In my latest, most desperate of attempts at trying to make our loyal blog readers think I’m hip by using titles that come straight out of popular phrases in rap songs (which is in conjunction with my last attempt with a blog post entitled “Tryin’ to make a dollar outta fifteen cent!“), I’d like to give you an idea of what the typical day-to-day life is like here for me at MoreVisibility. Every time I describe what I do to friends, colleagues, co-workers and even some clients, I talk about how being in Web Analytics is like being a private investigator or a federal agent of the internet. You gather data, compile statistics, find clues, compile some more data, interview a couple of people, and solve the mystery! Then you typically have to present your findings to your boss(es) and your clients, and then talk about where to go from there.

Here’s an outline of a typical day for me (which is sort-of a false statement, because no two days are the same, so there really is no such thing as a “typical” day…but you get the idea).

Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, Boca Raton, FL, USA (Temp: 91°)

7:04 AM - I have just woken up, and I’m already thinking about what I’m going to be doing for that day. Do I have an Analytics presentation to give? Do I need to check the coding on a site before it launches? What accounts will I be doing some investigating on? Do I have enough laundry to last until the weekend?

7:57 AM - I arrive at my office, turn on my computer, and see a yellow sticky note on my monitor that reads “Joe - Please see me about [Client]’s Top Landing Pages.”

8:01 AM - While my computer is loading and my email is downloading, I catch my co-worker who explains that our client is concerned that the exits from their homepage is too high. I suggest evaluating the page’s Bounce Rate and maybe a quick Navigation Summary to get a better idea of what is really going on with their homepage. I also mention something about A/B testing with Google Website Optimizer.

8:02 AM - I log-in to my Google Reader account and catch-up with the 60+ Web Analytics and Search Marketing blogs that I subscribe to, while simultaneously responding to emails with questions and discussions from co-workers.

8:41 AM - I am finalizing my speech for an in-person Analytics Presentation to one of our clients, when Amber (Client Strategist) buzzes me and tells me her client added an email address to their Google Analytics account, but they cannot log-in. She tells me she knows what the reason is: “The Email address is not a Google Account yet! It needs to be a Google Account in order to log-in with that Email address into their GA Account.” I start smiling, because that’s exactly right.

9:15 AM - I meet with Shawn, our newest co-worker, and begin to review all of the great things that is Web Analytics. Of course, I have to throw in my private investigator / federal agent simile. I also explain that Javascript-based programs like Google Analytics are only able to collect data from users who have both Javascript and Cookies enabled on their browser of choice. If they don’t, Google Analytics simply cannot track those individuals.

10:30 AM - I am out of water, and I’m starting to get hungry. I think about all of the different possible ordering options, and think how cool it would be if some of our favorite local take-outs would have an online ordering option, and imagine what I would give for a large turkey & swiss right now.

10:35 AM - I start to open up a brand new Google Analytics account for a new client. I provide our client with the necessary tracking code to be placed on every single page of the website. I also explain the many different options available, such as SiteSearch, Ecommerce, Benchmarking, and Filters that can be utilized.

10:59 AM - I receive a phone call from another client who asks me to explain the difference between A/B Testing and MVT (Multivariate Testing). We throw around some ideas of what to test and experiment back and forth, and we agree to launch an experiment using Google Website Optimizer for their AdWords Campaign’s landing page.

11:33 AM - Okay I am REALLY hungry right now and I can’t imagine being able to last another 27 minutes without eating something!

11:34 AM - Marni (another Client Strategist) sends me an IM that reads “It’s working!!!” She is referring to the neat advanced filter that we wrote which added the name of the source and the visitor type in front of the transaction ID in this particular client’s Ecommerce Report section. This is great news, as I’m sure the client will be very happy to hear about this.

12:00 PM - I’m about to grab my sunglasses and walk across the street when I see an Email come in that reads “GA Tracking Issue - Please Help!”, flagged as High Importance. Guess lunch is going to have to wait a while…

12:19 PM - Problem solved! Turns out there were two sets of Google Analytics tracking code on the same page, one urchin.js version and one ga.js version, which is bad news. I then proceed to solve another problem - my hunger.

1:10 PM - I return and find some great discussions starting up on the Yahoo! Web Analytics Forum. It’s really a great forum to check out whenever you can.

1:15 PM - My in person analytics presentation is in 45 minutes. I am very obsessive when it comes to presentations, as I like everything to be perfect, neat, and organized, so I visit our client’s website one more time, and find that they have repaired a bug in their shopping cart that was the focus of one of my main points in the presentation!! I think of a good way to still use this slide in the presentation.

1:38 PM - One of Khrysti’s (Director of Optimized Services) clients is in a bind. They cannot figure out why they are not seeing “yahoo / cpc” or “msn / cpc” in their Google Analytics profile, like they can for “google / cpc”. I reference my latest blog post about Google Analytics URL Coding, and I strut away confidently as I’ve capitalized on another opportunity to tell someone about my Analytics Blog.

2:00 PM - It’s showtime! Our clients have arrived, and I hand out my business cards and begin with introductions. It’s always great to be able to meet people in person and talk analytics, Site Search, and Shopping Carts to them. This particular client is using both Google Analytics and WebTrends, and they were really concerned about the differences in data between the two, even though they swear that they have everything installed properly. I explained that different analytics packages will always report different values for the same metric, no matter how perfect your installation and coding is.

3:32 PM - I come back and check my own Google Analytics profile for this blog, and I’m surprised to find so much referring traffic from European blogs! I love that someone in Austria and someone in the Netherlands is reading a blog written by someone half-way around the world. I know this because I frequently check my referring traffic reports, to see who is bringing me additional traffic.

4:00 PM - Another one of Khrysti’s clients cannot for the life of them understand why people type in such simple, generic words such as “shoes”, “belts”, and “hats” into their website’s search feature on their online clothing store. They believe something is wrong, broken, or not working correctly. I am pretty sure that their search function is working properly, but I go to their site and double-check with some test searches anyways. After I verify that it is working properly, I pick up the phone and begin to explain to the client that people have much different behavior (and level of tolerance!) when they perform keyword searches on Google or Yahoo vs. performing keyword searches on someone’s website. Again, I direct their attention to my blog by referencing my post about a website’s internal search function.

4:45 PM - My day is starting to come to a close. I like to take a few minutes each day and “spot check” different analytics accounts, just to ensure that everything is still running smoothly and data is being collected and displayed properly. I’m glad I did this, because an important Goal in one of April’s (Director of Strategic Accounts) clients’ accounts has stopped collecting data. After a test on the client’s website, it turns out that the Goal URL has been changed from “thankyou.html” to “thanks.html”. Websites are updated all the time, which is a good reason to routinely double-check your Goals to make sure they are working properly.

5:03 PM - I’m just about wrapping it up here and saying good night to everyone in the office. Out of nowhere, Danielle (my boss) catches me right before I walk out the door. She explains that a new client needs to speak with someone urgently (first-thing tomorrow morning) about what analytics platform they should choose between Omniture SiteCatalyst Hitbox (HBX) or ClickTracks. They also need help in defining new Key Performance Indicators for their executive team, and possibly setting up some custom reporting. I love to think about things like this, especially on off-hours, so I’m glad I have this opportunity.

7:00 PM - Analytics is going to have to wait a while - an episode of Law and Order is on right now that I’ve never seen before.

All in a day’s work.

A recent survey conducted by both PayPal and comScore was just released to the general public, showing the top reasons why customers abandon an online shopping cart before purchasing. I first saw this referenced by Anil Batra a couple of days ago, who is a well-respected Web Analytics practitioner and blogger, and I wanted to share it with you.

If you remember last week, I blogged about Five Tips for Improving Your Shopping Cart. I didn’t conduct any market-research or any structured surveys for it - as I mentioned in my post, some of my tips were based on gut-feelings and personal opinions from a “Common Sense” point of view. Looking at this PayPal / comScore press release makes me smile, because the top five reasons that survey respondents gave PayPal / comScore are very much in the ballpark with some of my thoughts from last week.

So, if I may, below are the five reasons that are listed in that press release, with the percentage of respondents for each reason, and my personal observations on each one. The survey was conducted from March 25 to April 18, 2008, surveying U.S. online shoppers who had recently abandoned a shopping cart. This includes small, medium, and large-sized merchants.

1. 43 percent of consumers didn’t pay for items in their shopping carts because shipping charges were too high.
Can you really blame them? In our landscape of “Free Shipping” and “Same-day Shipping” and everything else, it’s no wonder 43% of these online shoppers abandoned their carts. Try building some of the price of shipping into the price of the item if you absolutely have to cover shipping charges. Or, drop your shipping charges incrementally, to see if that increases the demand for your product.

2. 36 percent of purchasers didn’t pay for items because they felt the total cost of the purchase was more expensive than anticipated.
There’s that word: anticipated. If you remember last week, I said I hated it when I only found out, very late in the shopping process, what my actual payment amount was going to be, because some websites are not clear or do not disclose shipping, tax, and other surcharges right away. Tell your customers early on about every single penny they have to pay - and present them with the lowest possible shipping price whenever possible. Don’t surprise them or try to sneak one by them - if you believe this survey’s numbers, that’s a lot of disappointed customers.

3. 27 percent of shoppers didn’t pay for items because they wanted to comparison shop at other Web sites before making a purchase.
Comparison shopping is a fact of life. Some people do it to find the lowest possible price, while others do it simply out of curiosity. Other people do it because their friends recommended they comparison shop, while others just do it because they can. However, if you sell good to high-quality items, at a fair price, with fair shipping / tax surcharges, and have a good to great functioning web site and Ecommerce system that is clear, easy to use, and customer-friendly, you’ll find that some or most of these people will eventually come back to you.

4. 16 percent of consumers didn’t pay for items because they could not contact customer support to answer questions.
This can be a big problem. Make sure that your customer service contact information, such as a phone, email address, or LivePerson chat applet is perfectly visible, clear, and functioning on every single page. These online retailers lost 16% of their customers simply because no one was there to answer the phone, or because they couldn’t even find out how to ask for help in the first place. They may just have had a very simple question, and would have bought it regardless of the answer. These are like careless turnovers in the NBA playoffs - completely avoidable.

5. 14 percent of shoppers didn’t pay for items because they forgot their usernames and passwords for their store accounts created with the merchants
If you thought that having a “create an account” function on your Ecommerce system was helping your customers, think again. 14% of these online retailers’ visitors did not convert into customers because of a username and password that you felt you needed to collect. You could make the argument that you could increase sales or revenue by 14% overnight, simply by removing this part of your sales process all together. Remember, don’t get in the way of your customers handing over their hard-earned cash to you. Make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

Think of this real-life example: You walk into your local supermarket for the very first time. You do all of your shopping, and you’re now standing in line with your shopping cart, ready to check out. Right before you start putting your items on the conveyor belt, a lady asks you to fill out a one-page form, which creates your store account. If that’s not annoying enough, because you’re either double-parked outside or have to pick up the kids from after-school or you just want to go home already, you’re only allowed to walk in to the store again after you put in your account access or log-in information at a computer located right at the front door of the supermarket. How frustrating does that sound?