The Analytics Power Hour
Michael Helbling, Moe Kiss, Tim Wilson, Val Kroll, and Julie Hoyer
Attend any conference for any topic and you will hear people saying after that the best and most informative discussions happened in the bar after the show. Read any business magazine and you will find an article saying something along the lines of "Business Analytics is the hottest job category out there, and there is a significant lack of people, process and best practice." In this case the conference was eMetrics, the bar was….multiple, and the attendees were Michael Helbling, Tim Wilson and Jim Cain (Co-Host Emeritus). After a few pints and a few hours of discussion about the cutting edge of digital analytics, they realized they might have something to contribute back to the community. This podcast is one of those contributions. Each episode is a closed topic and an open forum - the goal is for listeners to enjoy listening to Michael, Tim, and Moe share their thoughts and experiences and hopefully take away something to try at work the next day. We hope you enjoy listening to the Digital Analytics Power Hour.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jul 4, 2017 • 48min
#066: The Democratization of the Data
It's another one of those on-going lobby bar topics: how much of the data should be made available to whom and in what form? Should all of an organization's data be completely and freely available to everyone in the company, or is that a recipe for messy data being misinterpreted and misused? That's the topic tackled on this show, courtesy of a recommendation from Pawel Kapuscinski. As it happens, it's also Independence Day in the U.S. -- a fact with which the guys had a little fun. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
Jun 20, 2017 • 55min
#065 - Digital Analytics from a Psychological Perspective with Dr. Liraz Margalit
We can watch (sort of) what users do on our sites. That's web analytics. We can ask them how they felt about the experience. That's voice of the customer. But, can we (and should we?) actually analyze their emotional reactions? On this episode, Michael and Tim sat down with Dr. Liraz Margalit, Head of Digital Behavioral Research at Clicktale, to bend their brains a bit around that very topic. And, they left the discussion thinking differently about conversion rates, and even realizing that scroll tracking might just have a valuable application! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
Jun 6, 2017 • 58min
#064: Analog (In-Store) Analytics with Gary Angel
Back in the day, we explained the difference between a visitor, a visit, and a pageview to stakeholders using an analogy of a person walking into a physical store. Now, digital channels are dominating, and physical stores are struggling...which is an opportunity to apply what we've learned about behavioral analysis on the web to in-(REAL)-store consumer behavior. Gary Angel from Digital Mortar (@digitalmortar) returned to the show (our first ever repeat guest!) to walk us through the many, many similarities, as well as to explain some of the unique challenges and opportunities of in-store analytics. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
May 23, 2017 • 40min
#063: The Trials and Tribulations of Tool Transitions
Change. It's scary. It's exhilarating. It's a song by Churchill. Sometimes, be it due to your manager, due to a corporate acquisition, or due to a job change, you just wind up with a voice in your head belting out, "You want me to change, change, change!" In this episode, Nancy Koons from Team Demystified joins us to dive into our collective histories when it comes to switching analytics tools -- where we stumbled, where we succeeded, and how we've come to approach the ever shifting landscape of analytics tools. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
May 9, 2017 • 49min
#062: When and Where Does the Role of the Analyst End?
It seems like a simple couple of questions: 1) When and where does the analyst's role start?, and 2) When and where does the analyst's role end? And, do the answers to either of these questions change based on the type of organization you're in (in-house versus agency)? As it turns out, Michael and Tim largely agree on the answers to these questions…but their agreement is pretty expansive, so this could be the episode that infuriates you, dear listener! Give it a listen, and be prepared to shake your fist at your earbuds! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
Apr 25, 2017 • 54min
#061: Selling the Value of Analytics with Sayf Sharif
"Psssst! Hey! Buddy! Want some analytics? Whatcha' lookin''for? Insights? Recommendations? Maybe some implementation? I got anything you want, and I got it at a great price!…" Sound familiar? No? Well, then you're just not hanging out in dark corners next to executive washrooms the world over! On this episode, Sayf Sharif of SEER Interactive joins us to chat about the how and when of selling analytics — from outside OR inside an organization. Plus, there's a nice throw down about the proper pronunciation of "GIF." For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
Apr 11, 2017 • 56min
#060: The People and Personality Side of Analytics
Do you want to know something about analysts? They're people. And, not only are they people, but they work with people. And people have personalities. Even the hosts of this podcast have personalities. One of the hosts is introspective about the ramifications for those facts when it comes to his work. The other host gets so rattled by the topic that he uses the phrase "a lightbulb went off," when the appropriate figure of speech was actually "a lightbulb went ON." Can you guess which host is which? Give this episode a listen to find out! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this show and a transcript of the episode, visit the show page.
Mar 28, 2017 • 46min
#059: Display Ads and Ad Fraud with John Nardone
Well into our third year of the show, we decided it was time to show that we've become hard-hitting audio journalists by bringing on a heavy-hitter in the world of display media and grilling him with tough questions. And then we found out we're not hard-hitting audio journalists. And the heavy-hitter we brought on was informative, articulate, and willing to muse objectively about the challenges that face display advertising. So much for the original plan! John Nardone of Flashtalking was actually the first person every targeted by a DoubleClick ad, and that was almost 20 years ago! You will hear that story in this episode, as well as sage little gems about "the mythical allusion that the (media) agency is in fact an agent for the client," as well as how "the technology is ahead of a lot of the advertisers' ability to deploy it effectively." It was a fun and informative discussion! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
Mar 14, 2017 • 1h 2min
#058: Analytics in an Agile Organization with Simo Ahava
FINALLY! It's a show all about Google Tag Manager! Oh. Wait. What's that? We had Simo Ahava on the show and actually covered a different topic entirely? WHAT NINNYHEAD APPROVED THAT DECISION?! Well, what's done is done. With 'nary a trigger or a container referenced, but plenty of wisecracks about scrum masters and backlogs and "definitions of 'done,'" we once again managed to coast a bit over the one-hour mark. And, frankly, we're pretty pleased with the chat we had. You'll just have to go to Simo's blog if your jonesing for a GTM fix. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
Feb 28, 2017 • 1h 13min
#057: Open Data with Brett Hurt and Jon Loyens
So, knowledge management and data management walked into a bar and bumped into Github. The result? Open data and, specifically, data.world! Coremetrics...and then Bazaarvoice founder Brett Hurt, along with Homeaway.com and Bazaarvoice veteran Jon Loyens, joined us to talk about what open data is, why it's gaining traction, and why we all should care. And, if you've been pining to have us record an episode that runs for more than an hour, this one is it! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
