What’s the biggest challenge for web analytics in 2013?

In the latest in a series looking at web analytics trends, The Drum speaks to a cross-section of the industry to gain insights on the major challenges facing the sector, including attribution modelling and meeting the multichannel challenge.

Steve Dalgleish, director, LynchpinThe biggest challenge is that the expectation of web analytics is getting way beyond just the web: people want business data that shows the performance of the digital channel in a broader context and how it relates to their customers and their overall value (which can rarely be qualified by just a series of clicks). Web analytics vendors want to suck in more data into their proprietary solutions (to justify their existence) but that will not in itself bridge the gap – there’s a lot of data out there already sat in CRM, finance and ad serving solutions and the industry arguably needs to show a more open, integrated approach. Ben Harris, CEO, Decibel AnalyticsUnderstanding the value of content will be the biggest challenge for web analytics in 2013. By assigning a value to each clickable piece of content and call to action on your site, brands will be able to adapt, create and improve content, media type, and page performance to drive up leads and conversion rates. Conrad Bennett, VP of Technical Services EMEA, WebtrendsOne of the biggest challenges in getting value from web analytics is not the analytic tools themselves, but the lack of expertise within businesses to use them, and to leverage the data. No matter how much money and resource you spend buying and implementing analytics, it is only as good as the analysts using it. 2013 will continue the trend of being about multichannel analytics and big data, as businesses seek to integrate multiple data silos (online and offline) from across business units in the hope of seeking greater insight. Matt Camps, head of digital strategy, The Institute of Direct and Digital MarketingThe shortage of people with the skills to get the most from them. The very purpose of web analytics is to ensure businesses have the correct insight in order to make informed decisions, but if a company doesn’t have the necessary expertise required to accurately analyse their data, web analytic packages are of no worth. I personally cannot emphasise enough that knowledge and skills are key, we operate in an incredibly fast paced digital arena, and ensuring that digital marketers have the proficiency to get the best from both current and new analytic technologies is of utmost importance. Carl Fernandes, head of analytics & conversion, iProspectUnderstanding website performance across multiple channels and devices has always been challenging – but this will become even more relevant in 2013 as mobile traffic continues to rise across the board. With brands now tackling this problem with visitor ID tracking and similar innovations the key challenge will be turning this data into insight that can drive performance improvements. Mike Shaw, head of media, comScore UKConsumers are quickly becoming platform agnostic in their digital media consumption, which comScore refers to as “the rise of the Digital Omnivore.” It’s the pinnacle of convenience for consumers, but an utter headache from an audience measurement and advertising analytics standpoint. Analytics providers need to adapt to this changing digital world to become a trusted resource for understanding cross-platform consumer behaviour and enabling multi-platform unification of all data. Alan Reeves, head of PPC, Click ConsultAttribution modelling; campaign attribution has been around almost as long as web analytics itself but only recently has it been available to the masses, thanks to Google Analytics. Attributing conversions to the first click or last click is easy but determining exactly what weighting to apply to every visit in a lengthy path to conversion for your business, is much harder. There is no single solution that is an ideal fit for everyone. Sponsored by:Analysis image via Shutterstock