It is important to have web site analytics capabilities as part of your eCRM efforts to monitor your site and guide functionality and usability and drive conversion.  The analytics output also drives site optimization.  Implementation of web site analytics requires the integration of multiple and sometimes disparate data sources so you can get a single view that drives to actionable analytics.  One of the most important goals of this analysis is to make it easier for your customers to find the right information and convert.

The first step in the process is to choose the right tool set and make sure the data feeding the tool is accurate and represents all data sources.  Next is the data reporting and analysis step.  Most applications packages have both standard and custom reports.  However, you will want to drill down to very detailed levels of analysis that may require a data analyst position.  This person must understand the nature of the data, the application and your web site.  The last and most important step is moving from data analysis to actionable decisions.  This is a joint effort between web analysts and business managers. 

Site analytic tools are just that…they focus on site.  Some of the limitations of site analytics include capture of referring and impression data as an example.  In addition to basic site reporting, you may have web some web 2.0 site functionality such as ratings, video, site ratings and customer interaction.  Many of these applications come with their own analytical capability.  At the end of the day, you want to create a continuous learning capability so you can refine all your site related processes and drive KPI’s.