Web Analytics Unit 4-1(2005 Fall) Managing the Digital Enterprise By Professor Michael Rappa

Trail of Bits Digital technologies open the door to new kinds of data collection for the analysis of business processes –As we travel the Web, everywhere we go and everything we do leaves a trail of bits -- a virtual calling card that can illuminate your online activities –For example, When I visit to digital enterprise Web site, some of the information about me are listed below: Remote host: Browser/platform: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1;.NET CLR ) HTTP referer:

Logs and Codes The remote host is the IP address or domain name that identifies the location of the computer network you are using Information about your browser and operating system are also logged The "referer" is the web page with the hyperlink you clicked on to arrive here More information is recorded in the server logs –Every request to a server is recorded and assigned a status code, which describes how the server responded

Purposes of Logs and Codes The data logged by servers can be analyzed to help optimize network infrastructure, improve web site architecture, measure the effectiveness of site design and advertising campaigns, and much, much more The analysis of log data can be rudimentary, such as simple summaries of basic activity The tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated and the amount of information gathered about each individual web site visitor can be quite extensive Much work is being done to develop analytics that yield meaningful statistics for decision makers As impressive as these tools are, the analysis of web activity has only just begun to scratch the surface of what may be possible in the future

Cookies The collection of web data, and especially the use of of "cookies", raises important concerns about individual privacy, a subject we will discuss at length later in the coursecookiesprivacy

Web Analytical Tools Coremetrics (Coremetrics 2005) –Is a Web analytics platform that captures and stores all customer and visitor clickstream activity to build LIVE (Lifetime Individual Visitor Experience) Profiles that serve as the foundation for all successful e- business initiatives IBM (IBM SurfAid Analytics) –Provides web analysis tools that track how visitors are interacting with site content as well as consulting on best practice measurement and data interpretation NedStat (NedStat) –Is a provider of software solutions and services for monitoring websites and reporting on website-visits

Web Analytical Tools (Cont.) NetIQ (Web Trends) –Offers both an On Demand service and software solutions to measure campaign performance, search engine marketing, web site conversion and customer retention Omniture (Site Catalyst) –Is a hosted application that offers a comprehensive view of activity on a company's website that includes historical (data warehouse) and real-time analysis and reporting SAS (SAS Web Analytics) –Applies SAS Customer Intelligence software to online channels so that every customer interaction is powered by a complete view of the customer.

Web Analytical Tools (Cont.) Urchin (Urchin) –Offers both software and On Demand web analytics Visual Sciences (Real-time Analytical Platform, RTAP) –RTAP and suite of applications to collect, process, analyze and visualize their data for decision making, including Internet sites and services WebSideStory (WebSideStory) –Is a provider of on-demand web analytics services –WebSideStory's services collect data from web browsers, process that data and deliver reports of online behavior to its customers on demand.