Web Analytics & E-commerce (EN)

Highlights of XChange Europe 2013 in Berlin

The second edition of XChange Europe took place with 110 participants from 15 different countries on June 10-12,2013 in Berlin. Xchange was founded  in California 7 years ago by Gary Angel, former President of Semphonic and now Partner of Ernst & Young (Semphonic has been acquired by Ernst & Young in April 2013). Xchange is a very unique Web Analytics conference organized around “huddle” discussions with no Powerpoint presentations at all during 2 days. In the opening keynote, Gary explained that he decided to create XChange with this format, when he realized that most of the value he was getting from Web Analytics conferences was happening during peer discussions between Powerpoint presentations.

This year, the event tool place at the Intercontinental Hotel, near Tiergarten and the  Berlin Zoo. I had a fantastic view on Berlin from my hotel room in the 12^th floor!

Xchange started by a welcome reception on Monday evening, a great opportunity to meet old friends and to make new connections!

On Tuesday, the day began with a panel discussion between Gary Angel (Partner at Ernst & Young), Christian Sauer (CEO of Webtrekk), John Woods (CEO of iJento), Mathieu Llorens (CEO of AT Internet) and Simon Burton (CEO of Celebrus). Mathieu Llorens started a debate by stating that American solutions have a strong focus on new customer acquisition measurement, while, in AT Internet’s case, the emphasis is more on measuring existing customer behavior. Simon Burton agreed that American solutions are more product-led, whole European solutions are more customer-led.

In terms of international expansion, Christian Sauer explained that WebTrekk has just opened an office in San Francisco, but the US market is quite a difficult one with large competitors and an existing partner network. Also, once you’re successful in the US, wait for the patent lawsuits. WebTrekk is also developing on the Chinese market, which may become interesting in 2/3 years. Since China has a 85% e-commerce growth rate at the moment, nobody cares about Web Analytics for now. What about the Web Analytics market in general? According to Christian Sauer, the market is not growing since the market leader, Adobe, is not growing regarding its Web Analytics suite of products. Google is responsible 90 % for market stagnation by offering a great and free product.  According to him, third-party cookies will disappear over time with privacy laws and new browsers default configurations. So there is the need to build a strong first-party cookie data collection.

According to John Woods, the US market is a great growth opportunity for iJento, since their product is complimentary to other analytics suite like Adobe SiteCatalyst, with a great installed base in the US. John Woods is also optimistic about the future of analytics. While Google Analytics is more focused on reporting needs, there are still great opportunities in customer analytics and personalization. On top of this, there will still be needs for expertise to get the best out of this technology.

For AT Internet, the growth is driven by existing customer needs with for instance Brazil and Russia, said later Mathieu Llorens. According to him, Google Analytics Premium has brought a big change in the market since Google has educated the market with the data sampling issue. According to Mathieu, we don’t hear about data quality and reliability as much as we should hear.  Also, nobody is going backwards when business has seen the value of data.

Simon Burton explained that Celebrus Technologies has based its US expansion on a partner network. Business is different in every region in the US and it is much better to have partners on the ground.

Gary Angel concluded the panel by saying that Google cannot fill up every niche, so there is still room for opportunities.

After this panel discussion, all participants were split in 8 "huddles", with 15 participants maximum for each one.

The topic of my first huddle was “From web analytics to mobile analytics and back” with Peter Pletsch, Meinestade.de, as leader. The main points from this discussion were as follow:

• as analysts, we need to rethink our analysis framework and anticipate data collection needs, because gestures and interactions like mouse tracking are not being recorded for mobile devices. 
• call tracking does not work out of the box, and needs to be tagged specifically.
• there is a big divide between Mobile Web sites (tracked by JavaScript) and Mobile applications (not tracked by JavaScript). Build tracking when you build the app. Don’t retrofit it.
• Page names and page views are not really relevant for applications. SDKs are very influenced by Web behavior
• Responsive design forces to rethink measurement on the web. Report on use cases instead of page views (same thinking with apps).
• Tag Management Systems can really help mobile tracking.
• all mobile traffic is not equal: tablet traffic is much more similar than desktop traffic. Tablets are usually used sitting in front of television.
• differences in emerging markets: more iPhone users in Brazil because they are the ones who can afford a data plan.

After a networking lunch, a group picture was taken with of MeasureBowlers from various cities in Europe. The first European-wide MeasureBowling event took place a week before on June 6th. 

My second huddle was on "Creating Strong Foundation for Analytical Success" with Ross Mc Donnell, Walt Disney Company, as leader. The discussion was very well organized around 6 main topics:

1. KPIs

• Define a KPI framework (business goals -> measurement goals)
• Driver KPIs  / driver tree -> what can you influence
• If well designed, these KPIs “waterfall” at every level, so that the corporate strategy is steadily expressed, mapped, and expanded in measurable terms for every  person at every level of the organization.

2. Implementation QA & testing

• Use ObservePoint or Selenium for quality assurance
• Document all technical analytics implementations so you are not left confused when someone leaves the organisation
• UAT for metrics on real-life data

3. Reporting & dashboarding

• Build a web-reporting portal, provide everyone with access, put analytics on it & see who is looking at what
  
• Dashboard TVs -> good tip to disseminate data within the organization
• Trying to reduce number of dashboard and empower users to create them
• Stop management analytics reports & start reporting to people that are actively/daily spending money to drive outcomes-thoughts

4. Insights & actions

• Different layers of insights: 1rd layer: observation (analyst), 2nd layer: insight (category manager), 3rd layer: recommandations (UX experts, online marketing)
• Analyst need to educate what could be the most impactful things that you could do
• Let people think about the business impact perspective
• Only makes sense if upper management buys into the approach

5. How to keep up with KPIs, collection, … as business moves 

• Go back a year later, look at the data and decide on what needs to be improved / anticipated

6. Training

• Internal “Certified trainers” + wiki for FAQs + weekly webinars to get people up to speed
• Basic introduction on web analytics but using introduction to clarify the role of specialists in the analysis
• Identify key power users

 My third huddle discussion was on "When the customer struggles in your website : how to diagnosis ad act using new customer focused analytical tools effectively" with Etienne Cox, Dell Corporation,  as leader:

• Starting with clickstream to narrow down issues -> content groups
• Need to look at overall funnels -> go deeper with segmentation and microconversion-> struggle events
• You can’t tell if users are struggling unless you know their intent
• Voice of customer analysis to capture customer intent
• Be careful with decisions based on heatmapping
• Online chat for capturing user experience
• Use forms analytics
• Be careful of the context in which customers are conditioned to use or not use the web site
• Gathering data on social networks about web site issuers -> to feed optimization process
• Customer survey feedback is surprisingly not look at very often
• Don't forget heuristic analysis!

The second day finished with a great networking party, as well as indoor golfing!

On Wednesday morning, my fourth huddle discussion was on "UX with numbers : How can you triangulate the numbers with human behavior" with Craig Sullivan, Rush Hair, as leader:

• Not changing your homepage regularly is like keeping the same
• What’s not working with your current approach regarding UX optimization? Ownership split between different teams.
• How to save money with UX when budgets are getting tighter ? Remote user testing. Online panels are usually cheaper.
• Use agile techniques -> decide earlier than making it perfect. Session replay. Eye tracking is still valid even if they are mouse tracking tools like Clicktale, Crazyegg, Sessioncam. 
• Be careful with computed eye tracking. The real value gets in analyzing the data with visitor intent, perception, persuasion and conversion.
• Time to complete an event is a good indicator to start with, but it is not necessarily a guarantee of good experience experience.
• Net Promoter Score -> drawbacks is that you need to get additional information on the service itself to really get value out of it.
• Page Load Time, using tools like Compuware Gomez
• Different feedback questions according to the page
• Cultural differences according to countries with user feedback
• Always new features on websites. No features are removed, so the user interface gets cluttered with too many links.

My fifth huddle discussion was on "SEO Analytics for Larger Websites" with Piotr Poznański, Eniro Poland, as leader:

• Keywords clustering needs to be used to find patterns
• Segment keywords into 3 groups : navigational keywords (domain name, brand name), informational keywords (how to do this), conversion keywords (specific product, buy)
• Different search results if you use a mobile or desktop. -> could use segmentation

Unfortunately, I had to leave XChange earlier than planned on midday, because of an air traffic strike in France.

Many thanks and congratulations to the organizing team for a great event once again. Really looking forward to attending next year's event!

OTHER BLOG POSTS ON XCHANGE13:

- XChange Redux, by Gary Angel

- Creating a Generalized Digital Analytics Framework, by Gary Angel

- O.D.ing on Analytics: Notes from the Berlin X Change, by Gary Angel

- Why is yesterday's test winner today's loser?, by David Leese

- xchange13 in Berlin (in German), by Kristine Kiwitt

- X Change Conference 2013 Day 2 PM Sessions, by Joanne Casey

- X Change Conference 2013 Day 2 AM Sessions, by Joanne Casey

- X Change Conference 2013 Day 1 PM Sessions,  by Joanne Casey

- X Change conference 2013 Day 1 AM Sessions, by Joanne Casey

Second X Change Europe conference in Berlin on June 10-12, 2013

The 2013 edition of X Change Europe will take place on June 10-12, 2013 in Berlin. XChange is specifically designed for Web Analytics professionals, who want to exchange with peers. XChange is organized by Semphonic, and its Vice-President for Europe, Matthias Bettag, shares some insights about the conference in the interview below.

Nicolas Malo : Hello Matthias, after a successful first European edition last year, X Change comes back to Berlin next June. To start with, could you please (re)explain the concept of this unique conference?

Matthias Bettag : Hi Nicolas. Yes, of course: The conference is somewhat different compared to most other conferences by its format. There are no presentations at all at the XChange. It sounds surprising, but you will not see a single power point slide, we do not even use any projector. Instead it is all about conversations.

The XChange's content is discussed in so called "huddles" (the term comes from American Football since the XChange conferences in the US are always scheduled in September when the NFL season starts). Huddles are discussion groups with ~10-17 people and lasting 90 minutes. The attendees can chose from a total of 42 huddles: Three times per day 7 huddles are running in parallel, each moderated by an experienced digital analytics practitioner. Here's the total overview: http://www.semphonic.com/x-change/europe/huddle-schedule/

The XChange has no vendor exhibitions, no sponsors and no paid speakers - actually no speakers at all, since the whole conference is about conversations, not presentations. Of course, vendors and consultants are very welcome and make a very important stake of the conference, but they attend as normal delegates and take part in the discussions as everybody else - except that they are never moderating a discussion, this is left to practitioners.

This format offers a unique way to get into deep discussions with other industry experts and really share experiences and insights in a relative intimate format, and across roles and types of industries. At the XChange you can discuss topics across different perspectives, e.g. B2B and B2C, non-profit and education, ecommerce and lead-generation, etc. Everybody in the room is a peer and can equally contribute to a discussion. It is very fruitful to discuss topics with practitioners, consultants and vendors, since everybody has a different perspective, made different experiences and by this can share the different insights.

This offers an exceptional level of knowledge exchange (sic!) and offers a much deeper level of interaction and networking. Discussions are not limited to coffee or lunch breaks but instead are the core content of the conference. We regularly get very good feedback from the attendees. If you are in the analytics industry this is a must-go conference. Sounds like advertising (I've to admit it is) but this is really what people say when they've been there.

Nicolas Malo : So, compared with last's year event, what's new and what's the same?

Matthias Bettag : We have moved to another Hotel, now being at the "Berlin Intercontinental" at the heart of the city of West-Berlin. The format is the same as last year, but we increased the total capacity because we were booked out last year and also want to avoid overcrowded huddles. What is new this time are the Think Tank Sessions which we provide on day zero. The Think Tank sessions are independent from the actual conference, you can attend the conference only, or the Think Tanks only, or both. The Think Tanks are four half-day workshops (2 in parallel) which discuss some specific digital analytics practice and methods. Other than the huddles the Think Tanks are lead by Gary Angel, Michael Feiner (Director at AEP Convert in UK, Semphonic's partner on hosting the European XChange) and myself. Details here: http://www.semphonic.com/x-change/europe/think-tank-topics/

Nicolas Malo : Who are the confirmed huddle leaders for this edition?

Matthias Bettag : We have well-known top-practitioners from different industries and countries, some of them have been huddle leaders before but some are new. We have Alex Schultz, Director of Growth at Facebook, from the US, a couple of UK folks, e.g. Craig Sullivan from Rush, Tom Betts from the Financial Times, Alex Emberey from Thomas Cook and RossMcDonnel from Disney. Germany is (beside others) represented by Sebastian König (HRS), Ole Bahlmann (Soundcloud), Karsten Courtin (Panasonic), Tim-Fabien Pohlmann (Spreadshirt). Plus experts like Matthew Niederberger (Philips) and Etienne Cox (Dell) from the Netherlands, Ulla-Kruhse Lehtonen from Sanoma in Finland and Ana Soplon from Sanitas in Spain, and more. All 21 huddle leaders can be seen here: http://www.semphonic.com/x-change/europe/huddle-leaders/. Just in case the questions comes up: The conference language is English. In 2012, we had 100 attendees from 17 countries, so we expect a similar mix this year.

Nicolas Malo : Which outcomes should expect attendees from the conference?

Matthias Bettag : Deep conversations and profound insights. A very high level of expertise with hands-on tips&tricks and the ability to learn from each other and to understand how methods and practice can really be used for the own needs. A huddle offers much more interaction then a Q&A session after a presentation. Individual questions can be discussed in the group, as well as successful approaches or other learnings can be shared and discussed in detail. The outcome is so valuable because you really start to understand how others are working, how they are succeeding (or why not), and how to approach common problems and challenges. It is really an expert-to-expert exchange. Also, the networking is really great. The socializing events last until late night, so this is not a 9-to-5 conference. After two days of the conference I always feel like I've been there for much longer, with a bunch of very good friends. Attending the XChange is broadening one's horizon and boosting the quality of your network.

Nicolas Malo : Finishing with the fun part, what's planned for this edition?

Matthias Bettag : I personally believe the whole conference is great fun. But when looking at the official fun parts, we have three events here: First the welcome event which is scheduled the night before the actual conference starts. I strongly recommend everyone to plan a travel to arrive at the Hotel Intercontinental by Monday (June 10) before 6:30pm. The welcome event is a casual come-together, time for a talk on a drink and a snack, meeting old friends, getting in touch with new contacts, and having a good time. When the first huddle starts the next day, you've already seen and talked to other attendees which makes a much better start.

Then we provide a dinner night at the end of day one (Tuesday, June 11). We are currently evaluating different options, but you can expect a very special and cool location in Berlin, hopefully on a warm summer night under bright starlight (June is usually a great month in Berlin, in the unlikely case that the weather is not that good we'll certainly find other measures in order to validate the fun we'll have ;-)
At the end of the conference we'll provide a closing social after the closing notes. Similar to the welcome event there is time to have another drink and finger food to recap the conference before returning back home. Btw, whoever wants to extend the stay in Berlin can use the special room rate at the Hotel Intercontinental for up to three days before/after the conference.

The full conference schedule is here: http://www.semphonic.com/x-change/europe/conference-schedule/