Reporting vs. Analytics

According to Alterian, less than half (47%) of marketing professionals in North America and the U.K. are currently use analytics to measure online campaign results.

In this sixth annual marketing study from the analytics platform provider, 1,545 marketers, agencies, marketing services providers and systems integrators in the U.S. and U.K. were surveyed.

More than half (51%) reported using three to six applications in campaigns, another 23% reported using seven or more, and just 26% use two or fewer.

Two points.

First, reporting is an examination of “how we did,” while analytics is the actionable insights that can tell you “what is possible” or “how we can improve.” I’m not sure they make the distinction in the survey. It would be interesting to know how many who said they were using analytics actually know the difference.

Second, a lot of applications are being used. Do you get the sense that a lot of shops are saddled with WebTrends and are using other tools to get around the problems with the product? Google Analytics, the soon to be free Yahoo Analytics, and Omniture are the class leaders and I’m guessing they make up a large portion of the two or fewer group. Just a guess, the future for WebTrends is not bright.