Before discussing the statistics of your website, it’s important to step back and think about what digital analytics truly is. There are many definitions out there, but I particularly like the definition of Web Analytics provided by Wikipedia: “Web Analytics is the science of studying online visitor behavior on a website with the goal of improving its performance.” And the key part here is “with the goal of improving performance.” We don’t just look at analytics to view neatly arranged pie charts. We need to uncover insights that allow us to take further action based on these beautiful reports.

Let’s look at this through a common analogy. Analytics software is like an x-ray machine. In this case, the patient is your website, and the x-ray machine is Google Analytics. This x-ray tool will identify and reveal what’s going on beneath the surface of your site. The x-ray will detect issues, such as a broken bone. But that doesn’t mean the pain is gone or that the x-ray results will ultimately fix the problem. You’ll still need someone who can read and interpret the x-ray and perform the necessary analysis to actually take action and solve the problem.

This is why even expensive analytics tools won’t do the work for you. You still need smart people to use these tools to achieve real improvements. And much like a good doctor, we assess the entire situation, prioritize which areas need attention (like prioritizing the skull over the fingers), then perhaps prescribe some treatment to reduce swelling. After that, we move to the next problem, continuously analyzing, adjusting, improving, and optimizing.

Web Analytics is a process! If you think of it as a one-time set-up (set and forget), then you don’t belong here. First, we measure, then we apply analysis and learn from what we see. Then, we take action. Websites constantly evolve, marketing strategies change, website analytics tools continue to advance, and the devices through which we access online content are constantly changing. We need to ensure that the analytics process doesn’t stagnate but rather grows and adapts to these changes to ensure that the website always performs at its best.