eMetrics Toronto - Sterne’s Keynote Recap

Just back from 3 days at the eMetrics Summit in Toronto! It was a thoroughly enjoyable show and a first for Canada. Boy were we overdue or what?

I was especially impressed by the presentations of Bryan Eisenberg - such passion, Seth Romanow - such understated wisdom, and Jim Novo - such insight. And of course, as the chair of the summit and the president of the Web Analytics Association, Jim Sterne put his everything into the entire show. He went out of his way to introduce people. And his humour and smarts were evident at all times! Even after a few glasses of wine at dinner.

I wish I had time to recap all the great highlights of the summit, but I don’t. So instead I will share some key thoughts that Jim Sterne shared during his opening keynote…here goes:

Sterne basically compared the web to an ecosystem saying it is very large and very complex. What it all comes down to is:

1. Is it working? To work well, you need to consider speed, uptime and lack of errors. After all better customer experiences = happier customers. The significance of creating web sites that foster positive customer experiences was in fact a recurring theme throughout the summit.
2. Is anybody there? And who are they? The importance of looking at IP addresses and using cookies to profile visitors was stressed.
3. Is it working well? This really tied back to the customer experience. It’s no longer enough to just be working. You need to have a web site that works well. To work well, Sterne reminded everyone about the importance of navigation and measurement (understanding the leaks and bounces), durations of visits (don’t assume long visits mean engaged customers…long visits might also mean frustrated customers who can’t find what they’re looking for). And then there’s user consumption - are visitors reading, downloading, registering, buying and all that good stuff? Engagement is also important and this is really all about interaction and contribution which tie into calculators, searches, location finders, surveys and reviews. Thinking about recency and frequency matter as well.  And last but not least, it comes down to knowing where your site screws up. BTW, in Sterne’s mind, the magic is really all about “consumption, interaction and contribution”. After all these are the very things that have a huge impact on customer experience. Isn’t that the truth!

Thinking about all these things is a lot of work…and then  …you need to ask yourself about outcomes…specifically whether or not your site gets and gives the results it promises. If not, then it’s time to optimize. Optimization is the only way to make web sites better.

Sterne also shared several random thoughts:

1. Ya gotta have goals…specific goals.
2. Treat bad online experiences seriously - they are dangerous and they will damage your brand.
3. Data is not 100% accurate. Consider what visitors are doing - discovering, shopping, learning, comparing, pricing, etc.
4. Pages are now events. Events are actions. Hits stands for “how idiots track success”.
5. Weighting events is worthy of your time.
6. Attribution across all media is critical.
7. It’s always about the customer experience. Capture, analyze and optimize the customer experience. Nothing beats the voice of the customer. You are not your customer. Listening methods include: surveys, focus groups, feedback pages, advisory councils, call a customer day, etc.
8. Find people who ask good questions. Think like a detective. The winner is the one who asks the best questions.  
9. Always remember that you are not your customer.
10. Incremental improvement wins the race. Sterne stressed the need to test, measure, test, measure, test, measure…

But you know what - Sterne completely forgot to relate this slide into the overarching theme of optimization. To truly optimize the online experience, you need to do more than test and measure. You also need to REFINE. What Sterne should really say is test, measure, REFINE, test, measure, REFINE. Because if you’re not actioning the data you measure, what the heck are you doing? Just looking at metrics isn’t going to make you successful. But learning from the metrics and making the necessary refinements or adjustments will.

BTW, Jim - if you’re reading this, will you update that slide for me?

PS - Kudos to Andrea Hadley for all her coordination at the eMetrics Summit in Toronto as well! 

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Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Conversion, Customer Experience, Optimization, Web Analytics, eCommerce