Do you remember playing the "Why?" game when you were younger? You know, incessantly asking "Why?" because the previous answer just didn’t satisfy your curiosity or get to the root of the question. This game is the foundation of my post today. Asking "Why? Why? Why?" is a proven solution to an important, but common Web analytics problem: Data Overload.

To begin, here is a simple 3-step process for creating a Web analytics program that is actionable, efficient, and effective in preventing data overload:

1. Understand where your Web site fits in the World Wide Web and define your business objectives and goals accordingly. Where is the money coming from that will drive your business?

2. List all the measurements you want to understand, analyze, and disseminate throughout your organization, and for each item play the "Why? Why? Why?" game.

3. Choose your Web analytics solution based on the results of the "Why?" game, implement it, and go back to step 1.

Sounds easy, right? If done with great care, it won’t be easy, but it will be valuable in preventing data overload. Steps 1 and 3 are very important, and there is an abundance of articles, books, and information available on the internet, but Step 2 is what we need to concentrate on to prevent data overload:

• Complete this step without considering any specific Web analytics solution that you may have or are considering because it is not yet relevant.
• This step is not complete until you can communicate brief, clear, and immediate answers to the three follow-up questions of "Why?" for each measurement you are considering.
• The results of Step 2 should be only two or three key performance indicators (KPI) that drive your business. This means: no data overload!
• Develop solid, broad measurement indicators. Honing in on specific segments can be done at any time.

Now, let’s look at a before-and-after example of how Step 2 would work. Let’s assume that you sell modern art posters and you want to refresh your Web analytics program because you have become lost in data overload making it impossible to effectively report your marketing performance.

BEFORE: Your executives and marketing managers defined a list of needed measurements that includes visits, visitors, unique visitors, new and returning visitors, clickpaths across the entire site, conversion rates for each type of visitor, revenue for members and non-members, and campaign spending. And, they want all of these for daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and custom time periods. Wow, data overload!

Ask the tough questions:

• Why do we need reports for visits and unique/new/returning/total visitors?
• Why do we need these over daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly date ranges?
• Why do we need to couple these with clickpaths through the entire site?

Any answer that is not brief, clear, immediate, and that is redundant needs more thought. Keep in mind, these are only the initial tough questions. Don’t forget about the two follow-up why’s for each, and don’t be shy about demanding concise answers.

AFTER: Your team realizes that the timeframes are redundant and that the performance of your modern art poster business can be summarized by three specific metrics: % change of visitors (month to month), revenue per visitor (month to month), and overall campaign spend per visitor (month to month).

Now, you have been freed of data overload and can develop specific strategies and actions to drive those three key metrics. Try it. You won’t regret it!

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About the Author

Jack Diego is a product manager for Lyris HQ Web Analytics. He seeks to integrate analytics into Lyris HQ so well that you’re using Web analytics without even knowing it.

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