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Keep An Infinite Memory for your Metrics

The Exponential Moving Average (“EMA”) is a very useful tool in your metrics arsenal because in the EMA the memory of past metrics values is never forgotten

Setting Up Your Negative Metrics

This is a continuation of  my exploration of negative metrics thread which covers how to think about your negative metrics and how to set them up
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I Before E, Except After C I Before E, Except After C

“I Before E, Except After C” — do you remember that from 4th grade spelling? Well, it works just as well when you’re concentrating on
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Metric-ocracy: Less Data, More Insight

The start of a new year is a popular time for resolutions. Of course, even among marketing cognoscenti new year’s resolutions rarely involve analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs) — so I’d like to take this opportunity to outline a plan you can follow to slim down and shape up in 2012, metrics-wise.

Treating Your Conversion Symptoms But Not The Disease Treating Your Conversion Symptoms But Not The Disease

Many organizations get fixated on metrics data, without thinking of where it comes from. But what if your metrics indicate a problem which originates somewhere else?

Thinking About Your Negative Metrics

“Negative” metrics — You might prefer the term “Deoptimization Metrics”. Either way they can be just as important  to your continuous optimization efforts as your positive ones. The purpose of a negative metric  is to isolate for you the deleterious effect you may be having on your positive metric. A negative metric is not necessarily
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Dear Confused By Personas Dear Confused By Personas

A student at the University of British Columbia Web Analytics course reached out to us via Twitter to ask some questions about creating personas, specifically personas based on persuasion and the information is important enough that we thought we’d share our response: “Are you saying that we shouldn’t bother with creating multiple personas with granular
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The Value of Nothing The Value of Nothing

When is nothing worth something? Turns out, just about all the time. Whenever you look at your metrics consider that a metric is, in virtually
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Treating Your Conversion Symptoms But Not The Disease Treating Your Conversion Symptoms But Not The Disease

Many organizations get fixated on metrics data, without thinking of where it comes from. But what if your metrics indicate a problem which originates somewhere else?

PayPal Should Go Undercover

PayPal recently announced a streamlining of its payment flow process that doesn’t require a PayPal account to use. In other words, you can “check out” via PayPal, reap the security benefits of the merchant store not knowing your financial details, and pay for your item without having created any long-term relationship with PayPal (although they
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Polls and Testing: When Is Close No Cigar? Polls and Testing: When Is Close No Cigar?

Now that the 2012 U.S. Presidential elections are over, there’s a bit of a buzz around why some folks thought the election would be close and others who, using some solid statistical techniques, predicted a definitive (and it turns out, accurate) outcome. I want to try to explain the latter, especially for marketers. Why? Because
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