Not a Big Deal: Browser Based Opt-Out For Google Analytics

March 19th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Web Analytics

Yesterday Google announced they are working on a global browser based plug-in that would allow users to opt-out of being tracked by Google Analytics. This has started a wave of posts and talk across the internet as to what this could mean for those of us using Google Analytics.

All we can do right now is speculate. No one knows what kind of impact this will have until we see from Google exactly how this will be implemented. I do not believe it will have an impact on our data though. If this is a true plug-in it will require the user to download it and install it on their browser. Only more technically aware people will download and install a plug-in like this. For a traditional web user they won’t seek out this feature and go through the process of opting out.

Google Analytics would be useless if the reverse ever happened. Let’s say Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer built this plugin into their browser and instead of opting out of tracking you would have to opt-in for tracking. This would cause hundreds of thousands of people to not think twice about changing the setting. The data from Google Analytics would be all over the place and you would no longer be able to use it as a viable analytics program.

I don’t ever see the above scenario taking place. Google will be signing their analytics program a death wish if that happened. Google Analytics is the most widely used analytics platform today and it helps Google’s bottom line. Google will not allow that to happen. We should all be able to rest easy as this opt-out feature will not have a big impact for all of us using Google Analytics.

What do you think about this new opt-out feature Google is working on?

Without Web Analytics Your eCommerce Site is Dead

March 15th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Web Analytics, eCommerce

Do you own an eCommerce site? Run an eCommerce site? Thinking of starting an eCommerce site?

If you answered yes to any of the questions here is your next one, do you know what web analytics is? Do you have an analytics program setup? If you have one setup, do you use it?

If you answered no to any of the above questions then you are in the same boat as a lot of eCommerce owners and this post is for you. Most people have an idea of what web analytics is today, but most just hear about it, so they set it up, but just let it sit there and don’t know what to do. Anyone that works on an eCommerce site needs an understanding of analytics or someone that can do it for them. Without web analytics your eCommerce site is dead! It won’t survive.

Web analytics is the brain of your eCommerce site. Just like us we need a brain to survive. Our brain holds our experiences, what we learn, how to make decisions. The list can go on forever what our brain does for us, but you get the point. The same goes for eCommerce sites. Ecommerce sites have many parts from marketing, to site work, to product fulfillment, to customer service. This list can go on forever as well. Your web analytics holds your sites experiences, how it preforms. With this data you form your decisions on how to run your eCommerce site. Analytics tell you where to put your money, what is your best preforming channel and so much more.

The more you understand analytics the more you can use it to your advantage. This will pay you back ten fold and then some. I feel this is such a core piece to eCommerce success that I am going to start a series of posts dedicated to analytics. These posts will all be geared towards analytics in the eCommerce world. With these I hope to show you how important analytics is to your endeavor and how it will improve your ROI.