Thoughts on OWAC Finals

So, this past Friday I went to the OWAC finals. I was interested to see why the finalists were the finalists. What was interesting to see was I wanted to know why they chose the finalists since I never received any feedback on my own project.

The first group to go was .Convert. They were very professional in the way they presented and they did a really good job in their analysis. Yet, one thing that bothered me was that the ideas they had were really similar to what we had done. Sure their slides were way nicer, but the contect overall was similar. Our group did an analysis on the customer segments (loyal customers contributing to the most profits), and they did as well. Some of their recommendations were similar to ours as well.

At any rate, I was very disappointed in the second presentation. Not to criticize them (although they are from the "U" - rival school), but, they were terrible. They basically read from their slides, and all their information was from 27 days worth of data. Now, I have no idea how you could base recommendations or analyze how a company is doing with 27 days worth of data. Even so, it was sad to see them make it to the finals and have a really unimpressive presentation. It was not at all worth 4th place.

Yet, not to bash on the "U" too much, the other team representing them did a really good job. The last BYU team wasn't as crisp (presentation wise), but they too did a good job. But, they all weren't as great as .Convert. In my opinion they were solid preformers when presenting and they did a really good job on the analysis.

Well, even though my partner and I didn't make it to the finals (or even prelims), I was at least glad that our analysis wasn't too far off from what the finalists came up with. I guess I should try again if the opportunity arises. Either way, that's what I thought about the finals.

It's Over!

Well, after waiting well over 2 days I finally found out the results to the Omniture Competition. Sad to say, we did not make the semi's. I think what really bothered me was the communication.

First, I receive a have typed email from Omniture and then I get partial responses to my emails. I would think that they would at least make sure that this competition process went as smoothly as possible (considering that this is not the first time they did this competition). Also, since they have done this before, I would think that they would inform the students better about what was going on and why they took so long. It took our class to email the BYU staff about it to email them until we received an email saying they would be delayed.

Still, I think the waiting is what bothered me the most. Taking two days without any updates on how things were was terrible. Then, finding out that I didn't even make the semi's made me feel like I waited for nothing. Yeah, I know I can't expect much considering that it was my first time competing, but I would think the process could have gone a lot better.

I did email them and asked them what I could do to improve, but after what's been going on, I have my doubts that they will reply with anything of use. Yet, it's still early. My faith in their communication might be renewed if they give some useful feedback. Even so, I am not sure if I would ever compete in the Web Analytics competition next time, as my experience has been a lot more negative than positive...

Omniture Competition - Thoughts for First Part

I had an entire weekend that was free...sort of. The only thing I worked on was the BYU Omniture Competition. I would say my first experience with this project was, overall, not bad. Definetely not great. The bad parts were with how slow SiteCatalyst was. I was really frustrated at times where SiteCatalyst told me that the "Data was not Available" or "You do not have access to this data." Also, the load time after each query took forever.

Contrastingly, the good parts were the extended time. Originally I would not have had the two weekends to work on it. Now, I know I only put in a good 19-20 hours, but they were crammed in to one weekend. Even so, that extra time was much needed, as the week before was quite crazy (tests, work...etc). Anyways, I think Bryan and I did well overall. We made our presentation simple. We split it up into three parts that we thought were key to explaining what's going on with Overstock.com.

First Experience With SiteCatalyst

This year I have recently gotten into Web Analytics. I have looked at Google Analytics and I like how straight-forward it is. Recently, I have been trying to use Omniture's SiteCatalyst to complete a project for the Web Analytics Competition. All I can say is it's a very powerful tool. However, there are also some downsides to using it.

As for downsides, the thing I noticed most was the speed. When using SiteCatalyst things can take a very long time. Sure they have an option to send the data to you, but then again, there was a lot of times where I got the result "Data Not Found." That becomes a little frustrating when you are trying to complete a project.

The ups to using SiteCatalyst is that you can find all sorts of data. I was impressed with the different types of data you could find and also manipulate the data to be more understandable. The interface is also pretty straightforward. You can basically find what you need (if it allows you). Again, the only downside is you might be waiting a while until you actually "see" the data you are looking for. Waiting really stinks.

Thoughts on Omniture University

Currently, I'm working with my partner Bryan on the Web Analystics Competition. Our team is known as Viridis Callidus (which is the Latin words for "Green" and "Clever"). So, hopefully the judges will think we are representing Omniture's favorite color of green and displaying that we have the clever skills that web analytics requires). Okay, perhpas that's going a bit too far, but you get the point.

Anyways, last week was Omniture University. In all honesty, I thought that it could have been better. I was a bit disappointed on how we were taught (everyone logs on and slows down the connection - thus, slowing down the learning). Also, it seemed that we could have figured out most of what the presenter said by ourselves. What I think would have been more helpful is giving us scenarios of real life questions and showing how you would find the answer to those questions. Yeah, that might be going a bit far, but I think that would have helped me. I guess I can appreciate the fact that we were given free pizza :)

Anyways, SiteCatalyst seems to be a very powerful Web Analytics tool. In comparison to Google Analytics, there's definetely a lot more you can do. I was pretty amazed at the different types of data that you can see. The only downside I do see is that since there is so much you can do with SiteCatalyst, there are times where it does take time to find the data you want.

At this point Bryan and I hope to at least make a good run at the competition. We have planned out a strategy and we hope to carry it out. For now, it seems that we have quite a bit of work to do within the next week.

Omniture Kick Off

Well, last week was the "Kick Off" for the Omniture Web Analytics Competition. I really didn't know what to expect since every year I never had time to compete. This year my Web Analytics class requires it. So, I guess I'm lucky to have this opportunity.

Anyways, it was interesting to see what we are to do for the competition. The company that we are to analyze is Overstock.com. I think it's going to be interesting to work on Overstock since it is an online company. Yet, I wonder what areas of their company have the most potential for improvement. It'll be an interesting experience as it will be my first real attempt at Web Analytics.