Define: Digital Analytics
I enjoy doing interviews – listening to other people’s questions gives me a different perspective compared to the questions I ask of myself (and of data) all the time… This question came form Manu Jeevan as part of his interview for the Big Data Made Simple blog. It made me think about something that has been troubling me for some time…
What’s your definition of Digital Analytics?
When we refer to digital, we mean “connected to the Internet”. And anything that is digital leaves a foot print. Digital Analytics is about following those digital footprints to understand the people and the experiences that leave them.
Why do this?
Well, if you understand the online behaviour of people you can optimise their experience. That is, gain more leads, gain more customers, sell more things – or do all of these at the same level, but more efficiently.
I always emphasise the impact of optimisation with real-world case studies. What I have found over the years is that optimisation is not a little bit of tweaking here and there of the business’s bottom line. Quite the opposite! The impact is almost always hugely significant in terms of return on investment.
The 30 second elevator pitch… (or job description)
I have deliberately kept this definition simple – it is obviously not aimed at data scientists! The reasoning for keeping it simple is that I have often struggled with a 30 sec “elevator pitch” of what I do. My job as an analyst encompasses so many areas of digital – from design and architecture, to user experience, marketing and conversion persuasion. Ultimately, I need good clean data and at least 50% of my time is spent with setup (see for example my blog on how to remove referral spam).
So, if I cannot explain clearly and succinctly what I do to the average business exec (or for that matter my mother in law!), then I have failed to convince people that good decisions can only be made based on good data/information. I wonder if this explanation will work and put my mind at rest…
Do you have a different opinion of Digital Analytics?
I agree this is not well understood, making organisational design and recruitment challenging. To me, the 'digital footprint' is definitely a key part of the elevated pitch, to differentiate digital analytics from business analytics or marketing analytics where there are many well established practices.
+Mark - spot on. The literal terms are already well defined and reinventing the wheel is not my point... As you say, if you as a business owner understand the online behaviour of people, you can optimise their experience and maximise your opportunities. Be it gain more leads, more customers, sell more things – or do all of these at the same level, but more efficiently.
I think interestingly there is an expression here of views that are a literal interpretation and views related to the intention of the profession. Coming from the perspective of what digital analytics should do.... Digital analytics (or rather insight) for me should focus on high level business questions where digital data can provide some if not all of the answer. Not just 'how do I get more people to buy product A' but what products are they looking for that we don't yet sell. I often talk about opportunites. Without digital data we make decisions based on purchases, which as we all know doesn't tell us that customers wanted something we'd sold out of. So key for me is the focus on customer intention and the opportunities this brings.
+Anders bear in mind this definition I use is not about defining the terms "digital" or "analytics" separately as concepts. Of course digital is not only about online... What I am setting out to do is define the process of "digital analytics" to the average business exec (the 30 second elevator pitch). It is not an academic exercise and no PhD is required. Its simply a challenge that many digital analytics practitioners face. That is, if you cannot describe to a business exec what you do in layman terms, don't be surprised if they do not invest in your service or team...
Sorry Mark, but this is essential. This definition is rubbish. It is important to distinct between the terms of analytics and synthesis, which might seem abstract. I made a speech about this 5 years ago at web analytics Wednesday to stress the importance of the misinterpretation of the term analytics and not least synthesis. I know a lot of people who has not been working with this on an academic level maintain the misinterpretation of analytics as a discussion or an interpretation but this is very common. I suspect Brian asking of this because he actually hold a PhD an want people to pay attention to this problem. The major issue appears in the time aspect. Web analytics - or digital analytics for that matter - is worthless by definition. Kristoffer E. and I made a framework - call it a methodology - about this 10 years ago and it still matters.