Survey Aims & Methodology

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The State of Web Analytics in Middle East Survey 2012 Results © Mohit Jain | Analytics.ae | @mohitdxb

Survey Aims & Methodology

• The intention behind they research was to identify trends in current analytics practices used

by organizations & agencies based in Middle East (KSA, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain,

Oman, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt & Jordan) and to understand how organizations take

advantage of digital data to optimize the business. No sample quotas were imposed.

• The research was conducted between Jan 20

th

_{and April 5}

th

_{, 2012.}

• The survey was conducted online using survey tool provided by FluidSurveys.com.

• Survey respondents were recruited through email invitations, advertising on LinkedIn.com

and social media outreach.

• All incomplete and inaccurate responses were ignored from final results.

• Total Sample Size was n=50

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Key Findings

• Web Analytics is still young discipline in Middle East with wide variations in experience,

resources and value gained. However there is a growing interest as a majority are reporting

gains from their activities.

• It seems that the task of web analytics has shifted away from IT teams as majority of

respondents reported web analytics to be managed by eCommerce, marketing & BI teams.

Web Analytics function travels with whoever owns the web function.

• 64% respondents said they trust data from web analytics tool 75% of time or mostly. Client

side organizations expressed more trust in web analytics data then compared to agencies &

consultants. There is a correlation between who expressed low trust in data and those who

have less experience and resources assigned to web analytics.

• The main web analytics activities conducted are Campaign Analysis and Landing Page

Optimization whereas more insightful techniques such as A/B and multivariate testing are

rarely performed.

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Key Findings

• Majority of respondents realized gain from adopting web analytics in all areas except

reducing customer support costs. We also found less number of respondents reported to

augment web analytics data with CRM & customer data.

• There seems to be a disconnect between what client side organizations are expecting vs.

what agencies & consultants wants to achieve for their clients this year.

– 71% of Client side respondents seek to improve site performance with use of web analytics data

vs. 57% of agencies & consultants desire it this year.

– Only 21% of client side respondents wants to take business decisions based on data whereas 40%

of agencies & consultants seek their clients to take decisions based on data.

– 60% of agency & consultant respondents wants to increase their level of knowledge for Social

Media Analytics vs. only 29% of client side respondents.

• Overall investment in web analytics is improving but client side respondents wants to

prioritize in achieving results by „Optimizing the site through analysis” whereas agencies and

consultants wants to prioritize in „Training” and establishing „KPIs‟ for their clients.

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Conclusion

• There is a desperate need of aligning the

analysis results closely with the

organizations business strategy which can

provide quick wins and increase the trust

in the web analytics data and establish it

as an important function.

• Acting on data & analysis is critically

important for agencies, consultants &

clients and analysis should not be done

just for the sake of analysis.

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PROFILE OF SURVEY

RESPONDENTS

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Profile of Survey Respondents

0% 0% 28% 30% 42% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Other

Web Analytics Software Vendor

Individual Web Analytics Consultants

Agency (Advertising, Digital, Analytics, etc)

Web Analytics User (Client)

Type of Users

20% 24%

56%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

A Local Based Organization

A Regional Organization (Middle East)

A Multinatonal

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Profile of Survey Respondents

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Other Middle Eastern Countries

Syria

Oman

Bahrain

Kuwait

Jordan

Lebanon

Egypt

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Target Business Geography

Majority of respondents are

conducting business in multiple

countries where a significant

individuals

responded

doing

business in UAE followed by Saudi

Arabia & Qatar.

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Profile of Survey Respondents

30% 4% 10% 12% 10% 6% 8% 20%

_{1000+ Employees}

501-1000 Employees

251-500 Employees

101-250 Employees

51-100 Employees

26-50 Employees

11-25 Employees

1-10 Employees

Enterprise Size Segmentation

The research sample contained representation from various enterprise sizes. Respondents were asked to indicate the

number of staff employed by their organization.

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Profile of Survey Respondents

2% 2% 2% 2% 4% 6% 6% 8% 8% 28% 30% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Government

Retail

Automotive

Telecommunications

Manufactuing

Travel & Hospitality

Multiple Industries

High Tech

Business Services

Agency/Consultancy

Media

Industry

Segmentation

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Provide secure transactions, statements, documents, etc

Provide information about products and services

Sell products and supporting services

Generate leads including online quotes

Communicate with customers and business partners

Provide self service support to existing customers

How respondent

organizations uses

online channels

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Profile of Survey Respondents

8%

28%

64%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Non Critical (It's ok we can live without it)

Semi Critical (Business is some what

impacted)

Critical (Business is Highly Impacted)

Business impact if

online channel has

availability issues

2% 14% 32% 52% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Not important at all

Less important in comparison to other functions

Equal importance to other functions

Extremely Important

How web analytics

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WEB ANALYTICS

CURRENT STATE

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Web Analytics Responsibility

26%

26% 24%

8% 6%

6% 2% 2%

_{eCommerce / Digital Team}

Business Intelligence / Analytics

Marketing

Not Sure

Other

IT

Customer Experience

External Agency

Respondents were asked to indicate which department is primarily responsible for digital analytics in their organizations. A

majority of respondents indicated that the function lies with eCommerce, business intelligence & marketing teams and

only few responded about the function being managed by IT.

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Technology Adoption

40%

8% 52%

Free

Paid

Both

92% 26% 20% 18% 8% 6% 6% 4% 3% 2%

Google Analytics

Omniture SiteCatalyst

Webtrends Analytics

Other

Google Analytics Premium

Woopra

Urchin from Google

IBM (Core Metrics or Unica)

Yahoo Web Analytics

comScore Digital Analytix

Respondents were asked to indicate about what kind of web analytics tools they use and if these tools are free, paid or

both.

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Technology Adoption

4% 12% 16% 28% 30% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Unknown

Less than 1 year

Between 1-2 years

Between 2-5 years

Over 5 years

Use of Web Analytics

Tools in years

0% 10% 64% 26% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Rarely (25% of the time)

Sometimes (50% of the time)

Mostly (75% of the time)

Yes (100% of the time)

Trust on Web

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Internal & External Web Analytics Resources

26% 0% 38% 36% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

More than 5 Employees

4-5 Employees

2-3 Employees

1 or less Employees

Full time internal

employees dedicated to

Web Analytics in

respondent

organization’s

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Part Time Employees

Contract Employees

None

Analytics Agencies

Consultants

Employees with partial commitment to web analytics

Additional Web

Analytics Resources

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Web Analytics Activities Performed

72% 54% _46% 44% _38% 20% _14% 22% 32% 32% 40% _40% 40% _44% 6% _14% 22% 16% 22% 40% 42%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

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Gains from adopting Web Analytics

76% 76% _74% 66% _60% 56% 26% 8% 8% _10% 10% 8% 18% 30% 16% 16% 16% 24% 32% 26% 44%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

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Augmenting Web Analytics Data

78% 78% 67% 72% 56% 44% 50% 11% 11% _28% _17% 28% 39% 33% 11% 11% 6% 11% _17% _17% _17%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

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WEB ANALYTICS FUTURE

OUTLOOK

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Top Digital Analytics Initiatives in

2012

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Product trials

Other

Tools selection and transition

Developing process/implementing process

Integration of current and new solutions

Systems integration

Training and education

Executive management awareness and support

Best practices implementation

KPI development

Business decisions driven by analytics

Acting on the data to improve site performance

To understand what priorities

organizations are placing on

web analytics activities

respondents were asked to

identify from a list of activities

what they are planning to

undertake this year.

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Top Areas for Knowledge Improvements

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Other

Measuring Web 2.0 Technologies

Affiliate Marketing

Content Management

A/B and Multivariate Testing

Email Marketing

Paid Search Marketing

Creating Custom Reports

Campaign Management

Natural Search Marketing or SEO

Predictive Analytics

Targeting and Segmentation

Social Media Analytics

_{To understand the top areas}

where organizations are

considering improving the

knowledge respondents were

asked to identify from a list of

activities what they are planning to

undertake this year.

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Web Analytics Investment Outlook

67% 28% 4%

Improving

Flat

Not Sure

This survey investigates the levels of web analytics related investments to be made this year and asked respondents to

confirm if they are improving the investment or keeping it flat.

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Priorities for Web Analytics in

2012

67% _65% _63% _63% 54% 43% _41% 26% 17% 26% _24% 24% _22% 26% 39% 33% _57% 63% 7% _11% _13% 15% _20% _17% 26% 17% 20%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

_Yes

_No

_Considering

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Thanks to all who participated in first

Middle Eastern web analytics survey.

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