2009 WAA Standards Part One: Definitions Compliance
June 22nd, 2009 by Michele WartherLast month the WAA Standards Committee released the updated WAA Term and Definitions (3 more than 2007 – total of 29) for 2009 along with a call to analytics providers to publish their compliance matrix publically. A new area added this year is a series of questions to “Ask Your Vendor” which we’ll be posting tomorrow as part two (along with a downloadable verison of both parts). Committee Chairs Angie Brown and Judith Pascual released the results of how various vendors matched up the industry’s independent definitions at eMetrics.
As the digital marketing industry matures you’ll begin to see the features/functions of the products differ less and less. It’s at that point that the people, access to information, vision, consulting, support and service a company provides is the real measure of difference.
Terms and Definitions Compliance
In the prior verison most companies provided Yes/No answers, the request this year provided some additional clarity by providing 5 answers to chose from.
a) Yes, the same as the WAA
b) Yes, but needs customization
c) Yes, but currently using a different term (include additional notes)
d) Yes, but available at an additional cost
e) No, not available in this tool
Legend: D = Dimension C = Count R = Ratio
| Building Block Terms | ||||
| Term | WAA Definition | Type | Additional Information | Compliance |
| Page | A page is an analyst definable unit of content | D | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Page Views | The number of times a page was viewed. | C | The number of times a page (an analyst-definable unit of content) was viewed. | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Visits/Sessions | The number of times a page was viewed. A visit is an interaction, by an individual, with a web site consisting of one or more requests for a page. If an individual has not taken another action (typically additional page views) on the site within a specified time period, the visit will terminate by timing out. | C | If a visitor has left a site or has not executed a click within 30 minutes, the visit session will terminate. Fully configurable to other time periods. | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Event | Any logged or recorded action that has a specific date and time assigned to it by either the browser or server. | C and/or D | If a visitor has left a site or has not executed a click within 30 minutes, the visit session will terminate. Fully configurable to other time periods. | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Visit Characterization Terms | ||||
| Term | WAA Definition | Type | Additional Information | Compliance |
| Entry Page | The first page of a visit.Entry page is the first page in the visit regardless of how the sessions are calculated. Different sessionization methods may give different results. | D | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Landing Page | A page view intended to identify the beginning of the user experience resulting from a defined marketing effort. | D | WebTrends uses “Entry page” in a separate campaign area to support marketing efforts as suggested by WAA. | Yes, but currently using a different term |
| Exit Page | The last page on a site accessed during a visit, signifying the end of a visit/session. | D | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Visit Duration | The length of time in a session. Calculation is typically the timestamp of the last activity in the session minus the timestamp of the first activity of the session. | D | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Referrer | Referrer is a generic term that describes the source of traffic to a page or visit. | D | The referrer is the page URL that originally generated the request for the current page view or object. As “referring Page.” WebTrends also provides referring site and referring domain. | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Page Referrer | Page referrer describes the source of traffic to a page. | D | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Session Referrer | The first page referrer in a visit. | D | The referrer is the page URL that originally generated the request for the current page view or object. As “referring Page.” WebTrends also provides referring site and referring domain. | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Visitor Referrer | The first page referrer in a visitor’s first session. | D | The visit referrer is the first referrer in a session, whether internal, external or null. As “Referring Page” | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Click-Through | Number of times a link was clicked by a visitor. | C | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Click-Through Rate/Ratio |
The number of click-throughs for a specific link divided by the number of times that link was viewed. |
R | Yes, but needs customization | |
| Visitor Characterization Terms | ||||
| Term | WAA Definition | Type | Additional Information | Compliance |
| New Visitor | The number of Unique Visitors with activity including a first-ever Visit to a site during a reporting period.Note that “first-ever” is with respect to when data began being properly collected on your site by your current tool. | C | WebTrends also tracks visitors who don’t accept cookies as “Visitors Not Accepting Cookies.” | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Return(ing) Visitor | The number of Unique Visitors with activity consisting of a Visit to a site during a reporting period and where the Unique Visitor also Visited the site prior to the reporting period. | C | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Repeat Visitor | The number of Unique Visitors with activity consisting of two or more Visits to a site during a reporting period. | C | As “Visitor who visited more than once” | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Visitor Referrer (Original Referrer or Initial Referrer) |
The first page referrer in a visitor’s first session. Notes: Archiving of data after a period of time may affect the recorded visitor referrer. The visitor’s “first” session may be with respect to a specific date or reporting period, or it may be with respect to the life of the data. | C | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Visits per Visitor | The number of visits in a reporting period divided by the number of unique visitors for the same reporting period. | R | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Recency | Time since a unique visitor performed a specific action of interest to the analyst. | C | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Frequency | The number of times an action was performed by a unique visitor over a period of time. | C | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Engagement Terms | ||||
| Term | WAA Definition | Type | Additional Information | Compliance |
| Page Exit Ratio | Number of exits from a page divided by total number of page views of that page. | R | Supported with calculation or configuration | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Single Page Visits (Bounces) |
A visit that consists of one page view. | R | Visits that consist of one page regardless of the number of times the page was viewed. | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Bounce Rate | Single page visits divided by entry pages. | R | Supported with calculation or configuration. | Yes, but needs customization |
| Page Views per Visit |
The number of page views in a reporting period divided by number of visits in the same reporting period. | R | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Conversion Terms | ||||
| Term | WAA Definition | Type | Additional Information | Compliance |
| Conversion | The number of times a desired outcome was accomplished. | D and/or C | A visitor completing a target action. WebTrends provides multiple conversion types. | Yes, the same as the WAA |
| Conversion Rate |
The ratio of conversions over a relevant denominator. | R | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Miscellaneous Terms | ||||
| Term | WAA Definition | Type | Additional Information | Compliance |
| Hit (AKA Server Request or Server Call) |
A request received by the server | C | Yes, the same as the WAA | |
| Impressions | Number of times a piece of content was delivered to a user’s browser. | C | Webtrends calls them “Content Views” | Yes, but currently using a different term |
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