Tuesday, 25 December 2007

One of the most exciting things about having such an extensive ecosystem of Google Analytics users is the variety of ways people are using the product. Each website has a unique personality and appearance and if you're a website owner, you're often thinking about how to combine navigation, design, and language to most clearly communicate your message to users. And then repeating that process.

We love to hear stories from Google Analytics users so we can share the flexibility of the product and understand unique success metrics. We recently heard one such story from the folks at Databazaar.com, who switched to Google Analytics and let us know that they are now not only saving $5,600 dollars every month but are also more satisfied with their web analytics reporting. CEO Oney Seal reports, "I paid money and I wasn't getting any value. I can look at the data now and I understand it."

Here's their story:

As a large internet retailer selling ink cartridges, toners, and printer supplies, price competition is a significant challenge for DataBazaar. The same products can be bought from many different vendors and customers can easily take their business elsewhere. Having a seamless site from landing page to checkout is vital to their business - both in getting first time customers as well as keeping repeat shoppers. Before switching to Google Analytics, DataBazaar felt they weren't getting the content optimization insights they needed, despite spending a hefty sum on reporting. Frustrated, they decided to transition their site — all seventeen thousand pages — to Google Analytics. In doing so, DataBazaar discovered a collection of stumbling blocks on their site in their navigation reports. They used Google Analytics in conjunction with Google Website Optimizer to make changes that increased the conversion rate on some pages by over 43%. Also, they learned what not to change on their site, noticing that many of the conversion funnels that were already in place were working surprisingly well. They are continuing to use Google Analytics to raise conversion rates even higher. Thanks for sharing and congratulations DataBazaar!

Update: January 31: thanks to Robbin Steif at Lunametrics for help with this post.