Watching your Web site

Computerworld - Like a shopper wandering a huge new mall, IT professionals trying to understand Web analytics find a maze of clashing claims, competing technology and uncertain needs. To sort out this bevy of online measurement tools the place to begin is terminology and the technology.

Web analytics lets you use a variety of diagnostic tools to learn about Web site usage. The goal of course is to somehow coalesce the data with off-line information as well as other knowledge gleaned from internal IT sources such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, inventory systems or even telemarketing operations.

And while the business benefits are compelling, as with many overarching theories calling for aggregation of data, the implementation can be complex.

The technology of Web analytics can be divided between software run by a particular enterprise and a service offered by an application service provider (ASP).

According to Guy Creese, research director of Internet analytics at Boston-based Aberdeen Group Inc., the historical basis for this technology difference is routed in how data about a Web site is collected. Web logs and network sniffers are the technologies used for Web site data collection by many of the enterprise software vendors. A competing technology employing tags embedded in each Web page is the choice for ASPs. But it's worth noting that each of these technologies contains advantages and disadvantages, says Creese, author of a December 2000 study on Web analytics for Aberdeen.

"Several companies now offer variations of both technologies," says Creese. For example software from Ottawa-based Buystream Inc. runs on a company's server, but can also accommodate tagging. Unlike most software that processes back-end logs, it uses a browser-tracking model similar to an ASP.

Geric Johnson, the vice president for direct marketing at shoe retailer Skechers USA Inc., opted for the ASP model using San Diego-based WebSideStory Inc.'s solution called HitBox Commerce. "We are growing so fast," says Johnson, "my staff needed something to interpret the click trails of our customers and potential customers." A benefit for Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Skechers is the ability to quickly understand where online visitors go and what they want. "In the past we attempted to get the log files off the Web, but they are unbelievably large -- it took us 26 hours to analyze 24 hours of logs -- we are now using the activity reporting function of HitBox and can see where people are bailing out of the site." This allows Skechers to modify the online display of merchandise. "We found people wanted to get right