firm to outsource, make sure to find out the following three things up front:

Metrics – Which metrics will be included in monthly reports? If you receive a long laundry list of random metrics ranging from hits to unique visitors, start to be concerned. If there is not a conversation about your site goals, discussion about benchmarking data, and an overview of what each metric means (specifically to your site’s business goals), this is a bad sign.

Jargon – If you receive that sample report and it is filled with language that makes no sense, get a little more worried.

Context and ‘Cause & Effect’ – The reason that you are outsourcing your analytics is because you do not have time to become an expert in this field. Anyone can run reports and spit out canned reports. The real value of analytics is taking data and turning it into actionable information, spotting changes in traffic, and understanding & explaining why this happens. A really good analyst can – if the changes are positive – explain how to use that information to make more positive changes and if it’s negative, how to quickly make adjustments to minimize problems.

Related posts:

1. The Best Web Analytics Report?
2. Web Analytics vs. Web Reporting
3. I’ll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours
4. Creating a Data Driven Business Culture – Part 2
5. Moving from Business Objectives to Web Metrics

Posted in Analytics | No Comments »