What to consider when hiring a Web Analyst

Posted by Bearing on Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Web Analytics is becoming increasingly important to any business operating within Digital media or Ecommerce. It offers unparalleled insight into a customer’s online behaviour allowing businesses to improve usability and functionality and ultimately the effectiveness of a site.

Working with a large number of Ecommerce companies and Content providers, Bearing Partnership has seen the growing importance of the Web Analyst. However as web analytics matures as a discipline it brings with it significant issues of staffing and skills management within a Digital function. Web Analytics is becoming too involved to simply lump in with the responsibilities of a Digital Marketing manager – Web Analytics is now a skill set in itself.

It is a specialism that has evolved and transformed to a point where it’s now worth discussing the key emphasis of the Web Analyst.

There are generally three areas of emphasis for a Web Analyst, and this often determines their background and how a company will want to utilise them:

The Number Cruncher

The ‘Number Cruncher’ Web Analyst is perhaps the most familiar. As the term suggests this role focuses on compiling reports on all aspects of a site including sales, registrations and user behaviour. Using internal systems, Google Analytics, or in depth analytics tools such as Omniture and Coremetrics they can then monitor user interaction with the site. Bounce rates (visitors who immediately exit the site), click throughs (CTR), drop offs from the specific page or interaction with a particular part of the page (a banner ad, a particular button etc) will all be assessed.

The Number Cruncher will be adept at tagging the HTML in web pages or email marketing campaigns with code that tracks behaviour. The Number Cruncher will also create a report using this data (very often using Microsoft Excel) to show the effectiveness of the site. In many cases they will look for trends. This information will then be passed onto to UX/IA, marketing, content and sales teams who will assess the findings and take action.

Many analysts start their careers in this area and will generally have around 2-4 years of experience in this post. Their backgrounds will often be mathematics or statistical analysis. They may be graduates or career business analysts. They may have worked in sales or financial forecasting for an offline business or worked in a Digital agency or Ecommerce team as a junior executive.

The key skills for this role are an eye for dealing with large data sets, data manipulation and the ability to spot a trend. Despite being a relatively junior operational post they remain tough roles to fill.

The Hybrid Web Analyst

The Hybrid Web Analyst, probably better termed the ‘Online Marketing Analyst’, will go beyond the remit of the number cruncher and take information from more sources and make more strategic recommendations to the business. They will be expected to make a significant impact on conversions and revenue. These Analysts will incorporate information from alternative sources than simply their online systems; user reviews, call centre feedback, surveys, research, Digital agency recommendations or general industry knowledge will all be incorporated into their analysis. They will build business cases around these changes and use their data to support their recommendations. These sorts of Analysts may have come from a similar background as the number cruncher but will call upon wider and more extensive experience to offer more holistic customer insight.

The Technical Web Analyst / Search Marketing Expert

Analyst Remuneration Perhaps even more difficult to find and even more important if you have a large, technically complex website, is the Web Analyst with a strong technical understanding (sometimes referred to as a Search Marketing Expert). For the purpose of this article we’ll term them ‘Technical Web Analyst’. They are able to work with developers on the architecture of the website to make improvements that will deliver insight and improvement. URL’s often need adjusting to enable better tracking; cookies may have to be reviewed in order to be able to capture the correct information. These analysts are experienced in multivariance testing – where different solutions are pitted against each other in order to analyse which option the user prefers. They also understand the constant changes within the online world and think up and implement systems to monitor blog activity, twitter and RSS feeds as well as Google’s changing search algorithms. These Analysts are in such short supply as they will only exist in a small proportion of client side businesses, vendors or agencies. They are highly sought after as they can have such a big impact on the bottom line of any Ecommerce or Digital media business.

These individuals will be from a myriad of backgrounds as they will have general grown up in the online world in the last 10 years. They may be marketing, commercial, financial or technical experts and often play such a vital role in a business they are well remunerated.

There is increasing demand for each of these Web Analyst profiles and as such suitable candidates are scarce and the salary levels are rising. It is essential a business carefully assess what web analysis will be used to achieve to identify which profile will suit best.

In all cases a flexible and pragmatic approach to the type of individual you require is essential. As is the retention policy for good Analyst’s once you have them. In the wake of the recession, this is one area where we have still experienced continued growth, as companies continually strive for customer understanding and ROI.

In order to make the most of web analysis in your Digital team contact Joanna Tory, at jt@bearingpartnership.com to discuss the best way to attract Web Analyst talent to your company.