Category Archives: Web Analytics

When Does a Visitor Need a Coupon? And the Reverse (Incremental Sales / Subsidy Costs)

Jim answers more questions from fellow Drillers

Want to see additional questions & answers from fellow Drillers?

Here’s the blog archive; the pre-blog email newsletter archives are here.

Q: First off, I very much appreciate you sharing all this wonderful content on your blog and conferences such as eMetrics.

A: Thanks for that!

Q: My question is a simple one, but I think the answer may be hard: When does a visitor “need” a coupon?  *Need* defined as: visitor would not have placed an order unless presented with the coupon.

A: Hmmm…methinks we’re going to have to define a few concepts and be clear on the goals to make sure we are nailing this down… visitor versus customer, sales versus profit, etc.  In other words, answer is not hard, but could be complex without defining context.

Q: It’s still a mystery to me why so many retailers seem more than willing to hand over all their margins to Groupon or give coupons to basically all visitors.  I am curious whether you would approach this question using  observational data (eg web analytics) or experiments (eg AB testing), or both.

A: Right – is a mystery to me too!

There are certain situations where this approach might be appropriate, but the problem with much web “marketing” (which often is really just advertising without much thought about marketing) is often there is success in a narrow or special situation.  Then the pundits jump on and say “if you’re not doing this you are stupid”, regardless of the business situation and / or without recognizing the special circumstances that are driving success.  This is all the real Marketing stuff people leave out; understanding why it works, under what circumstances, for which segments, involving which products.

Continue reading When Does a Visitor Need a Coupon? And the Reverse (Incremental Sales / Subsidy Costs)

Freemium Customer Conversion

Jim answers more questions from fellow Drillers

Want to see additional questions & answers from fellow Drillers?

Here’s the blog archive; the pre-blog email newsletter archives are here.

Q: I was wondering if you’ve done any work with, or given thought to, companies who have a cloud based Freemium business model?

Should they be tracking usage (or anything) at the free level?  Should they be tracking usage at the paid level?  I’m sure defection rates are a big problem, but I’m wondering how many focus on engagement thru mass marketing versus trying to keep what they’ve got, or influence the free users to make the leap to paid.  Any thoughts on this?  Maybe you could do a blog post on it.  It seems like a good fit with your brand of analysis but I’m just starting to think it through…

A: I just finished an analysis that’s a good example of this problem.  Behavior during the Freemium period can predict who is highly likely to become a paying customer, who will need marketing efforts like additional sampling / package discounts, and who will not become a customer no matter what you do.

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Inside WAA Certification: Any Questions?

The WAA has published a lot of info about the new WAA Certification Exam; you might want to first read the FAQ and take a look at the application information and Exam Handbook for the organizational details, and you can see sample questions from the Test at the bottom of the page here.  But something I can just about guarantee about the Certification – no matter how much info the WAA publishes about it, many people will still have questions!

So here, I will attempt to answer other kinds of questions I think people might have based on my discussions with WAA members.

Update: The WAA has answered many Certification questions here.

However, I’m going to approach this topic a bit differently than most of the published documentation – from a Product / Marketing perspective, rather than an Educational / WAA POV.  I can do this because (if you don’t know) I have worn all the hats on this project – developer, marketer, WAA project owner – and I think it might be helpful to tell the business story of the WAA Certification, from the bottom up.

And if you have other questions, feel free to leave them in Comments and I will do my best to answer them!

Continue reading Inside WAA Certification: Any Questions?