What does a Digital Analytics department do?
So, what does a Digital/Web Analytics department actually do? Ultimately my belief is we're product owners of the "Optimisation Platform". The definition of this platform being a combination of; analytics, optimisation, tagging, survey and delivery systems. So for me this means; Adobe Analytics, Target, Dynamic Tag Manager, Qualtrics, Clicktale & Experience Manager.
Developing a roadmap
Strategy and developing a roadmap is at the heart of product ownership and for the "Optimisation Platform" this is a combination of implementation advancements and optimisation execution. Making experimentation, reporting and analysis easy should be a primary dimension of our role. Easy access to data means more insight, likewise easy experimentation should mean increased test volume and wins. My roadmap includes optimisation execution and analytics/optimisation/delivery implementation improvements. We as a department outline the implementation projects whereas the optimisation execution side of the roadmap is a collaborative effort with other stakeholders from the business, they have ideas for experiments, in addition we fill the roadmap with experiments and personalisation projects that are based on data and good ol' fashioned creative reviews. Ultimately our roadmap is about driving; measurement, analysis and optimisation.Snapshot of an example roadmap document:
What else is there to do?
Analysis | Sound analysis should be the basis for much of what gets added to the roadmap for experiment execution. Other types of autonomous based analysis may not require being part of an experiment, in addition there will most likely be requests from the business for ad hoc analysis which sometimes requires vetting. |
Quality Assurance | This is an interesting topic, there's the obvious need of validating tracking before release, however there's also the QA requirement for experiments and personalisation campaigns. Many companies will have centralised QA departments but getting them involved with A/B, MVT or personalisation campaigns could be challenging, so I believe this should be a task for the digital analytics department who'll fully understand the underlying technology, tracking and targeting. Ultimately this could mean some interesting conversations with your IT department! |
Reporting | No surprises with this one. The burden or report requests can be reduced with well planned dashboards. Our department's reports generally focus on data integrity such as unknown revenue/goals, monitoring of live experiments, browser compatibility, server calls. |
Tracking | With the advent of Tag Management Systems gone are the days of having to work with IT for changing tracking codes, so this pillar can firmly be entrenched within the Digital Analytics team. Maintaining the "Optimisation Platform" will often require technical know-how so having an individual/s that understands JavaScript, networking and how your systems work will be useful. |
Training & Support | This covers all areas of the platform; identify the individuals/teams that will benefit from ongoing training and those that are more suited for top line dashboards. |
Comments
How does this compare with what you're doing? Please add your thoughts and comments below, some conversations from Twitter so far:"What does a Digital Analytics department do?" http://t.co/FsD6JpSndU Good article by @richardhayes28 #measure
— Jan Exner @ Adobe (@jexnerW4D) December 1, 2014
@jexnerW4D @richardhayes28 @jenkinsa But the comment "Gone are the days of having to work with IT for changing tracking codes" - huh??
— Peter O'Neill (@peter_oneill) December 2, 2014
@peter_oneill @richardhayes28 @jenkinsa I read that as "can finally decide myself that I want to use cid instead of ccid"
— Jan Exner @ Adobe (@jexnerW4D) December 2, 2014
@jexnerW4D @peter_oneill @jenkinsa Now we have a TMS and data layer, I can't remember the last time we contacted IT for tracking :)
— Richard Hayes (@richardhayes28) December 2, 2014
@richardhayes28 @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa Who creates the Data Layer though? I agree to adjust business logic but adding new tracking?
— Peter O'Neill (@peter_oneill) December 2, 2014
@peter_oneill @richardhayes28 @jenkinsa the perfect reason why when designing the DL, I'd go for a "give me all you got!" approach.
— Jan Exner @ Adobe (@jexnerW4D) December 2, 2014
@richardhayes28 @jexnerW4D @peter_oneill @jenkinsa so you a) were supreme beings during DL design; b) needed only minor changes since then.
— Lukáš Čech (@cataLuc) December 2, 2014
@peter_oneill @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa We define the DL. Yes, we control *all* tracking and do the QA. It works well.
— Richard Hayes (@richardhayes28) December 2, 2014
@richardhayes28 @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa @cataLuc Is the DL defined for both page load & visitor interaction, I haven't got it right 1st time b4
— Peter O'Neill (@peter_oneill) December 2, 2014
@peter_oneill @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa @cataLuc I think you're missing the point. Decentralised structural change can be a consideration now.
— Richard Hayes (@richardhayes28) December 2, 2014
@richardhayes28 @peter_oneill @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa forgive me my scepticisms. Experience says that it is possible, but so hard to achieve.
— Lukáš Čech (@cataLuc) December 2, 2014
@richardhayes28 @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa @cataLuc I have disagreed with TMS vendor statements that IT not required e.g. http://t.co/KLC0ucsVhF
— Peter O'Neill (@peter_oneill) December 2, 2014
@cataLuc @peter_oneill @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa Tools like DTM are taking work away from IT and consultants. Fact :)
— Richard Hayes (@richardhayes28) December 2, 2014
@richardhayes28 @peter_oneill @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa some tasks yes, but at the same time you are doing a couple of trade-offs, agreed?
— Lukáš Čech (@cataLuc) December 2, 2014
@cataLuc @richardhayes28 @jexnerW4D @jenkinsa Would be a great #MeasureCamp discussion session
— Peter O'Neill (@peter_oneill) December 2, 2014
@richardhayes28 @cataLuc @peter_oneill @jexnerW4D Marketing should b autonomous. IT as lynchpin for services is the problem which DTM solves
— Adam Jenkins (@jenkinsa) December 2, 2014
@jenkinsa @richardhayes28 @cataLuc @jexnerW4D Why marketing? What about product, UX, etc? Mkting can't write tags w good naming convention
— Peter O'Neill (@peter_oneill) December 2, 2014
@peter_oneill @richardhayes28 @cataLuc @jexnerW4D Because Digital Analytics is function of marketing n yes MKTG can maintain n write tags
— Adam Jenkins (@jenkinsa) December 2, 2014