expertSEM

Even savvy marketers can sometime fall into the trap of “you get what you pay for” and thereby assume that if something is offered as a free service, it can’t possibly be as valuable as its pricey competitors. Towards the end of last year we had a client paying for an analytics solution. Granted many paid solutions are worth it, but in the case of this client, I would have to say that a paid solution was adding no benefit to them.

For a six month period we tested Google Analytics in parallel to this other paid solution. We also had access to the reports a previous agency had put together for the client using the paid solution. During this investigation period we found the following:

1) The reports the previous agency put together were just “data” with no meaningful insights or key takeaways.

2) The implementation of the analytics solution was inaccurate, so the data they were supplying was inaccurate. Unfortunately it backdated for almost four years, which has left the client with poor data to benchmark on year over year.

During these six months we supplied the client with:

1) A plan. We developed reports covering the details they were use to, but revamped them and included a “Yellow Brick Road.” This road supplied actionable insights about areas on their site that would affect change and increase conversions. Not only did we suggest these details, we also monitored them all to ensure they were effective.

2) A useful tool, not just a report full of data. Our newly designed report was structured in a manner that enabled them to share the data with high-level executives within the company, which allowed the client to utilize their time more efficiently.

3) A huge cost savings. They were able to cancel their subscription with the paid analytics solution.

4) Piece of mind. They are now aware that their implementation within Google Analytics is accurate, compared to their previous inaccurate setup.

The lesson:
Remember, a paid solution is not always the best route to go. In essence, you should weigh up what the paid solution is going to cost, and what you can get from a free solution like Google Analytics, and then decide if that difference is worth the cost. Secondly, analytics is not just a reporting tool, it is essential that you dig deeper to find those key actionable insights.