One of the most important decisions you will make in web measurement is which vendor you’re going to work with, keeping in mind that some are better than others but there is no one “best” vendor for every company’s needs.
The web measurement arena is littered with software and service vendors, some good and some bad, yet all eager to take your money. The vendor selection process is often the most painful step in setting up a web measurement program. Understanding the major differences between types of vendors and seeing a brief synopsis of the top vendors in the market can make this process a little less painful.
Vendors can be categorized along two major axes: delivery type and the data collection mechanism. The delivery type characterizes how you use the vendor’s services, and falls into two broad categories: software, which you install on your own servers, and hosted services, which are maintained by the vendor. The data collection mechanism describes how the vendor collects data, such as web server logfiles [Hack #22] or client-side JavaScript page tags [Hack #28] . Since a handful of vendors are now supporting both data collection mechanisms, and since often delivery type defines which data model you’ll use, we’ll focus on delivery type.
The software model for web measurement applications is essentially the “original” model—one very well understood and widely deployed. Companies generally choose software because they seek flexibility from the application and prefer to own the process from beginning to end. Software may be more expensive in terms of up-front fees and first-year investment, but cost savings are usually appreciated in the second and subsequent years when maintenance fees are 17–22 percent of first-year costs (this will make sense when you read about hosted service model pricing). If you go the software route, you need to be ready to support the application internally, maintaining the software when necessary as well as the hardware it runs on. Software typically uses web server logfiles (Figure 1-4) as a data source.
The hosted service model—often referred to as the outsourced or application service provider (ASP) model—takes advantage of the fact that some companies prefer not to run and maintain software internally. In the hosted service model, in-house IT groups are usually involved only during the original implementation and deployment phase, allowing business and marketing resources to tweak reports and data collection mechanisms on an ongoing basis. While first-year costs for hosted services are often much lower than software, the hosted service model is built on a “pay as you go” plan, much like your cell phone. Since you’re paying for the page views your visitors generate on a “cost per million page views,” you will continue to pay a similar or increasing monthly cost year over year. Hosted services, while not exclusively so, traditionally use a client-side JavaScript page tag as a data source.
Table 1-1 summarizes the data source and delivery types for a handful of well-known web measurement vendors.
As you can see, a number of vendors support multiple data collection mechanisms and delivery strategies, and four—ClickTracks, Urchin, Visual Sciences, and WebTrends—support all available options. Here are a few other things you should know about each of these vendors to help you in the selection process.
- ClickTracks
ClickTracks are known for popularizing the browser overlay [Hack #62] model for data viewing, letting you view your site and pay-per-click campaign traffic mapped directly on top of your web pages. One of the least expensive web measurement tools, starting at $495.00 for a single user software license, ClickTracks is a great entry-level product.
- WebTrends
WebTrends is a long-standing vendor in the market and offers both hosted and software solutions. With the release of WebTrends 7, the company and products have become more competitive, offering pricing based on page view volume to the enterprise, professional, and small business markets. (The Small Business edition starts at $495.00 for software and $35.00 per month for a hosted service.)
- WebSideStory
One of the original hosted service providers, WebSideStory was the first company to allow customers to populate and automate web measurement data directly into Microsoft Excel. WebSideStory recently acquired a hosted search and content management system vendor, allowing them to provide more services to smaller businesses.
- Omniture
Known for their visually appealing SiteCatalyst interface, Omniture has built a healthy business around measuring some of the Internet’s largest properties. It is appropriate for nearly any online business.
- Coremetrics
Coremetrics has made a name servicing online retail, financial services, and travel sites. Built on top of a flexible data warehouse, Coremetrics is able to build complex visitor profiles and has experience integrating outside data [Hack #32] from companies like BizRate, Commission Junction, and Foresee Results.
- Urchin
Urchin is another long-time measurement application vendor, which many companies get directly from their hosting provider. Having recently released significant enhancements, including the ability to get Urchin as a hosted service, Urchin provides good value relative to price.
- Sane Solutions
Sane’s NetTracker application is one of the most widely used web measurement tools. This is a nominally sophisticated analysis application and an industry-leading extract, transform, and load (ETL) tool for converting data collected from the web site into a format useful for business intelligence (BI) tools like Cognos, Business Objects, and MicroStrategy.
- Visual Sciences
Visual Sciences, a relative newcomer to the measurement market, is less of a web measurement application and more of a data analysis engine. Capable of analyzing many types of data, the company’s Visual Workstation application is among the industry’s most powerful and flexible tools.
- Fireclick
Fireclick is a hosted service provider that was among the first to offer additional value-added tools, like the ability to benchmark your site against your competitors [Hack #93] , a browser overlay for retailers [Hack #62] , and direct-to-Excel reporting [Hack #91] . Fireclick is appropriate for cost-conscious online retailers.
- IBM SurfAid
IBM SurfAid made an early name by being able to integrate data from a variety of web-related sources, including complex product sale databases. SurfAid is perhaps most appropriate for companies who would normally turn to IBM, Oracle, or Microsoft for business solutions (given that Microsoft and Oracle do not sell web measurement solutions).
If you’ve never looked at web measurement software before, you may want to ask around and see if anyone else you work with is familiar with these types of applications. Because the differences between vendor offerings are sometimes slight and often just a matter of preference, having someone with relevant experience work with you to vet vendors can be very helpful (kind of like taking your dad to buy your first car!). One resource I strongly recommend is the Web Measurement and Analysis Forum at Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/webanalytics/). I founded the group in 2004, and as of this book’s printing, the membership includes nearly 1,000 members, all happy to provide opinions and assistance.
When looking at different software options, be sure to take a close look at what you’ll be getting. Ask for a few demonstrations, and consider downloading and trying copies yourself if possible. (ClickTracks, WebTrends, Urchin, and Sane Solutions all offer downloadable trial versions.) If you’re leaning toward a hosted solution, consider asking the vendor to conduct a limited pilot so you can see how your data will look in their application.
Whatever you do, don’t just jump right in with the first vendor you contact (or who contacts you). Again, like your first car, your first web measurement application is one you’ll long remember, for better or for worse.
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