What is web analytics

Web analysis provides information about visitor behavior on your own website, e.g. the duration of the website visit or the origin of the visitor. This information enables the website operator to discover the website’s weak points and ultimately improve its efficiency.

Web analysis functions

Web analysis is an ongoing process of analysis, measurement and subsequent optimization. So it is not a task that is done with one application. The special thing about web analytics is the assessment of visitor behavior, which makes it an indispensable tool for online marketing.

But it is not only visitor behavior that can be evaluated and optimized with the help of web analytics. This tool offers many other evaluation options. These include, for example:

• Number of aborts during the purchase process
• Origin of the visitors
• Average value of purchases
• Number of conversions
• Classification of the number of website visitors for individual websites as well as the entire website

The consequences of web analysis are an increase in sales, the elimination of website weaknesses or the creation of new marketing strategies. However, you will only experience all these benefits with the help of professional planning and implementation, because simply “collecting” data will not bring your website up to the latest and greatest standards. It is important to collect and classify data in a targeted manner and to initiate the right optimizations accordingly. Once this is done, the visitor information can be used successfully.

Tools

Web analysis can be carried out using free and paid tools. The following data collection technologies must also be distinguished:

Tag Analysis:

A tracking code is implemented in the source code of the website, which collects all the necessary data. This data is then stored on an external server.

Logfile analysis:

A log file is used to record all access characteristics of the website that are played back on the web server. In addition, there is analysis software that provides the graphical processing.

Tag analysis offers the advantage of being able to collect significantly more data. On the other hand, bounces cannot be measured with the log file analysis and the tracking code also brings with it some data protection problems.

The most widely used free web analysis tool is “Google Analytics”. Other free variants are Open Web Analytics and Piwik. Paid tools include Adobe Digital Marketing Suite and Etracker.

In order to select the right tool for your company, it is important to take into account the company’s objectives and data protection requirements. Finally, this selection influences the choice of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

Key figures

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are used to measure the performance of a website. This means that the indicators are at the beginning of every web analysis. These indicators can be determined by the corporate strategy or the requirements typical of the industry. The KPIs are a basic prerequisite for a successful tracking concept and the fulfillment of corporate goals. This means that web analysis is inconceivable without KPIs.

KPIs are often predefined in the web analysis tools. These include the duration of the visit, the average page load time, the organic visitor share and the conversion rate. Not to forget the number of visitors. This offers the possibility of drawing conclusions about user satisfaction.

Key figures should generally never be viewed in isolation. After all, looking at the big picture is always an advantage. Example: When recognizing a high bounce rate, it is important to find out the cause and rectify it.

Data protection

The well-known “cookies” collect data from which particularly extensive user profiles can be created. In most cases, these user profiles have very little to do with the behavior of the website under investigation. This obliges companies to draw up a data protection concept that protects the rights of visitors. All the data that is collected via analytics and the like is ultimately personal data that companies cannot use lightly for themselves.

The following requirements must be met in order to preserve visitor rights:

• The data subjects/users must consent to the scope of their data.
• The reference to the user’s right of withdrawal must be retained.
• The scope of the collection must be made clear to the data subject and the data subject must take note of it.
• The declaration on the use of data and its contents must always be available to the user.

This data protection information must be visible and accessible to the user on every page. Special attention should also be paid to the cookie guidelines. As soon as the website operator uses cookies on its website, the visitor must be informed of this.