Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Trends and Challenges in Web Analytics in 2010

March 10, 2010: summarized from Econsultancy -- This post summarises the main challenges and gives tips on approaches the managers present are using to overcome them. The Econsultancy peer summits operate according to “Chatham House rules”, so there is no attribution to companies.

Challenge 1. From reporting to actionable insights
There was much discussion around how best to cope with “Information overload” and “analysis paralysis”. There was a common need to make subsets of information available to marketers who are non-analytics specialists who don’t use the systems regularly.

Practical solutions discussed included creating custom profiles, dashboards and alerts within the analytics system which related specifically to a market or category the marketer was involved with. We identified a 1 in 10 rule, that for every 10 marketers or digital marketers there needs to be one specialist analyst (or part of) to devote time to producing the tailored reports, optimisation projects and education. There needs to be a way to avoid this person being sucked into reporting only. Identifying the right culture for a rolling programme of optimisation of site areas, page types or marketing activities was another common approach.

Education was also seen as key with many trying to build in sharing of insights into the campaign process from making identifying learnings part of the briefing process through to always making some time for discussing learning in post-campaign reviews. Several of the attendees had produced a step-by-step guide to applying the software to their individual business. If you’re using Google Analytics, my guide to customising Google Analytics to your business may be useful.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/99RatV

Harrah's Interactive launches CAESARS Bingo Online

March 9, 2010: summarized from EGR Magazine -- HARRAH’S Interactive Entertainment (HIE) has become the latest operator to enter the online bingo space with the launch of CAESARS Bingo Online. HIE is the egaming subsidiary of US casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment and launched in May last year. It offers real money gaming to UK residents under the WSOP.com (World Series of Poker), CAESARSBingo.com and CAESARSCasino.com brand names. The company’s new CAESARS Bingo site will offer the vertical to UK residents, and feature a complement of casino games including slots, roulette, blackjack and baccarat.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/de4h0L

Digital Coupons Beat Newspapers in 2009: Coupons.com Research

February 24, 2010: summarized from Promo Magazine – The redemption values carried by digital coupons in 2009 grew ten times faster than those of coupons printed in newspapers, according to statistics from Coupons.com, a digital coupon platform.

The data from Coupons.com reports that savings offered through the company’s outlets – including Web accounts, branded apps on mobile and HP printers, and the Grocery iQ smartphone app—grew 170% in value during 2009 to more than $858 million.

By comparison growth measures for newspaper coupon value last year ranged from 8% (per TNS Media Intelligence) to 16% (estimate from retail consultant Inmar.) As a result, Coupons.com claims, redemption values on its digital offering outstripped the increase in newspaper-based coupons by more than 10 to 1.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/cGGK42

Legislators Consider Online Poker

February 27, 2010: summarized from Des Moines Register -- Iowa would be the first state in the nation to allow legal in-state Internet poker under a proposal being developed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, several officials said Friday.

The plan would allow people to deposit between $50 and $500 into a special account at one of Iowa's casinos. That account could then be used to play poker online.

Federal regulations prohibit most forms of gambling between states. For that reason, people would have to play on a computer that is using an Internet address in Iowa.

Players would have to go to casinos to make deposits. To avoid out-of-state transactions, they could use only cash or debit cards, not credit cards.

Technology has already been developed that can block out-of-state Web users from accessing pre-paid accounts and violating in-state gambling laws, said Fred Farhad Choobineh, an instructor of management information systems at Iowa State University.

Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association, said that gambling is a form of entertainment for thousands of Iowans and that the average amount spent at casinos is between $50 and $70 a person. Most people, he said, are responsible gamblers. "If you really just rewind quickly back 20 years ago, no one really imagined what would happen when we were first in the country to put riverboat gaming in," Ehrecke said.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/cDRXwM

Man Checks-In Everywhere But Foursquare Rehab

Editor’s Note: Game integrity is critical even for what seems a casual marketing promotion.

February 16,2010: summarized from TechCrunch -- Earlier today, I was ousted as the mayor of the Googleplex Patio on Foursquare. Turns out, it was this guy. KrazyDad was a man on a mission: to show the holes in Foursquare’s check-in based system. And boy did he.

To be clear, anyone who has used Foursquare quite a bit is likely well aware of these holes. For example, there is nothing to stop you from checking-in anywhere in the world you want except that it’s easier to do it at a venue close by that automatically shows up on your list. But this guy, KrazyDad, used Foursquare’s API and some scripts to do his dirty work. In the end, he had captured dozens of mayorships across a range of fake Foursquare accounts.

In the past, cheating hasn’t been that big of a issue on Foursquare because, well, who cares? The only thing you’re doing by cheating is exposing to those who catch you that you’re pathetic. But increasingly, Foursquare is gaining special deals that reward heavy participation. For example, a pizza place in San Francisco will give you a free pizza if you’re the mayor of that venue on Foursquare. It’d be a lot easier to cheat to become the mayor there rather than go there several times.

Read more at: http://tcrn.ch/9UMcJv