When it comes to web analytics tools, there are a lot of choices! However, some stand out as great choices as the best for your business. In fact, many internet marketing experts agree that certainly one of those tools is Omniture SiteCatalyst . This web analytics tool offers a wide range of features which include: web data collection, visitor interaction tracking, campaign performance reporting, and much more.
If there is one thing you are definitely interested in – it’s definitely web analytics. Most of the sites you run are for internet marketing purposes that require careful planning, analyzing, reporting and further marketing. A good analytics tool that gives you big picture overview of your site traffic will help out a lot. But there are so many tools out there offering similar features with somewhat confusingly named features – how to tell which is best for you? That is what you need to know in order to choose best web analytics tools
What is Adobe Analytics?
When Adobe bought Omniture in 2009, they add a pretty strong asset to their suite. Not only Omniture includes a strong Analytical platform but also provides Market(ing) insights, Content/Website updates and management tools. This is to say that it tackles the website complexity by different approaches. It makes Omniture a complete and global tool for any marketer looking for web improvement:
1. Analytics platform
The most important is SiteCatalyst (SC) that enables you to create reports on web traffic of your website. The next tool come hand-in-hand with the SC feature. It is called the DataWarehouse but is much more than a simple backup of your reports. It stores every raw data and makes it available for advanced report (such as a breakdown Navigation and Conversions variables – not available in SC). Discover was only launched with v15 but fulfilled the platform by providing segments on every reports. If you wish to analyze your traffic sources interactions, Omniture also released in its v15 the Insight tool which enables multi-channel reporting. Then comes Test & Target that tackles his version of A/B testing. Lastly, the platform also enables personalization of data’s through its VISTA tool.
2. Market(ing) platform
Four interesting tools available in Omniture give you tips to optimize your Marketing campaigns. Firstly, the Search Center+ assists you with paid search campaigns by giving you a unique interface for all marketing platforms. Secondly, it is possible to integrate 3rd party data’s with the Genesis tool. It helps you improve your reports with external data’s (such as external cost data). Recommendations is aptly named because this tool will give you automatic hints about products or content of your site. Finally, to test your visitor sentiment, you should consider the Survey tool.
3. Content/Website management platform
Another tool called Site Search enables you to improve the search box in your site by ensuring that visitors can easily search, find and access content. Aside, the Merchandising tool optimizes shoppers’ experience on the site by promoting the right product based on average order value and navigation history. Should you need to change content on your website, you can do it through the Publish tool. Lastly, if you drown in a multitude of tags, you will enjoy the DigitalPulse tool that helps you manage and improve your tagging structure.
What is Omniture SiteCatalyst (Adobe SiteCatalyst)?
SiteCatalyst means “Analytics Tool”. It was named as “Omniture SiteCatalyst” when Omniture had ownership. After Omniture bought by Adobe this analytics tool name changed to “Adobe SiteCatalyst” But still many of the users refer to this analytics tool by the name of “Omniture SiteCatalyst”. That’s why still many of them search like this.
Depending on your needs and resources, you will decide to opt for Adobe Analytics, former Omniture. I truly hope that after reading this article you will feel able to understand the role and the ends of each product suggested by the Adobe suite.
My advice is to start with SiteCatalyst because it’s the heaviest and the most complex option. As a matter of example, I selected some top features and commented their intelligence:
- Dashboards
Creating a dashboard is as easy as pie. When you decide which metrics of which report you want to follow, you just need to add to Dashboard and then configure the layout (via a drag & drop system) along with the date rage. Then you can also plan a regular/punctual e-mailing or download it as PDF to share with colleagues/client. The only bump in the road is the number of metrics in a report: it is limited to 5 metrics per report.
- Campaign reports
If you manage to have good tracking codes for your external/internal campaign and classify it regularly, you will be able to export campaign reports. This will help you quickly spot low performance or campaign success and adapt your strategy according to results. Let me insist on the tracking step that is not to be underestimated. Indeed, it will impact the results and reports available in your suite.
- Calculated metrics
If you feel stuck with strict metrics in GA (not anymore in Universal Analytics) you will really enjoy the calculated metrics in Omniture. A practical example would be the conversion rate per product page. While not available in GA, Omniture let you calculate it and use it in all reports. Well, beware for what you are calculating; you could end up with an irrelevant metrics depending on your initial implementation.
- Marketing Channels
Still trying to figure out what investment drag you the best ROI? Well you are probably missing the point of marketing channels. As traffic sources work together as a team, Omniture tried to help you understand the role of each source with its Marketing Channels reports. It gives you a detailed overview of marketing/non-marketing channels and their performances as First Touch Channel or Last Touch Channel. The granularity of marketing channels let you even see the difference between your branded keywords in search vs. generic keywords so as to separate behavior from one to the other.
Types of Data Captured by Adobe Analytics
Adobe Analytics collects web analytics data from web sites, mobile apps, other web services, and offline sources to generate various reports and analyses. Adobe refers to this data as metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) which represent quantitative information about your website performance.
The following set of metrics categories that are typically tracked:
- Traffic metrics: information about your visitors to understand how much public attention and interest you have managed to capture through marketing, PR, and your services;
- Conversion metrics: information about events or any action that users may take on your website to measure your website engagement;
- Calculated metrics: your own metrics that you can create combining existing ones;
- Video metrics: metrics such as total views, time spent, and completion rates;
- Social metrics: data that helps you track your brand’s presence on social media.
For privacy reasons, Adobe is only able to collect information that is not “Personally Identifiable Information” or PII. When you consider how different broad demographic facts could be combined to produce a profile that uniquely identifies an individual, you’ll understand why they have to be very careful to avoid giving you too much data. In this case, they limit the information to the visitor’s zip code.
Web Analytics Data and Self-Serve Analytics Tools
Adobe reporting tool provides basic access to all of the KPIs through pre-built dashboards within the interface. However, you may want to use your own self-service data visualization and reporting tools. What are the examples of those kinds of tools?
Success with self-service tools requires having access to Adobe Analytics data. Without the data, those who want to dig deeper will not get too far.
Conclusion:
Yes, your website is a reflection of you as a business owner. It is also a means to communicate with your target users and draw them to talk to you. Perhaps the most important point here is that your website should drive more visibility to your brand and products or services. A survey has been done by various web analytics tools companies to know the current top web analytics tools in use by ecommerce websites around the globe.