Ok perhaps that is a little sensationalistic but it could be true! One of the areas that we have been helping customers with recently is understanding how many people start to fill out a form but don’t complete it.

Have you ever filled out a form only to be told that you didn’t put your phone number in the “correct” format or that you forgot to complete a particular field? Or worse yet perhaps you didn’t realize this was only page one of the form and there are others…but you have no idea of how many!

Google Analytics can help measure the number of people who land on the page which contains the form; the number of people that fill out page one of the form and then continue on to page two or “jump ship”. Previous to web analytics software you likely only knew about the people who completed the form and not about those who didn’t complete.

The aspects of Google Analytics used to measure this are called Goals and Funnels. A goal is the completion of a specific task and a funnel is the path used to complete that goal.

If you are an ecommerce site, the first part of a form may be the shopping cart which contains information about the product being purchased; the next section may be about the purchaser; third may be about their payment method. Rather than just tracking the number of products sold, wouldn’t it be nice to know how your customers got there and if half of them abandoned their shopping cart before moving to the next form?

Contact DriveTraffic if you would like to discuss customization of your Google Analytics in this way.

I have recently stumbled across numerous articles that pit one web analytics software program against another to weigh out the pros and cons. Check out this High Rankings discussion which compares Clicktracks to WebTrends…which one would you choose?

Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro in British Columbia has hit the nail on the head while commenting on the online advertising habits of Ontario Tourism.

Long story short, he blogged that Ontario Tourism was not doing online search; they came forward and corrected Gord, indicating that they were indeed “doing search”.

While in Toronto (Ontario), Gord did searches on the following phrases: Ontario vacations, Ontario resorts, Toronto vacations, Ontario getaways and Ontario holidays. According to Google Trends and their keyword research tool, these are the most common searches, by a substantial margin. Ontario Tourism was not visible for these searches.

Gord goes on to explain how Ontario Tourism is doing substantial print advertising, takes a stab at the money they might be spending and how they could potentially spend that money more efficiently by doing more online advertising.

Check out the post at Ask Enquiro.

Google Analytics is growing by leaps and bounds - both by the number of people using it and the improvements made to the software. There is a great post at Mashable that details 27 fantastic features of the software!

Three Blind Men and an Elephant: Overcoming Myopic Analytics is the name of a webinar being delivered on August 1, 2007 12:00 PM EDT.

Webinar Abstract

When we examine information from several perspectives at the same time, we get a much different picture than one that comes from examining only one or two sides, or even from examining it from all sides, but one at a time. Seeing from all sides at once constructs a picture that is much richer and insightful. When analyzing data, this ability is essential for a comprehensive, accurate, and clear understanding. A computer-based presentation of information in this way deserves a name.

In this webinar, Stephen Few will discuss a concept called “faceted analytical display” which presents information simultaneously from several perspectives. Stephen will describe the power of faceted analytical displays and will then show how they can be used to spot otherwise hidden meanings in business information.

You will learn:

• The meaning of “faceted analytical displays”
• The analytical benefits of seeing data simultaneously from multiple perspectives
• The limitations that are built into short-term memory and how faceted analytical displays work around them
• The functionality that software can provide to increase the power of faceted analytical displays

To register for this webinar sponsored by Tableau Software, visit TDWI Seminar Series.