Mobile Analytics
Like many of you, I have often found myself perusing
websites or playing games on my mobile device without giving much thought to
it. A Google search here, a food recipe
there, a Wordament game on the late
night train ride home and a check on my account balance to finish it off. As I was closing my browser, I noticed the window
with the words “Please fill out a simple survey about your visit” and without
even blinking I checked the “I decline right now” and thought nothing of
it.
After doing some research on this topic, I realized that this
was just one piece of a larger whole of analytic tools that businesses use to
gather data. In turn this data assists them in hopefully perfecting their
marketing, business processes, web design, etc.
What is Mobile Web Analytics?
Web analytics, according to the Web Analytics Association
Web Analytics Definitions, is defined as “the measurement, collection, analysis
and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing
Web usage.” (Web Analytics Association, 2008) The term mobile
is used as this process is performed from mobile devices that connect to the
Internet. In a nutshell businesses
thrive, or at least they should be, on the amount of data gathered from traffic
seen on their websites. This traffic has
to be interpreted into meaningful data for a business and that is why there is
a plethora of companies that are making a footprint into the world of analytics
like Google Analytics, Webtrends, and Ensighten to name a few.
Why bother with Mobile Web Analytics?
As more and more mobile devices are purchased every year,
the ability to statistically track website usage and visits from these mobile devices,
has seen an almost paradigm –ical (yes, I just now made that word up) shift for
businesses. It’s important that
businesses understand the importance of mobile analytics as in 2011 there were
an estimated 6 billion…yes that’s 6 BILLION
mobile subscriptions worldwide which equates to about 87% of the world’s
population. (International Telecommunications
Union, 2011) One report estimated that 2012 would be the
year that the “number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of
people on earth…” and of that 48% of these would be smartphones. (Cisco, 2012)
To date that means there are more than 100 million
smartphones “using over 1GB/month of data” (Cisco, 2012) Just as an afterthought, I went to the local
sales office of my phone company and asked about their internet data plans for
my iPhone. The customer service
representative said that the best plan they offered was a 2GB/month data plan
on a 4G wireless. He then chuckled and
said, “that’s more than enough. You won’t
use more than that in a month.” By the
end of this year, I predict that this phone company as well as all of the
others will be offering data plans much larger for mobile devices if they want
to stay marketable.
So what does that mean for businesses? By understanding the behaviors of mobile
users, BI can create more efficient reports which in turn can generate improved
process flows, a more intuitive website design and effective marketing ad
campaigns, via email marketing and on-site surveys to name a few.
Mobile vs. Traditional Analytics
Effective web analytics is a combination of different
tools. According to Avinash Kaushik, traditional
methods that use a combination of page tagging, page views, tracking site hits
and counters, daily unique visitors, top exit pages on sites, and visitor screen
resolutions, to name a few are dead. (Kaushik, 2006) Now most businesses use free online analytics
via Google Analytics, Omniture, and Webtrends, to name a few, thereby
circumventing the need to have design an in-house method.
On the mobile side of analytics Kaushik offers three
solutions:
- Log-based solutions
- Packet-Sniffing solutions
- Tag-Based solutions
A log-based solution uses the information found in the log files
of websites which are located in the webservers running the website. Packet-sniffing
solutions involve using a device between your web servers and the website,
thereby circumventing tag management in the website. Tag-based solutions use JavaScript tags or
pixel image tags on a website to collect data.
Most large analytic providers like Google Analytics, use a JavaScript
tag systems to collect data. (Avinash Kaushik. “Emerging Analytics: Social,
Mobile, and Video.” Web Analytics 2.0. Wiley Publishing: Indiana. 2010, pp.
250-251). Pixel tags use a 1 x 1 image
on a webpage in order to track data.
The only downside to this is that the smartphones have to have the
cookie and JavaScripts enabled.
Future of Mobile Analytics
The future is quite clear, mobile analytics will improve
because the business of mobile will increase.
As more and more mobile devices are purchased, businesses will inevitably
use mobile, as they are currently doing, to increase their business and their
revenues. This in turn will increase the
ability of mobile analytics as more companies like Google Analytics and
Omniture improve their methods.
Further material:
Mobile Analytics Reports
Conversion Tracking Methods
Traditional Web Analytics
Global Mobile Statistics
Cisco Visual Networking Index
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