Keynote: “Moving Beyond Faith Based Initiatives: Lower Risk, Innovate, Be Great” Avinash Kaushik – Author, Blogger, Analytics Evangelist

Avinash proves once again that Analytics is where it’s at when it comes to becoming great on the web. He started the presentation discussing the ambiguity of tracking an offline magazine ad (Faith Based Results?) vs. the same product sold on the Internet via a Google search landing on the manufacturers’ web page. The second method using all of the targeted metrics available as reported by the plethora of web analytic tools available provides all the information necessary to adjust your marketing on the fly.

His philosophy of “Complexity Simplified” by using top 10 lists and exception reporting combined with key factors like initial bounce rates (why would someone come to your site and not even click one time!) help you wade through the massive amount of information available today. Determining the answers to the following questions will get you the GOLD = Insights:

• The What?
• The How Much?
• The Why? and
• The What Else?

His messages included 3 categories of Innovation on which he asked web site owners to focus on Incremental improvement over time with “side effects” as opposed to just Incremental improvement or Transformational improvement such as the rapid change in Key Word purchasing as we moved from Overature to Google.

Based on the amount of data available today, Avinash stated we should shift our paradigm for gathering and disseminating this data by allowing all of our staff to have direct access using the tools rather than a select few as it has been historically. Having all of these individuals direct access will provide deeper and wider understandings which can then be disseminated to a few senior managers in report form.

He wants us to determine our economic goal(s). How much value did you generate? Why do you exist? Were you successful, ie. If you come to his Blog and read just two of his Posts, you will be convinced of his greatness and his Blog will have been a success. You will need to combine online and off-line data into an integrated view Avinash calls “Non-Line” to determine your success. In addition to obtaining the right tools, he believes in having the people “empowered” to make the decisions.

Use surveys, ASK THE CUSTOMER:
1. Why are you here? Primary purpose.
2. Did you complete your task? Use a completion rate.

Finally, FAIL FASTER. Learn to be wrong quicker and watch out for the HIPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion)

If you weren’t there for this one, you really need to watch for his next appearance at Shop.org.