Facebook updates Insights; real time analytics

The wind of change is certainly blowing strong in the Facebook camp. Along with their new Timeline format, of which the compulsory switch over for is fast approaching, Facebook Insights (their built in analytics engine) has also had an update.

Earlier this year Facebook updated their own analytics engine, Insights, to now allow statistics to be viewed in real-time, removing the two day delay previously in place. This is a great update for any brand that runs campaigns through their Facebook pages, especially those on a short time scale, as it allows brands to see how fast information is spreading immediately.

This change to real time statistics will also help brands and businesses to see what’s working and what’s not, and allow them to adjust their content or approach appropriately.


The update to Insights also includes a new measurement “People talking about this”, it’s a little ambiguous, and in fact covers quite a range of factors. Ultimately it allows you to view the numbers of Facebook users who have:

• Liked your page
• Liked, commented on or shared a post on your page
• Answered a question you’ve asked
• Responded to any events you’ve announced
• Mentioned your page
• Tagged your page in a photo
• Checked in, or recommended your place

This certainly is great news for marketing and social media strategy, but developers will also need to be aware that certain metrics that once were read by Insights are being removed, check out their Developer page on Insights for more information.

If you’re interested in learning how Rocktime can help you with Social Media and adjusting to changes in the internet environment, then why not get in contact with our Sales Team and arrange a meeting.


Author: Alice Cheetham

Twitter Releases New Web Analytics Tool

We heard about the news from Mashable that Twitter is soon to roll out their Web Analytics tool.

We are quite excited to see the interface. The tool will help online marketers and website owners understand more about the effectiveness of their integrated Twitter campaigns.


The above image and below snippet has been taken from this Mashable post:

“Twitter Web Analytics, explains BackType founder and new Twitter platform staffer Christopher Golda, will help publishers and website owners understand three key things: How much of their content is being shared on Twitter, how much traffic Twitter is sending their way and how well Tweet Buttons are performing“

As with most social media channel updates, the Twitter web analytics tool is open to just a selected few to start off with and will be rolled out to all by October 2011. We are looking forward to seeing the working interface.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

EU Cookie Directive Advice

Advice about the EU Cookie Directive

Did you know that new EU legislation was brought in to effect from 26th May 2011 which will force online businesses to request “explicit consent” from their website visitors, to be able to store cookies on their PC?

A cookie is a common technique used by website owners to store information in a small file which is placed on a visitor’s computer, so that it can remember something about you for a later date.

The majority of our clients use cookies on their website to help analyse site visitor behaviours and remember a users preferences on a site; like the ability to log them in automatically.

Background to the law

The law has been brought in to give consumers more choice about what companies know about them. It also seeks to ensure that website owners be more responsible with the data they obtain on site visitors.

There is much confusion about the term ‘explicit consent’ also termed as ‘informed consent’ and how we can make sure that we provide sufficient information to consumers about how their data is being captured.

Important to note

It must be noted that the new law requires websites to ask for user consent when dropping cookies onto their computers, except when the cookie is required directly for the service being used; such as online shopping baskets. So in summary, cookies and any other data stored on "terminal equipment" must have a "legitimate purpose".

Mixed messages on consent

There are still mixed messages, even from Ed Vaizey, Culture Minister, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) who just last night issued an open letter on the 'UK’s implementation of the new e-privacy regulations'.

The Ed Vaizey letter implies that the changes are much more business friendly that the ICO point out and that the EU rules do not necessarily require "prior consent".
However, the letter also said: "Crucially, there is no definition as to when that consent may be given, and so it is possible that consent may be given after or during processing," The DCMS admitted that "in its natural usage 'consent' rarely refers to a permission given after the action," but said that it recognises that it may be "impracticable to obtain consent prior to processing"

View the open letter here: http://www.dcms.gov.uk/images/publications/cookies_open_letter.pdf


Our Technical Director summed up the changes as:

• Tracking cookies need permission before they can be used.
• Session cookies and “remember my login” cookies are ok.
• So basically, consent is required when the cookie is not required for a service.

More information below on the above cookies, courtesy of All About Cookies.

Where to obtain advice

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) advise website owners to check what type of cookies are used on their website. They state that website owners need to decide the best way to gain consent on using (nonintrusive) cookies on their site and to give consideration on the best way to gain consent from their users.

A non intrusive cookie could be a cookie used to ensure when a website visitors adds a product to a basket (session cookie), and then continues to search the site for products or goes to checkout, that, the product remains in the basket.
The ICO say that the cookie needs to be “strictly necessary”, so we believe those with sites that say “Hello Sarah, did you want to look at the car mats again” then this wouldn’t be strictly necessary.

Firstly don’t panic!

Organisations and businesses that run websites aimed at UK consumers have been given 12 months to get their house in order, before the enforcement begins. We will be inviting our clients to consider the options available to them, inviting them to consider their use of cookies and find a solution that works best for them and their customers. View the latest release (25th May 2011) from the ICO here with regards to the penalties:

ICO gives website owners one year to comply with cookie law


What notice did the ICO place on their website?

When we heard about the EU Cookie Directive, we discussed internally that probably one of the best places to find out what to include on your site re: cookie notice was to review the ICO website (who use Google Analytics). The ICO has placed a (very unattractive and out of keeping to their design) header bar on their website, giving users information about the cookies they use and the choices about how to manage them.

The statement says:
“On the 26th May 2011, the rules about cookies on websites changed. This site uses cookies. One of the cookies we use is essential for parts of the site to operate and has already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from the site, but parts of the site will not work. To find out more about cookies on this website and how to delete cookies, see our privacy notice.
[Tick box] I accept cookies from this site [Continue]"

View the ICO privacy notice here which outlines the type of cookie, name of cookie, cookie purpose and more information links.

Browser settings and consent

We wondered whether the browser setting could be a way to get consent. Having looked into this, as many people don’t use a browser (many people access via a mobile phone), then the ICO advice that it would be better to make sure a website has a “consent system” set up rather than rely on other people to know how to block cookies in their browser.

In the future, many websites may well be able to rely on the site visitor’s browser settings to demonstrate consent, but not at the moment. The government is currently working with the major browser manufacturers on this very topic. As soon as we know more, we will of course share the outcome.

Gaining consent

The ICO recognise that in many cases, implementation of the rule requiring consent for cookies will be a challenge. They have since issued separate advice on how these requirements can be met in practice:

A few examples from the ICO on ways you can gain consent include:

1. Agreement to new Terms and Conditions / Privacy settings
2. Pop Ups
3. Feature Led Consent (click a button and agree functionality to be turned on)
4. Functional uses (consent is needed for web analytics, see how ICO have dealt with this above)

Further advice on ways to gain consent are outlined on this document from the ICO – Practical application advice on the new cookie regulations.


Summary of steps to take

1. Check what types of cookies and similar technologies you use and how you use them
2. Assess how intrusive your use of cookies are
3. Decide what solution to obtain consent will be best in your circumstances
(Consider the header bar that the ICO have implemented as a first step).

Should you have any comments or thoughts on this new directive, please let us know in the comments.


Author: Andy Clarke, Technical Manager

Credit for the above image goes to Kat Holgate and her blog here.

Welcomed New Feature in Google Analytics

Weighted sort is a welcomed new feature in Google Analytics for all of us who have been using column sorting and desiring a way to have actual, useful meaning behind it. Google introduce the new weighted sort feature over at their blog, and have provided the above video to help explain further. 


When somethings new in Web Analytics the first place I go is Avinash Kaushik’s Blog, he is a total Analytics genius/god amongst Web Analytic Managers.

I was first introduced to Avinash after his book ‘Web: Analytics an Hour a Day’ was recommended to me on a Web Trends Analytics course (about 4 yrs ago). I was quickly made aware of Avinash’s great ability to make Web Analytics almost human, explaining the finer points in Simple English, providing you with situations that you can refer to, on your own website. I highly recommend it.




I visited / turned to, Avinash’s blog to find out more about the new Google Analytic feature and I wasn’t disappointed. The blog post is rather long, but it is all needed to help understand what he describes as ‘magic’. 


A great sum up of the new tool was in Avinash's reply to a readers blog comment who 
mentioned that the new feature was similar to Google Analytic’s ‘Advanced Filters’.

I will share with you that snippet below...do visit & read the full blog post here: 'End of Dumb Tables in Web Analytics Tools! Hello: Weighted sort’.

And note, like I have, that he has a new (Oct 2009) book Web Analytics 2.0 which is definitely going on my Amazon Wish List this Christmas.

The blog comment on Avinash’s Blog that sums up the 'weighted sort feature' well:


“I suspect in everyone's life it is about volume. :) But how do you focus on: 1. Where are we getting less volume where we should get a lot and 2. Where is it that we are getting lots of volume but we can improve a lot more. You can filter using Advanced Filters, but that still leaves you with thousands of rows of data where you have to apply judgment and pick and choose and figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Weighted Sort was built exactly with that goal in mind: To make it even more efficient for you to find "interestingness" in thousands of rows of data – and without you making guesses.

Then you apply advanced filters.

If you first do advanced filters and then weighted sort you might filter out some low volume sites that present the most interesting opportunities. If you do weighted sort and then advanced filter you won't have that problem. I want to stress that I am not saying advanced filters are not great or that you don't need them. Weighted sort is just one more tool in your arsenal”

Read more here: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2010/09/end-dumb-tables-web-analytics-tools-weighted-sorts.html

Rocktime's Flashlight Team are eager to help you illuminate your web analytic tables, feel free to call us to discuss how Web Analytics can bring value to your business.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

The Value of Conversion Analytics

Working alongside our clients we are very much focused on their conversions rates via delivering more traffic to see improvements in sales; finding niche portals to stir up interest in products and services; creating social media campaigns to encourage interaction; inviting people to engage further with the brand with user generated content & reviews; advising clients to use our voucher code module via our CMS to encourage some quick win conversions, or to promote an available discount offer etc etc. Conversion rates and benchmarks are of course very useful to have and it is vital that you review them, they are not only important for the client to help determine the return on investment (ROI) of their marketing spend but also for ourselves, as an agency to help prove our capabilities in delivering results. Conversion rates are also particularly effective when listed alongside overall business targets.

We of course all like to see the figures/conversion rates rise. When they don’t rise in a particular month it could be that a referral site didn’t perform as well as the previous month, or perhaps the PPC budget was reduced, or social networking activity was lowered, or SEO activity needs to be increased. We keep track as much as we can on site changes that may affect our client’s conversion rates, this is dependent on learnt knowledge from the client on their ‘out of agency’ marketing activity i.e.: events they are attending, newspaper/magazine adverts, and radio announcements. Having this knowledge then help us to determine where the ‘conversion value’ is derived from. So that we don’t shout, “Hey didn’t we do well”, only to find out they have had a national radio advertisement promoting their site to the whole of the UK !!

It is very easy to focus on these ‘marketing outposts’ and point the finger of ‘that performed well’ or ‘give blame’ to an outpost when performance reduces. Every now and then, if not every month, or week (if you have the budget and desire) it is important that we step back from these conversion rates and start to look at the site as a whole.

Some key considerations to focus on when reviewing site performance include the below: I am passing this blog post around to my colleagues for additional input):

* Remember some customers may arrive at your site, simply to window shop, to compare prices, to show their friend some interesting content. They have no reason to buy, book or order from you, they are there to browse, dream, who knows. I know I certainly browse a lot and yet have no intention to buy.

* Others may of heard about your site, thought to pop by to check you out, they may be job hunting, visiting to seek out inspiration on an article they are writing, or they may be looking for assistance with an order, trying to find your email, or possibly looking to unsubscribe from your emails.

Moving on

It would be interesting to find out the main reason why people are visiting your site, asking them a little question “Why are you here today?” then segmenting the reasons people visit, maybe with a site redesign to capture those markets. I believe B&Q did this at one point with a new landing page for a limited period asking ‘are you here to browse or buy?’ (I of course clicked browse). The landing page wasn’t intrusive and I quite liked the fact that they were placing me into a category, I actually thought it was going to change my website experience, it didn’t and I soon forgot about the landing page as I moved around the site.

In designing a new site it would be very positive to review the pages people visit. In Google Analytics you can action this in the ‘Top Content Report’; reviewing whether they are visiting the Help pages, the Articles, the Latest News, the Products/Services etc. If you then determine that the majority of visitors to your site are there to view your products/services and are not converting, then it will become clear that there is possibly more you can do, to convince them to buy/order/book from you. The number of areas you can report on with web analytics are/is vast, you can delve in as deep as your budget and/or time will allow. I have always stuck to the 80/20 rule, 80% analysis and 20% reporting which I obtained from a Web Analytic Guru at some stage of my career. A big tip: If you focus your analysis alongside your overall company objectives then the data will be more meaningful to you, you will then ask more questions of your data and want to understand more.

If an increase in sales is a target, then you may wish to review whether ‘offer banner 1’ performed better than ‘offer banner 2’ or whether the E-newsletter brought in the right type of converting customers. If it is an objective to increase the number of new visitors to your site, then you may wish to report on how many people completed the ‘Recommend to a friend online sheet’, did you give an incentive and did this work??. Alternatively, or additionally, if you are keen to see if your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy is performing, then you could start by reviewing the number of ‘keywords’ people are using to access your site, is this increasing on the long-tail (as in long key-phrases). Did the changes in creating unique and compelling content effect the overall conversion rate?

Oh, arrived back at conversion rates again, it is very easy to do. This blog post has mainly been to promote that you should be ‘aware’ not just to ‘point the finger’ at your goal/conversion rate or the funnel, but to look at the bigger picture and note that not everyone is visiting you to convert anyway. I imagine the Apple UK site had a large conversion rate when the iPad was launched in the UK, this was created by viral spread of the news; consider, could you follow suit and create a ‘viral’ to encourage the right customer to visit your site and convert??

If you are feeling that your conversion rates are rather static at the moment and believe your site needs a review, revamp or possible boost, then talk to Rocktime Sales and together we can discuss how we can help. Give them a call or drop them a message over at our contact form.

Hope this has been useful. We are soon to embark the above activity on our site, so if you see a little message saying “Why are you here today?” you know the reason, we are simply trying to understand our audience better.


Author: Sarah Griffiths @Sarah Griffiths

The internet = tremendous opportunity if it’s measured

Not only does the Internet provide us (as consumers) with a fantastic opportunity to find a wider choice of products, services and special offers from a number of suppliers. For organisations it provides the opportunity to reach more target markets, compete on equal footing with a number of larger organisations, trial and test uptake of new products and services online as well as expanding corporate propositions to new markets.

Via the web, you can spread the word about your company, your products or services as much as you like, there will be a portal out there with your target markets name on that you can advertise to at cost (of possibly for free).

Perhaps you wish to be found for every key phrase variation available for your product using a pay per click model or you wish to run umpteen podcasts to show your expertise of a particular service.

Whichever avenue you wish to market your products or services online, you must always come back to three key questions:

1. How will the Internet help me meet my corporate objectives?

2. Will the marketing avenues I have chosen provide me with enough visitors in which to meet the goals outlined in the marketing plan?

3. How effective are the marketing avenues chosen? What conversion rates have we seen in the past?

Rocktime can work with you to help answer those questions to help you reach your business goals, targets and objectives.

We have even developed a ROI Sales calculator to help you maximise on your return on insight.

Check it out here:

Rocktime Sales Funnel Calculator

A few people have told us they have used it, to help get funds realised for further marketing activity from the top table. Once you have completed the funnel, there is a button to enable you to print these results too.

The ROI Sales Funnel asks you to look at your required visitor numbers against your marketing spend and your current online conversion rates of leads/enquiries and sales to determine the effectiveness of a particular channel or channels by calculating an estimated ROI for your marketing efforts.

Feel free to talk to our sales & marketing team about how you can take the information you currently have and turn that data into internet marketing strategy.

Contact Rocktime Sales & Marketing

There are several other ways in which you can measure Internet effectiveness such as:

• Use, review, report and review again your web stats using Web Analytics (link to post coming soon)
  
• Monitor customer retention rates (% of people using the website each month)
  
• Review website engagement rate
  
• Take note on uptake on sale calls mentioning website
  
• Consider increase or decrease (cost avoidance) number of online emails
  
• Set up focus groups and surveys on / about your site
  
• Use online Mystery shoppers

Feel free to talk to us further about any of the above.

Author: Sarah Griffiths