Although the field of web analytics has slowly broadened its reach, it’s still far short of a household word. As an analyst or administrator of WebTrends, this lack of familiarity with analytics can become a huge stumbling block, especially if the decision makers in charge of budgeting and resources are among the uninformed. Our clients are often unhappily surprised to find that a sound installation and a plan for moving forward sometimes aren’t enough to get analytics data adopted enterprise-wide, nor to get the attention drawn to their area that will guarantee adequate resources and funding.

In a past job, I was the proverbial lone voice in the wilderness, preaching the benefits of using analytics data to drive decision-making, but unable to gain enough support internally to move us forward. Perhaps you’ve felt like that, too. Simply providing the data doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to get decision-makers to start using it; you have to build a culture of data-driven decision making so compelling that it spreads throughout your organization. That is a tall order for a single analyst, or even a single department. The only way to succeed is to find allies. Preferably, allies with influence, decision-making power or organizational clout.

One way to find such allies is to look among your “squeaky wheels”. If there is one manager or executive who consistently cross-examines the data and finds it wanting, that’s the person you want to recruit as an ally. Why? Because a true conversion story always carries weight. If you can convert that complainer into your advocate, then everyone in your organization  is going to take notice. Here are some tips for winning him or her over:

• Schedule an interview with this manager to discuss the specific reporting needs of his or her organization. Let them know that you want to restart your relationship by working with them to define a measurement strategy for their area of the organization that will benefit everyone and set the standard for others to follow.

• Keep in mind that a potential ally will have to be able to trust the data, at least within reason. Address any technical issues impeding that trust head-on.

• It may take time, but define a successful approach for your new-found friend that is focused on his or her reporting needs, but that can also be customized for other parts of the organization. When you roll-out this new strategy to other teams, you’ll have a ready-made advocate who can tell them how this approach worked wonders for them in meeting their goals.

Having a customizable process for how you will define and deliver analytics reports will reap you benefits in lots of other ways, too. Repeatable, documented processes save time, energy and money, and make it easier for you to train other analysts. They give you ammunition when the way you calculate numbers is called into question. Having a customizable or modular approach also makes it far easier for top-level executives to compare metrics across the organization because they all start with the same basic set of metrics. We’ll discuss this sort of approach in more detail in a later blog post, but for now, just think about how you could leverage analytics reporting for one internal client to begin satisfying the needs of other internal clients.

Another place to look for allies is in departments that have resources, skills or tools you need. But who, and how to win them over? Here are some ideas for you:

• If you are in a Marketing department, look for allies within the IT Department. If you are based out of IT, look for someone in Marketing. If you are in a specific brand group, see if you can recruit an ally from another brand group. The ideal candidate will be someone who can provide assistance or advocacy you need and who seems to believe that analytics has value or might have value, but who is not yet wholly convinced.

• At your next corporate social outing, seek them out and get to know them personally. Try to help them see the challenges and goals you have in common. Work examples of analytics successes into your small talk and, if they respond favorably, keep them updated on your successes and failures informally (i.e, watercooler talk, blogs, twitters, lunch conversations). Invite them to attend a Web Analytics Wednesday event with you.

• Your job is to convince your prospective advocate, either through demonstration, barter or bribery (sometimes beer or chocolate is effective here …seriously), that analytics DOES have value and they should help you educate others about that fact. Eventually, they are going to say something like, “that sounds like something we’d like to do….” or “I could help you out with that.” Don’t be discouraged if it takes weeks or months to get to that point — it takes time to cultivate good relationships.

Finally, and most importantly, you need to find an executive sponsor for your analytics program who will support your efforts. This will be the single most important relationship that you cultivate. It could be the executive in charge of your own service line or chain of command, but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes it’s actually easier to ally yourself with  someone who has a little more distance from your direct chain of command. Here are some ways you can locate the ideal executive sponsor:

• If you can wrangle a presentation slot at an executive meeting – those opportunities usually show up at least once a year — then you can use that as a springboard to demonstrate what you are working on and what you think analytics can deliver to the organization. Sometimes a very effective presentation will net you several executives eager to support your work, but even if it doesn’t, it will give you an opportunity to see who among the executive team truly seems interested or stands to benefit most from what analytics can provide.

• Keep your eyes and ears open for any executive hot button topics that represent an opportunity for analytics to shine. For example, if call center costs are a big issue, offer to provide analytics reports that can help give them more insight into what drives users to use the call center to begin with.

• If you can provide an executive with data that gives him the upper hand or answers a big question, you’ll be a long step closer to getting the attention and resources you need to get analytics off the ground. Do that a few times, and you will soon find yourself with an executive sponsor who can go to bat for you when the budget gets tight.

As more and more companies feel the economic pinch this year, it’s only natural for decision makers to cast around for areas where they can cut costs. Tie the results you deliver with WebTrends directly to the questions your executive allies want to answer, deliver data that improves their bottom line, and you–and your analytics program–can emerge unscathed.

Tags: advocacy, analytics, data-driven decision making, management, stakeholders, strategy, WebTrends

This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Best Practices, Industry Perspectives, Marketing Optimization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.