Survey Aims & Methodology The intention behind they research was to identify trends in current analytics practices used by organizations & agencies based in Middle East (KSA, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt & Jordan) and to understand how organizations take advantage of digital data to optimize the business. No sample quotas were imposed. The research was conducted between Jan 20 th and April 5 th, 2012. The survey was conducted online using survey tool provided by FluidSurveys.com. Survey respondents were recruited through email invitations, advertising on LinkedIn.com and social media outreach. All incomplete and inaccurate responses were ignored from final results. Total Sample Size was n=50
KEY FINDINGS
Key Findings Web Analytics is still young discipline in Middle East with wide variations in experience, resources and value gained. However there is a growing interest as a majority are reporting gains from their activities. It seems that the task of web analytics has shifted away from IT teams as majority of respondents reported web analytics to be managed by ecommerce, marketing & BI teams. Web Analytics function travels with whoever owns the web function. 64% respondents said they trust data from web analytics tool 75% of time or mostly. Client side organizations expressed more trust in web analytics data then compared to agencies & consultants. There is a correlation between who expressed low trust in data and those who have less experience and resources assigned to web analytics. The main web analytics activities conducted are Campaign Analysis and Landing Page Optimization whereas more insightful techniques such as A/B and multivariate testing are rarely performed.
Key Findings Majority of respondents realized gain from adopting web analytics in all areas except reducing customer support costs. We also found less number of respondents reported to augment web analytics data with CRM & customer data. There seems to be a disconnect between what client side organizations are expecting vs. what agencies & consultants wants to achieve for their clients this year. 71% of Client side respondents seek to improve site performance with use of web analytics data vs. 57% of agencies & consultants desire it this year. Only 21% of client side respondents wants to take business decisions based on data whereas 40% of agencies & consultants seek their clients to take decisions based on data. 60% of agency & consultant respondents wants to increase their level of knowledge for Social Media Analytics vs. only 29% of client side respondents. Overall investment in web analytics is improving but client side respondents wants to prioritize in achieving results by Optimizing the site through analysis whereas agencies and consultants wants to prioritize in Training and establishing KPIs for their clients.
Conclusion There is a desperate need of aligning the analysis results closely with the organizations business strategy which can provide quick wins and increase the trust in the web analytics data and establish it as an important function. Acting on data & analysis is critically important for agencies, consultants & clients and analysis should not be done just for the sake of analysis.
PROFILE OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS
Profile of Survey Respondents Web Analytics User (Client) 42% Agency (Advertising, Digital, Analytics, etc) 30% Individual Web Analytics Consultants Web Analytics Software Vendor 0% 28% Type of Users Other 0% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% A Multinatonal 56% Type of Organization A Regional Organization (Middle East) 24% A Local Based Organization 20% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Profile of Survey Respondents United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia Qatar Egypt Lebanon Target Business Geography Majority of respondents are conducting business in multiple countries where a significant individuals responded doing business in UAE followed by Saudi Arabia & Qatar. Jordan Kuwait Bahrain Oman Syria Other Middle Eastern Countries 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Profile of Survey Respondents Enterprise Size Segmentation The research sample contained representation from various enterprise sizes. Respondents were asked to indicate the number of staff employed by their organization. 20% 1000+ Employees 30% 501-1000 Employees 251-500 Employees 8% 101-250 Employees 51-100 Employees 6% 4% 26-50 Employees 11-25 Employees 10% 12% 10% 1-10 Employees
Profile of Survey Respondents Media Agency/Consultancy Business Services High Tech Multiple Industries Travel & Hospitality Manufactuing Telecommunications Automotive Retail Government 2% 2% 2% 2% 4% 6% 6% 8% 8% 30% 28% Industry Segmentation 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Provide self service support to existing customers How respondent organizations uses online channels Communicate with customers and business partners Generate leads including online quotes Sell products and supporting services Provide information about products and services Provide secure transactions, statements, documents, etc 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Profile of Survey Respondents Critical (Business is Highly Impacted) 64% Semi Critical (Business is some what impacted) Non Critical (It's ok we can live without it) 8% 28% Business impact if online channel has availability issues 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Extremely Important 52% How web analytics is perceived? Equal importance to other functions Less important in comparison to other functions 14% 32% Not important at all 2% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
WEB ANALYTICS CURRENT STATE
Web Analytics Responsibility Respondents were asked to indicate which department is primarily responsible for digital analytics in their organizations. A majority of respondents indicated that the function lies with ecommerce, business intelligence & marketing teams and only few responded about the function being managed by IT. 8% 6% 24% 6% 2% 2% 26% 26% ecommerce / Digital Team Business Intelligence / Analytics Marketing Not Sure Other IT Customer Experience External Agency
Technology Adoption Respondents were asked to indicate about what kind of web analytics tools they use and if these tools are free, paid or both. Paid versus Free or Both Web Analytics Tool Adoption 52% 8% Free Paid Both 40% 18% 20% 3% 6% 6% 4% 2% 8% 26% 92% Google Analytics Omniture SiteCatalyst Webtrends Analytics Other Google Analytics Premium Woopra Urchin from Google IBM (Core Metrics or Unica) Yahoo Web Analytics comscore Digital Analytix
Technology Adoption Over 5 years 30% Between 2-5 years Between 1-2 years Less than 1 year 12% 16% 28% Use of Web Analytics Tools in years Unknown 4% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Yes (100% of the time) 26% Trust on Web Analytics Data Mostly (75% of the time) Sometimes (50% of the time) 10% 64% Rarely (25% of the time) 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Internal & External Web Analytics Resources 1 or less Employees 2-3 Employees 4-5 Employees More than 5 Employees 36% 38% 0% 26% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Full time internal employees dedicated to Web Analytics in respondent organization s Additional Web Analytics Resources Employees with partial commitment to web analytics Consultants Analytics Agencies None Contract Employees Part Time Employees 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Web Analytics Activities Performed 120% Regularly Sometimes Never 100% 80% 60% 6% 22% 14% 32% 22% 16% 32% 40% 22% 40% 40% 42% 40% 20% 0% 72% 54% 46% 44% 38% 40% 20% 44% 14%
Gains from adopting Web Analytics 120% 100% Yes No Not Sure 16% 16% 16% 24% 32% 26% 44% 80% 60% 8% 8% 10% 10% 8% 18% 40% 20% 76% 76% 74% 66% 60% 56% 30% 26% 0%
Augmenting Web Analytics Data 120% Yes No Not Applicable 100% 80% 60% 11% 11% 6% 11% 17% 17% 17% 11% 11% 28% 17% 28% 39% 33% 40% 20% 78% 78% 67% 72% 56% 44% 50% 0%
WEB ANALYTICS FUTURE OUTLOOK
Top Digital Analytics Initiatives in 2012 Acting on the data to improve site performance Business decisions driven by analytics KPI development Best practices implementation Executive management awareness and support To understand what priorities organizations are placing on web analytics activities respondents were asked to identify from a list of activities what they are planning to undertake this year. Training and education Systems integration Integration of current and new solutions Developing process/implementing process Tools selection and transition Other Product trials 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Top Areas for Knowledge Improvements Social Media Analytics Targeting and Segmentation Predictive Analytics Natural Search Marketing or SEO Campaign Management To understand the top areas where organizations are considering improving the knowledge respondents were asked to identify from a list of activities what they are planning to undertake this year. Creating Custom Reports Paid Search Marketing Email Marketing A/B and Multivariate Testing Content Management Affiliate Marketing Measuring Web 2.0 Technologies Other 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Web Analytics Investment Outlook This survey investigates the levels of web analytics related investments to be made this year and asked respondents to confirm if they are improving the investment or keeping it flat. 4% 28% Improving Flat 67% Not Sure
Priorities for Web Analytics in 2012 120% Yes No Considering 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 7% 11% 13% 15% 20% 17% 26% 26% 24% 24% 22% 26% 39% 33% 67% 65% 63% 63% 54% 43% 41% 17% 20% 57% 63% 26% 17%
Thanks to all who participated in first Middle Eastern web analytics survey.
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