Chinalytics Longmarch Blog

After talking about Omniture and January and Webtrends in February we are completing the Web Analytics trinity in March with a presentation about Google Analyics. In a premier for the Beijing WAW we have a guest from the Google Mountain View HQ to give us Web Analytics insights, straight from the source.

Stepahnie Hsu, Analytics Specialist at Google, will reprise her Google Conversion University talk for us, and dig into the integration of Google Adwords and Google Analytics. I have also asked her to share some insights into the new GA features like advanced segmentation and motion charts. Stephanie will be supported by Zhou Yang, Google local GA support specialist, for translation and localization.

In another first, and courtesy of OMD’s Sidney Song (宋星) we will also be able to record the event on video and share it with those of you who cannot attend.

Please join Stephanie, Zhou Yang, me and 30 – 40 other web analytics enthusiasts to learn more about web analytics, meet other web enthusiasts and have an all around great time. Bring any friends who might be interested to join our community along as well to:

Location: Luga’s Villa (right behind 3.3 in Sanlitun)

Time and date: Wednesday March 3rd  4th , 8PM

We will have a buffet dinner and soft drinks available for our guests. Be prepared to spend RMB 50 for the evening. As usual the knowledge you get in exchange is invaluable

Please RSVP by commenting to this post or drop me an email florianpihs[at]gmail[dot]com.

P.s.: Thanks Stan for helping me to correct the date

Related articles by Zemanta

• February WAW in Beijing: WebTrends at China Mobile with Wu Yong (longmarch.chinalytics.com)
• Bryan Eisenberg Publishes Comprehensive Google Analytics Guide (searchenginewatch.com)
• Google Catching Up in the Analytics Market (robweatherhead.co.uk)
• Your feedback on the blog (adwords.blogspot.com)
• Upcoming Omniture training in Beijing and Shanghai (longmarch.chinalytics.com)

After returning from a relaxing Chinese New Year break, I am looking forward to the first WAW of the 牛 (niu, Ox) year.  I trust you do, too. This time, we will have our long time WAW Beijing core team member Wu Yong joining us for his first presentation.

Wu Yong has been leading Webtrends‘ sales efforts in China since 2005 and in the process built a rich, unrivaled experience about the local Web Analytics market. He is now focusing his energies on the telecom industry and will share his experience working with China Mobile. China Mobile has been a WebTrends customer for years, and is now preparing to leverage the platform for more advanced web analytics objectives. Wu Yong will focus his presentation on the China Mobile case study and especially the lessons he and his team learned implementing and evangelizing web analytics for a large humongous state owned carrier. After Air China in January, it is exciting to see another practical experience sharing, that will help us all to do a more effective job executing and communicating web analytics.

Please join Wu Yong, me, and 30 – 40 other web analytics enthusiasts for this exciting event and bring any friends who might be interested to join our community as well.

click to view larger image

Time and date:  Wednesday February 11th,  8PM
Location: Luga’s Villa (right behind 3.3 in Sanlitun)

We will have a buffet dinner and soft drinks available. Be prepared to spend RMB 50 for the evening. As usual, the knowledge you get in exchange is invaluable

Please RSVP by commenting on this post, or by sending an email to florianpihs[at]gmail[dot]com.  Any problems please call my mobile at 13401191916.

The first Web Analytics Wednesday of the 牛 (niu – ox, as in year of the ox) year will be hosted on February 11th, one week later than usual, to account for some late returning 春节 (Spring Festival) travelers.

If you are interested in sharing your Web Analytics, measurement or optimization ideas in front of a enthusiastic crowd of 40+ web analytics enthusiasts, please let me know in the comment section of this post, in the Beijing WAW Google group, or just send an email to florianpihs[at]gmail[dot]com.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Event on 11/5/08: About IAB In China (Beijing) (chinavortex.com)
• Web Analytics Association Releases 2009 Outlook Survey Data (searchenginewatch.com)

MRM Worldwide logo

With client demands for Web Analytics growing, MRM Worldwide is expanding its team of Web Analytics analysts and consultants in Beijing.

Join us and

• Be part of a team that pioneers web analytics in China
• Work in an international bi-lingual environment for a global 4 A agency
• Work with exciting global clients like Microsoft, Intel and others that push the limits of digital marketing in China with innovative new projects
• Learn from the  most experienced Web Analytics practitioners in China, trough regular trainings, experience sharing and on the job guidance
• Work with a young, fun and motivated team of professionals that together makes a difference in how our clients do digital marketing to reach business objectives.
• Competitive compensation

If you are interested in joining us, please forward your resume and a short cover letter explaining why you are the right person for our team to mei-dot-zhao-at-ap-dot-mccann-dot-com, or send it directly to me florian-dot-pihs-at-ap-dot-mccann-dot-com. Feel free to mail in either in English or in Chinese.

Your chances are best if your experience fits the criteria I have compiled in the job description below for an Analytics Consultant / Lead Analytics Consultant (with a big hand from Aviansh’s sample job description). If your know someone who is qualified and interested, please kindly get us in touch. If you don’t fulfill all the requirements yet (but aspire to), reach me anyway, we need junior web analysts as well. Please leave any questions in the comment section of this post, and I will do my best to answer them.

Typical Deliverables:

• Weekly, monthly reports (excel, BI tools, web analytics tools).
• Website behavior and customer experience analysis.
• Data consolidation and validation.
• Coordinating tags, tracking parameter implementations.
• Business requirements synthesized from multiple sources including product managers, development teams, and functional group members.
• Documentation relating to existing processes and suggestion / presentations for improving those processes.
• Effective and persuasive presentations (verbal and written) for project teams and business leaders.

Knowledge / Background / Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree (MBA preferred).
• Web Analytics
  • Preferably one to two years of working with standard click stream analysis tools: Omniture, Click Tracks, WebTrends, HBX, Core Metrics etc.
  • Experience in advanced web analytics methodologies such as experimentation and testing, competitive analysis, surveys and market research preferred
• Experience in one or more roles in an online e-commerce or online support environments.
• Expertise with Business Intelligence tools, such as Brio, Business Objects, Micro Strategy, Cognos etc with experience writing and tuning SQL queries in a online or offline environment preferred.
• Three to five years of experience in using the Microsoft Office suite with very strong Excel skills.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to interact with all levels of end users and technical resources.
• Exposure to project management skills, business process redesign principles, tools and techniques a plus.

Team / Leadership Skills:

• Works effectively both independently and as a member of a cross functional team.
• Uses sound judgment to identify issues and escalates when appropriate.
• Contributes to improvements in processes (technical or business) used by analysts.
• Drives focused decisions within specific areas and is a key contributor to decisions beyond specific scope of role.
• Ability to identify key needs or gaps and provide leadership to close those gaps.
• Resolves disagreements and conflicts constructively, knows when to involve others.
• Learns from mistakes, takes action to apply the lessons and provides peer and team wide feedback for those in immediate area of focus.
• Identifies and communicates specific personal growth goals for self.

Technical / Functional Skills:

• Understands relevant technology applications in their area.
• Using strong analytical skills provides insights as well as recommendations for changes
• Identifies and drives requirements trade-offs by proposing solutions to BU/FU leadership.
• Handles multiple tasks, switches priorities and focuses as needed.
• Exhibits high degree of pro-activeness in analyzing customer behavior using available data to influence changes on the website.
• Understands the complex web ecosystems and best practices and applies this knowledge to their work.
• Collaborates on creation of project plan and tasks for the team.

Language Skill

• Strong written and spoken English and Chinese are required to communicate effectively to clients and co-workers.

I am looking forward to your feedback. Keep it coming!

While many of my readers probably already know the Yahoo! Web Analytics Forum: For those who don’t, I highly recommend you become a member and subscribe to the updates. There is no better way to keep yourself updated about the hot topics in the Web Analytics arena (while sometime the email updates stack up quite a bit in my Inbox….)

Currently a hot discussion is ranging on the benefits and implementation of the Web Analytics Association’s Web Analytics Standards (PDF).

1. Brandt Dainow started the discussion off on iMedia Connection claiming: “What the WAA has done is a retrograde step — the WAA standard has less precision and utility than the JICWEBS standards, so it moves us backward not forward. However, WAA is a major force in the world of web analytics and online marketing. What it says matters. In this light, the work of the WAA standards committee is a disaster for the web analytics community. It will take years to undo the damage and create proper precise standards that can be implemented in software. The WAA “standard” is not a standard, it’s just second-rate muttering.”
2. Stephane Hamel replied on his blog, highlighting the differences between an industry standard and a “standard terminology”, arguing that the Web Analytic’s Association’s value is coming from creating a consensus among the different actors in the market.
   The ISO is a standard body, and in order to claim ISO certification you need to abide by strict rules, and pay undergo audits to retain certification. On the other end, the IAB is a more open structure, much more similar to the WAA, that was able to define common terminology regarding online advertising and bring “standards, guidelines and best practices”. On the other end, the IAB is a more open structure, much more similar to the WAA, that was able to define common terminology regarding online advertising and bring “standards, guidelines and best practices.” Which one makes most sense? Which one makes most sense? In my mind, the second option is the way to go! In my mind, the second option is the way to go!
3. Many other post in the thread, but I like the reply from Angie Brown, co-chair of the commitee (extra points for staying calm, too).
   There are several reasons the definitions are written the way they are, and why we left some wiggle room in them (too much, in some people’s opinion and that’s fair enough). First, there’s the intended audience. Stephane hit the nail on the head when he said we used marketing rather than engineering terms. Web analytics is a business function, and we tried to write the definitions (yes, definitions, not technical standards — for now) in such a way that they would be accessible to most marketers.

Check the whole this out. Which argument do you agree with? Let me know in the comments

Happy New Year to all friends or Web Analytics Wednesday in Beijing. 2008 has been a great year, and I enjoyed every event we celebrated with you!
2009 is shaping up to be even more interesting as Web Analytics is touted as a key growth area that can benefit from the challenging economic environment. (better results with lower ad spend? Yes, please.)

I am especially excited about the upcoming WAW, because it is the first time we have a corporate user of Web Analytics speaking here in Beijing (not a vendor, agency or consultant): Anya Zhao (赵冬云), Air China’s Online Marketing Director. (More on Anya is a short bio below).

Anya will share her experience in setting up and running corporate Web Analytics at eLong and Air China, with a focus on tools, people and processes. I can’t wait to hear from her what works and what doesn’t work in Web Analytics in China from someone who has experience running web analytics at companies that stand to capture most of its value.

Please join me for this groundbreaking event, and bring any friends who might be interested to join our community.

Time and date: Wednesday Jan. 7th. 8PM
Location: Luga’s Villa (right behind 3.3 in Sanlitun)

View Larger Map

It will be standing room only with a buffet dinner. Part of the cost will be covered by our sponsor. Be prepared however to spend about RMB 50 for the evening. As usual the knowledge you get in exchange is invaluable

Please RSVP by commenting to this post or by sending me an email florianpihs-at-gmail-dot-com. Any problems please call my mobile at 13401191916.

Best,
Florian

Bio of Dongyun Zhao, Online Marketing Director, Air China (copied form the the Ad-tech panel on Web Analytics)
Ms. Anya Zhao ( Dongyun Zhao) has a professional background in online marketing and analytic measurement area. As the Director of online marketing for Air China, she drive the online sales grow up dramatically in the last 10 months by leading the online marketing team driving online marketing activity according to the online tracking and data analysis result . Prior to joining Air China, she was the online analysis and marketing manager of elong Inc, the division of Expedia Inc.. There, she grew the Omniture tracking and data analysis to be such a good fundamental for online marketing business development and benefit in making the online marketing to be one of the most efficient and important sales channel of elong Inc. She holds the master degree of Econometrics, who graduated from the Hebei University of Industry and was the government sponsored international student in the University of Applied Sciences Munich in 2003.

IAB Europe is working on an audience measurements survey, and they would like to have more input from agencies and publishers from China, which are interested in the field. Since you are interested (or so I presume since you are reading this blog ) could you please fill out the online questionnaire, and ask others you know to also complete it? In exchange you will get a free copy of the final analysis report.

The more people form China complete it, the stronger a voice China will have, so I’m counting on your help and support!
You can find the online questionnaire in English, Chinese (and many other languages) at www.miaproject.org

For the last Web Analytics of the year we have a special treat for you. The folks from Millward Brown are going to introduce Dynamic Logic , a solution that they hope will help to answer a key questions all brand advertisers face when doing online campaigns: How did a branding campaign impact the perception of and attitudes towards the brand for those users who have been exposed to the ads online? A question that is more important to many brand advertisers than understanding “traditional” website and banner KPI’s

Just found a note to myself from last month. It said “If you don’t write up the event review immediately, you will never do it.” So here we go, no bad consciousness this month.
As usually a colorful band of web analyst as sympathizers met up at Club Camp for a merry get together. This time we had the honor to host a presentation by Song Jie, CEO of Banru a local web analytics vendor. They position their product Web -IA as direct competitor to the likes of WebTrends and Omniture, so this promised to be an interesting presentation.

Presentation on Web-IA
This summary will necessary a bit limited since your truly is not as good in Chinese as he should be. What you read here is often only possible through the kind support of WAW attended who help with the translation.

• Web IA started as early as 2001 to provide basic analytics solutions.
• Multiple versions of their products compete is several market segments from medium to high end. In the high end Song Jie believed their feature set outstrips Omniture.
  While I believe this to be a very aggressive claim, their impressive client list seems an evidence of their local success. Song Jie especially highlighted their partnership with Microsoft’s Service, who implemented Web-IA at several corporate clients.
• While none of the attendees was a user of the product, we could agree that have a strong engineering team in town is a strong competitive advantage. Song Jie commented that their tech support team is able to provide custom reports within 24h after a client request.
• Web IA is based on a web interface, and does sport direct data warehouse access, for custom reports their rely on their tech support and engineering team.
• Web IA can be integrated with various BI tools. While it lacks standard API’s, their engineering team has several standard implementations that can be customized to client needs.

Attendees
With about 19 attendees the event size is stabilizing. Interestingly enough the attendees rotate quite a lot. We have a core group of 7 – 9 people who are there every time and some 25 – 30 people who join once in a while. Another interesting trend is the growth of attendees that are not web analysts but advertisers. I see this as an encouraging trend, although the discussion are more detailed with fellow analysts

Discussion
This time discussion were a bit short, due to the late start of the event. After some brainstorming we agreed to change the format a bit. Instead of a formal dinner set up, we will sent the food up in a buffet arrangement, so we walk around and talk to each other. That should facilitate communication and discussion.

Please use the comment section for detailed feedback and idea what we can do better. If you want to join our illustrious line up of speakers, please also drop me a not. We are very interested in case studies and sample analytics reports. Vendors are also welcome to present their products.

So long and until next month.
Florian

Just Sunday I was taking a cheap shot a Omniture for spending their money on acquisitions, but neglecting the worlds largest Internet market (by users). Today I got an email that this is about to change. Omniture has set up a Greater China office in Taiwan, covering Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. (Why they choose the renegade province over the motherland I cannot tell.)
Regardless… My congratulations to Omniture, and congratulations to all of us lonely Omniture users out here. Darryl Su will be taking care of the PRC part and is coming to visit the middle kingdom in late February, early March. Please join me in welcoming Darryl. I will host a dinner, or even a Web Analytics Wednesday, when he is in town. Stay tuned for more…