Web Analytics in China

Final moving notice

2008-02-02T19:15:58+08:00

After only a short transition period I am moving this whole enterprise over to longmarch.Chinalytics.com. Please follow me. Good reasons for moving

I have my own domain now and ChinalytisIts a much catcher name :D
It seems the net nannies ban on Typepad will continue indefinitely. So you would miss out on the comments of visitors from China
The new platforms offers fancy new features like this comments feed.

I would especially miss my RSS subscribers. Please stay tuned and transition to this spanking new Chinalytics feed.
Thanks again for your kind support coming here.

Social Media Analytics - IWOM Analytics or a lunch with Sam

2008-02-01T13:56:25+08:00

As a nice follow up to my post on online metrics in the world of user generate content, I had the chance to have lunch with Sam Flemming of CIC / IWOM fame. While I have been somewhat critical of CIC's reports, I do admire Sam as a visionary and Chinese internet pioneer. CIC almost single handedly popularized Social Media marketing and measurement (they call it Internet Word of Mouth or IWOM) in China, a market that has not even started to measure online activity on company websites effectively.
Most of our discussion focussed on how to integrate social media measurement, an area where CIC has patent pending technology, with web analytics data, CIC's positioning towards agencies, using social media effectively and the Chinese Social Media environment in general. But one thing after the other (or Step by Step, as NKOTB said, yes I still can sing that song)

Chinese Social Media environment

China has a very vibrant social media scene that is driven by BBS culture
Social networks are growing out of successful BBS' and this history makes them unique and uniquely different form popular western networks
These networks are populated mainly by young netizens, highschool and university students
The discussions hosted on these networks cover a wide range of topics, many of them relevant to major consumer brands
Currently there is no equivalent content rich network for business users (while there are LinkedIn clones they do not feature discussions), although companies like Alibaba and Xing are moving into this space

CIC's positioning towards agencies

Sam sees online agencies as partners for CIC and has positioned the company as a compliment. They will measure social media conversation and consult clients on a IWOM strategy, but it will not execute or manage IWOM campaigns or seed posts.
In reality both agencies and clients don't see this distinction as clearly and advertisers do position CIC and agencies as competitors. More communication is needed to create a win-win situation. Our discussion was good step into this direction.

Effective usage of social media

Once marketers understand that their brand is talked about online and how this influences their brand equity, their natural response is asking "how can I influence the ongoing discussion". While this is a valid question, the easy answer (seed your own posts or hire a 3rd party vendor to control the debate) raises serious ethical issues and will, in the long run, destroy the trust and effectiveness of internet word of mouth. Especially multinationals should be aware of the risk to their reputation that comes along with faking posts.
Sam believes that this traditional media approach (just shout larger than everyone else to make your message heard) is too simplistic and recommends advertisers to listen first then be understood. (Wise words if you ask me) Understanding the discussion going on online can inform advertising campaigns, since it works like a giant focus groups (free of charge). In a next step advertisers are also able to get almost real time feedback about users take aways from ongoing marketing efforts, and can adjust their campaigns to better resonate with their audience.
IWOM tracking can also be an early warning system. Brands can learn about problems with their products, communication or distribution by listening to the unfiltered voice of the customer
For brands to participate in the discussion (note the difference to 'control the discussion') Sam recommends a more sincere approach that centers around 'real people' sharing their personal opinion in a casual language. He notes the example of Dell, a company that effectively used the 'personal' blog of senior managers to enter into an open discussion with users that previously voiced their frustration on sites like Dell Hell. An interesting question will be how to translate such blog based effort into the BBS culture in China (Any ideas? Let me know in the comment section). I do strongly agree with Sam that in the long run only sincere and real participation will be rewarded. But China being China, many a company will look for quick fixes that will in the end harm their brand.

Integration of social media measurement & web analytics data

To enable a better integration of IWOM data into regular web analytics reports, along the lines of Dennis Mortensen's Online Business Media Quadrant Model, I highlighted some challenges of CIC's current offering to Sam

Timeline: My main gripe with CIC's "CIC data" report is timing. It usually covers a 1 month time frame, while ad campaigns usually start sometime in the middle of the month and end 4,6,8 or 12 weeks later. Aligning these timelines is almost impossible. In addition CIC's reports arrive with 2 weeks+ time delay after the month is over (most of this, I am sure, due to the insight mining that takes place), that is too long for kind of near time reporting I am looking for. Sam assured me that their "CIC Alert" product provides more flexibility in terms of timing (daily, weekly or monthly) and can be adjusted to follow the campaign duration. This type of reporting would integrate with Web Analytics efforts more effectively. To take that one step further we talked about access.
Access: Currently CIC delivers its reports in PDF formats by email. I would love to have a web interface, much like my web analytics tools, or IResearch's IUserTracker (link in Chinese). That way I could download the quantitative info (number of posts, share of positive, negative, neutral) whenever I need it (I can wait for the qualitative insights by PDF), manage the keywords I would like to have tracked (product names, campaign names, competitors etc.), organize them into campaigns, specify the timeline I want to analyze and then export all this data to an Excel spreadsheet and compare and correlate to my other online data. Doesn't that sounds like a nice little IWOM vision

While I am not at liberty to share more details, I can say that Sam was certainly listening intently and I am curious what they have in the works. Stay tuned. I certainly will.

Web Analytics Wednesday (On a Thursday) Recap

2008-01-28T22:08:41+08:00

Posted by Florian Pihs at 1/28/2008 9:08 PM and is filed under Web Analytics Wednesday

A small but happy band of web analytics practitioners and friends of the industry met on Thursday, Jan. 24th in Beijing to talk about life, food and the status of the Web Analytics industry in China. 10 people from a wide variety of background came to share their insights and progress. It was in the good tradition of Web Analytics Wednesdays that they sat together in peace and friendship. This is their story.

People

Growing from a small basis the attendance increased by more than 300%.
All the participants came from agencies including MRM Worldwide, OgilvyOne, DMG and WanMo. I suspect this is a reflection of the current state of the industry. While large US companies now often do their web analytics in house, its the global agencies with existing skills and global clients that pioneer analytics in China. I have seen smaller startup and SEM agencies experimenting as well, but larger operations are only sustained by large agencies.
No vendors joined although Google and Sinotech Media RSVP'ed. I expect them to join next time. With Darryl from Omniture joining as well, we should have a nice vendor panel. I am already looking forward to that meeting

Discussion

This time the discussion focussed on tools and benchmarks

Tools
- Most agencies work with complex corporate tools that their clients license globally. These include Omniture, Webtrends, Coremetrics and HBX. The consensus is that these tools are too complex for the local market. Most analysts are new to web analytics and they have a hard time getting used to complex interfaces, inconsistent metrics and bad setups.
- Google Analytics is the clear winner in terms of ease of use, but expertise is missing there as well
- There is strong interest in locally developed tools, especially for popularizing web analytics with local clients
- Lack of vendor support and the non-existence of experienced analysts or even consultants leads to mess ups in installation and set-up that compromise data quality and analysis. Stronger support from the vendor side is sorely needed.
Benchmarks
- While no one knows of existing benchmarks for CPC and CTR in China, the number published by JPMorgan are generally seen as fantasy. (Much like their balance sheet, I guess)
- While there is some value in general benchmarks, data shows that these numbers vary widely across industry. While FMCG campaigns have lower CPC, tech campaigns tend to have higher CPC's
- Most agencies calculate their CPC benchmarks in RMB, others use USD, which can make comparison difficult, when you are not stating the unit you are using

Sponsorship

All of us were extremely grateful to Eric T. Peterson and WebAnalyticsDemystified for their generous sponsorship of the event. The cheap prices of the event resulted in a free for all. (Or maybe we just didn't drink enough BaiJiu). We promise to drink more next time. I sincerely hope Eric and his team find time some day to join us for a session, so we can thank them in person. Eric, wouldn't the Beijing Olympics be a good ~~reason~~ excuse to drop by?

P.S.: You can find a version of this post on longmarch.chinalytics.com. Please leave your comments there, since I plan to move this blog.

Web Analytics Demystified to sponsor Web Analytics Wednesday (on a Thursday)

2008-01-22T21:52:07+08:00

Eric T. Peterson, blogger, author, all around analytics guru, co-founder of the Web Analytics Association and high priest of the Web Analytics Wednesday cult, contacted me today with an offer I could not refuse (no, no triad members were involved).
His company Web Analytics Demystified, will partly sponsor the Web Analytics Wednesday events here in Beijing, until other sponsors are found. Isn't free drinks on more good reason to join us this Thursday? So sign up here, and you will the joins us for an evening full of insightful, entertaining and beer / wine fueled excitement.

P.S.: You can find a version of this post on longmarch.chinalytics.com. Please leave your comments there, since I plan to move this blog.

New Omniture China office

2008-01-22T21:14:24+08:00

Just Sunday I was taking a cheap shot a Omniture for spending their money on acquisitions, but neglecting the worlds largest Internet market (by users). Today I got an email that this is about to change. Omniture has set up a Greater China office in Taiwan, covering Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. (Why they choose the renegade province over the motherland I cannot tell.)
Regardless... My congratulations to Omniture, and congratulations to all of us lonely Omniture users out here. Darryl Su will be taking care of the PRC part and is coming to visit the middle kingdom in late February, early March. Please join me in welcoming Darryl. I will host a dinner, or even a Web Analytics Wednesday, when he is in town. Stay tuned for more...

P.S.: You can find a version of this post on longmarch.chinalytics.com. Please leave your comments there, since I plan to move this blog.

Location for next Web Analytics Wednesday (on a Thurday)

2008-01-21T13:19:53+08:00

I am looking forward to seeing you at Xiao Wang Fu 小王府 near the Kerry Center (map) this Thurday Jan. 24th at 8 PM.

P.S.: You can find a version of this post on longmarch.chinalytics.com. Please leave your comments there, since I plan to move this blog.

Google Analytics in China

2008-01-21T13:18:24+08:00

Among the Analytics tool we are using, Google Analytics is certainly the most popular in China (Based on the noise in the local blogosphere and my own random test with Stephane Hamel's great WASP tool) It is certainly the only company with a presence in the online market with the world's largest internet population (Isn't it ironic, considering how much money is invested in acquisitions these days?).
So I took the opportunity late December to drop by the GooglePlex here in Beijing to say hello to the team. Currently Yang Zhou is handing all the Google Analytics support for Greater China. While she is doing a great job, it seems the priority allocated to GAnalytics in China is still very low. With a reporting line to the AdWords team, only one dediated resource and no budget for outreach efforts at all, this is a very low profile presence. It seems noone at Google read my post Why Google (and Baidu) needs a Web Analytics evangelist in China. While I cannot blame them for not being a this particular club, they miss a large opportunity to trump Baidu in a market that they clearly have a long way to go in. I understand that that AdSense and AdWords are the revenue drivers, but showing advertisers the ROI of their search investment is clearly the best way to get more money out of their pocket. Our data clearly shows higher conversion, more engagement and great ROI for Search Advertising in general and Google in particular. Analytics is the key to these insights, and education and evangelism are sorely need. So Avinash, how about coming out here and sharing some of that Google Analytics goodness?

P.S.: Google's Yang Zhou promised to join as many Web Analytics Wednesdays as she can. So why don't you drop by and join us next Thursday if you want to meet her?

P.P.S.: You can find a version of this post on longmarch.chinalytics.com. Please leave your comments there, since I plan to move this blog.

2nd Web Analytics Wednesday in Beijing (on a Thursday)

2008-01-13T18:53:52+08:00

After our inaugural meeting in November I got a lot of positive feedback in person, by mail and on this blog. Since I am a sucker for positive feedback, please join me the second installment of my favorite analytics event in China

Date:    Thursday, Jan. 24th
Time:       8PM - until we are done (est. 11 PM)
Location: TBD (please comment for any recommendations)
RSVP:    Register to this Facebook event so I can make reservations

Lets sit down together again and share information and insights about the state of the industry, complain about data quality, brag about insights and imagine the future.
Some topic I would love to learn more about are

Testing (e.g. experience with Google Website Optimizer)
IWOM / User generated content analytics
Industry benchmarks (for CTR, CPC etc.)

What do you want to talk about? Please use the comment section of this post to suggest more topics or just show up and raise your voice . Everyone is welcome, so feel free to bring friends and colleagues interested in web analytics.

P.S.: You can find a version of this post on longmarch.chinalytics.com. Please leave your comments there, since I plan to move this blog.

Online Metrics in the world of User Generated Content

2008-01-13T17:38:03+08:00

Catching up with my analytics reading, I saw this interesting post from Dennis Mortensen explaining his Online Business Media Quadrant Model. His basic assumption is that in a world where user generated content becomes more important, measuring only what happens in the controlled environment of your site (with tools like Google Analytics and Omniture) gives us only half the picture (or one quarter, if you don't measure UGC on your site). He recommends a more holistic approach by looking at

Controlled On site Content
Controlled Off site Content (User Generated)
Uncontrolled On site Content (Syndicated content - PR)
Uncontrolled Off site Content (User Generated)

What a nice summary of some of the work we have been doing recently ;) A couple of thoughts on this (not yet well structured)

In China, but I assume in other countries as well, marketers still have a strong urge to control as much of the conversation as possible. This old reflex limits the reach of their message. Web 2.0 is a reality in China and marketers need to move away from a shouting mentality towards communication mentality, that emphases listening to the "voice of the customer".
Separating online marketing and PR becomes increasingly difficult, especially when looking at user generated content (or IWOM to use another term). Marketers need to find ways to tear down the organizational barriers that prevent better integration especially on the analytics side. Otherwise their understanding will be limited to one or two quarters of Dennis' quadrant.
Measuring user generated content (quantity, quality, key messages) is a new challenge for most advertisers in China. With the amount of conversation going on in the millions of blogs & BBS's in China, manual tracking and counting is not scalable. While Sam Flemming's CIC owns the conversation an IWOM tracking in China, looking at other alternatives might pay off, especially regarding integration with current analytics efforts.
Measuring off-site content provides a new challenge to advertisers as well. While some of the large advertisers in China just get comfortable with Web Analytics on their own site, some of our client already move away from viewing their site and their banner campaigns as the main medium for communication. They increasingly communicate with 3rd party vendors (e.g. video, sharing sites, business communities) to engage their audiences more effectively. While that makes a lot of sense from a marketing perspective, analytics team need to find solution for tracking the effectiveness of these cooperation. A low trust environment like China adds its own challenges (tip: never trust your vendors numbers). The best solution we have found thus far is forcing vendors to integrate our tracking codes on the pages / experiences they create for our clients. While this opens a whole different can of worms (explaining the differences between "our" numbers and "their" numbers anyone?) it seems like the best available solution.
Making your own content "mobile" will significantly increase your reach. Many brands in China have experimented with viral videos, hosted both on their mini-sites and video sharing sites and our numbers show a huge boost reach. Who says video's are the only "mobile" / "viral" content brands can create? Think about making your downloads available on third party sites, your mini-games and your widgets and you will be rewarded with an explosion in reach. At least as long as you can measure it. Users seem to be more willing to engage in advertisers content when they are in the "mood" to watch, play or download.

P.S.: You can find a version of this post on longmarch.chinalytics.com. Please leave your comments there since I plan to move this blog over there.

Moving notice

2008-01-13T16:00:04+08:00

Since all blogs hosted on Typepad.com seems to be blocked in China (again), I followed Jeremy Goldkorn's advice during last years outage and now host a copy of this blog on my own little domain.
Please welcome longmarch.chinalytics.com.
Yes, I could not come come up with a more creative name. I am still working out the kinks there (like the pesky little ad on top - I do pay for the hosting), but all previous posts, including your comments, are already imported. Since keeping two mirrored blogs active is a pain (I expect, I've never actually done it), I plan to phase out this copy over time, so please redirect you browsers here and your feed readers here. As a little extra you can now search the whole blog as well as the comments and subscribe to the comments on the new blog here. Finally I am ahead of the competition (at least in terms of functionality), right Kaiser? ;)