INTERNET RETAIL TOP 100 AUDIT - See how the top online shopping sites manage their digital data quality
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HARLEY DAVIDSON | CASE STUDY 1
INTERNET RETAIL
TOP 100 AUDIT
See how the top online shopping sites
manage their digital data quality
OBSERVEPOINT.COM INFO@OBSERVEPOINT.COM (855)878-8466INTERNET RETAIL TOP 100 | RESEARCH REPORT 2
DATA QUALITY REPORT
Internet Retailer Top 100
47,990
Pages audited
42%
Using TMS
225%
Avg Rate of Data
Duplication
1,395
Tags Identified Methodology
Background ObservePoint sampled the top 100 Internet Retailer
web sites using our tag auditing solution to assemble
this exclusive data giving unprecedented insight into
ObservePoint was founded by Omniture co-founder
the world’s top Internet retailers’ metrics: web site
John Pestana, and online marketing expert Rob Seolas.
performance and tagging metrics.
Pestana’s focus on data quality started as a response to
concerns customers had about data quality within their
reports. When the data quality issues were invesigated,
incorrectly implemented tags were regularly identified as
Findings
the primary cause of discrepancies.
VENDOR MARKET SHARE
ObservePoint released its first web analytics-auditing
solution in 2010 with the goal of improving data quality for The majority of the top 100 retailers are currently using
web analytics by providing powerful automated QA tools a premium, enterprise-class analytics tool. Adobe
for web analysts. SiteCatalyst held the highest market share. Coremetrics
ranked second, followed by Google Analytics* and
Webtrends, respectively.
Why We Compiled this Data This data suggests that most if not all of these retailers are
Data quality in web analytics is too often an afterthought. making a significant investment in their online marketing
While many web analysts believe that data collection is technologies. The question is: Are they getting the most
flawed, the task of correcting it has traditionally been too value possible out of their analytics data?
burdensome.
This report shines a light on the problems that top online TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION QUALITY
retailers experience with their data quality. Tag auditing,
In order to get the most value from a web analytics tool,
when used as a proactive approach to data quality
web site owners must ensure that the web analytics
management, has the highest ROI of all online marketing
tag (also called a code snippet or pixel) is installed and
activities. Ensuring the correct implementation of tags and
configured correctly on every page of the site.
protecting key metrics ensures that all online marketing
activities are properly measured and reported. In our audit, despite having the highest overall market
share, SiteCatalyst implementations had the highest
In our report of the top 100 retailers, we set out to get a
rate of tags missing at 6%. Coremetrics and Webtrends
granular view of what each retailer is doing on a page-by-
implementations were the most complete with 2% of
page basis and how it might affect their data quality.
pages missing a tag, and Google Analytics split the group
*When we detected a premium analytics tool as well as Google Analytics, we consider the
premium tool as primary.
OBSERVEPOINT.COM INFO@OBSERVEPOINT.COM (855)878-8466INTERNET RETAIL TOP 100 | RESEARCH REPORT 3
MOST INTERNET RETAILERS ARE USING A
PREMIUM WEB ANALYTICS TOOL
with with 3% pages missing tags. these top retailers – only 6% of the sites were free of any
inflation.
While 3-6% of pages missing tags might sound
insignificant, this metric contributes directly to web Our research found that one-third of online retail web
analytics error rates. And when the total pages in the sites could have more than 50% data inflation. Even more
site are considered (often into the hundred-thousands shocking is that 12 sites have more than 100% inflation.
of pages), even the smallest percentages of missed tags
becomes thousands of untracked pages across the web
site.
Data Leakage
Web analytics data is considered private, proprietary
The result: when customers browse many pages before
company information. However, the hidden nature of tags
making purchasing decisions, retailers are losing valuable
often opens the door to data leakage - web analytics data
data about their customers and products.
ending up in the hands of third parties.
Data leakage causes enormous privacy risks. It is caused
two ways: (1) when a tag is configured to send feeds of
data to groups outside of the company and (2) when tags
are installed without the site owner’s knowledge. Data
leakage is almost impossible to detect without an audit.
On average, 1 out of every 20 Our study reveals that data is leaked more often than most
companies know. About half of the top 100 retailers could
pages fails to measure user be sending data about their visitors to unknown third
parties.
interaction due to missing tags.
Tag Management MARKETSHARE
Data Loss With the strong emergence of tag management, we
wanted to see how much and how well the technology is
To add another perspective to this important data quality being used. We found that 42% of the Internet Retailer top
metric, we looked at the average data loss across the 100 sites are using a tag management system. Employing a
entire group. We found that only 6 online retailers had TMS is further indicative of a company’s active investment
100% tag coverage. Overall, the average presence of tags in online marketing technology and web analytics.
was 95%, meaning that 5% of pages are not measuring
user interaction.
TMS IMPLEMENTATION QUALITY
Data Inflation Of the 42% of companies that have deployed a tag
management system, an average of 84% of pages on those
Data inflation occurs when the web analytics tool counts sites contain a TMS tag. Like web analytics, 100% of pages
one page view more than one time. Accurate reporting must be tagged for optimal data quality.
of page views is important since this metric is used to
measure the success of various marketing initiatives and
establish site traffic baselines.
We found that data inflation is a major problem among
OBSERVEPOINT.COM INFO@OBSERVEPOINT.COM (855)878-8466INTERNET RETAIL TOP 100 | RESEARCH REPORT 4
PURE-PLAY TMS HAS BETTER OVERAL
PERFORMANCE THAN ADD-ON TMS
primary analytics implementation: Recommendations
TMS Vs non-tms Tag auditing is prescribed for
all companies that make an
Websites with a tag management system had a slightly investment in web analytics.
lower average implementation rate of the primary web
analytics tags than those without a tag management Tag auditing will expose web
system. Incomplete placement of TMS tags negatively tracking errors and provide
impacts data quality in TMS-dependent technologies. sufficient information to correct
the problems and measure
We were surprised to see that non-TMS environments improvements.
had 5% missing tags, versus 6% missing when a TMS
was installed. This data indicates that owning a TMS Research indicates that some managers resist using
doesn’t automatically improve the implementation of tags digital data to make decisions. Proper data quality
and the data quality associated with that implementation. management processes, such as auditing, can diminish
Like any other tool, great results take work. concerns about data quality and provide real ROI for digital
marketing technology.
We found that sites with pure-play TMS solutions have
better overall performance than TMSes offered as an add- We caution all who attempt to use tag-derived data
on to an analytics tool. We believe that this may be due to in financial statements, investor reports, or in an
the “clean-up” process that implementing a pure-play TMS interrogatory fashion to ensure that the data has been
tool requires. properly audited and deemed sound by a professional tag
auditor.
Internet Retailer top 100 Macys Scholastic
About ObservePoint 1800contacts
1800flowers
Dell
Deluxe
Market America*
Microsoft Store
Musicians Friend
Sears
Shoebuy
ShopNBC
Abercrombie and Fitch Disney Store Neiman Marcus Shutterfly
Amazon Eddie Bauer Net-A-Porter Sierra Trading Post
Based in Orem, Utah, ObservePoint is the leader American Eagle Edible Arrangements Netflix* Sony Store
Amway Estee Lauder
in web tag auditing – a critical element of web Ancestry Fingerhut
Newegg Staples
Nike Symantec Store
analytics. Ann Taylor Follett Nordstrom Systemax (Tiger Direct)
Apple Footlocker Northern Tool Target
Audited web reporting resolves significant flaws Army & Air Force Exchange FTD Nutrisystem Toys R Us
Avon Gamestop
in ROI analysis and executive data. ObservePoint Backcountry Gap
Office Depot Urban Outfitters
OfficeMax Us Auto Parts
uses a unique method of simulating network Barnes And Noble Gilt Orchard / The Tog Victoria’s Secret
traffic at an unparalleled speed and scale to Bass Pro Grainger Shop Vistaprint
Bestbuy Green Mountain Coffee
identify web analytics tag errors. Bluenile Hayneedle
Oriental Trading Vitacost
Overstock Wallgreens
Bodybuilding Home Depot PC Connection Walmart
For more information about ObservePoint’s pat- Build HP Shopping PcCMall Wayfair
ented tag auditing and web metrics protection Buy / Rakuten HSN Peapod Weight Watchers
Cabelas Hudson’s Bay
solutions, visit http://www.observepoint.com or Cdw J Crew
QVC. Williams Sonoma
Ralph Lauren Yoox
call (855) TRUTH-NOW Chico’s JCpenney Redcats Zones
Costco Kohls REI
Crate And Barrel LLBean Ruelala* *due to technical limitiations this
CVS Lowes site was not audited.
Saks
OBSERVEPOINT.COM INFO@OBSERVEPOINT.COM (855)878-8466HARLEY DAVIDSON | CASE STUDY 5
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