webanalytics.cl

The results are in! Thanks to everyone who participated in the experiment.

After processing the answers to remove some slightly skewed values (those out of the range average ± 1.5 x standard deviation were removed) the results are shown on the figure and on the following table:

My interpretation of the results:

1. On average Omniture occupies 1st place both in Current Features Offering and overall Strategy in the WA professionals mindset.
2. Google Analytics is recognized to have the strongest Market Presence and also a strong strategy, 2nd to Omniture.
3. Coremetrics, Webtrend and Yahoo! Analytics are perceived to have a weaker Strategy and Market Presence than the other two vendors.
4. I think this last point contributes to Google Analytics’ Current Features Offering been perceived as strong as the one from paid/former paid vendors Coremetrics, Webtrends and Yahoo! Analytics.
5. Omniture has grown its market presence with the acquisition of HBX/VisualSciences outperforming Webtrends and Coremetrics.
   

What makes Omniture and Google Analytics leaders?

1. A clear strategy and value proposition. For Omniture is its 1-stop shopping approach through a synergic suit of products and for Google Analytics its best free web analytics tool and straight forward approach to WA.
   
2. An orchestrated and continous media presence gaining top-of-mind in both analysts and decision makers. For Omniture through acquisitions and partnerships that cloud the days of its competitors. In the case of Google Analytics its perfect timing of features releases, a ubiquitous presence on the blogosphere and a mediatic and charming Avinash Kaushnik do the trick.
   

What shall we expect from Coremetrics, Webtrends and Yahoo! Analytics in the next 12 months?

A year ago Forrester Research Inc. published The Forrester Wave(tm): Web Analytics, Q3 2007 report which included a bubble chart depicting the Web Analytics vendor’s landscape.

The vertical axis represents the vendors Current Offering.  In a scale value of 0 (weak) to 5 (strong) accounting for the following factors:

• Data handling: How well does the vendor handle data?
• Reliability: How reliable is the vendor’s hosted/ASP platform?
• Metrics, dimensions and correlations: How robust is the product’s set of metrics, dimensions and correlations?
• Reporting and analysis: How robust is the platform’s support for reporting and analysis?
• Integration: How well does the product integrate with the client’s technology ecosystem?
• Usability : How well does the product conform to software usability best practices?
• Service and support: How robust are the vendor’s service and support offering?

 
The horizontal axis represents the vendors Strategy in a scale value of 0 (weak) to 5 (strong) accounting the following factors:

• Product direction: How strong is the vendor’s product strategy?
• Commitment: How many employees does the vendor have dedicated to this product?
• Reference client strength: How strongly do reference clients endorse this vendor?

The size of the bubles represents the vendors Market Presence in a scale value of 0 (weak) to 5 (strong) accounting the following factors: 

• Installed base: How large is the vendor’s installed base of customers for this product?
• Industry presence: Does the vendor have a significant presence (15 or more enterprise-class clients in the following industries? (Banking & Financial services, Leisure & Travel, Entertainment, Retail and Publishers)
• International presence: How suitable is the vendor’s product for use worldwide?
  

I hope their 2008 Q3 report comes out soon! While I waited for it, inspired on James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds, I set-up the following Experiment.

Why not pick up the brains of Web Analytics Demystified Forum members to build the same chart and afterwards compare it with Forrester’s Reserch updated report.

The experiment is over. See the results here.

It’s really simple

Could you value these 3 dimensions (Current Offering, Strategy and Market Presence) for the following vendors Omniture/HBX, Coremetrics, Webtrends, Google Analytics and Yahoo Analytics?

Answer based on your experience as a Web Analyst and WA market knowledge. Take the survey now