The TCO of Web Analytics Solutions, Part 2
What's your Web analytics solution really going to cost? Last in a series.
What's your Web analytics solution really going to cost? Last in a series.
Part one of this series discussed the problem of Web analytics solutions’ TCO (define). I began by outlining the unexpected technology expenses you may encounter. Unfortunately, most analytic budgets cover only the technology costs and fail to estimate the cost of professional implementation and business consulting services (internal staffing and external partners).
As I’ve said before, the biggest complaint I hear about Web analysis is that a company purchases an expensive solution but gets little more than meaningless statistics out of it. Without an experienced analytics team, that’s exactly what happens.
In a recent report, JupiterResearch notes:
Staffing is strongly correlated with the likelihood that analytics applications will be used well…. Companies assigning at least one dedicated resource are at least twice as likely as those assigning none to measure conversion rates, integrate external search marketing data, measure marketing spending, as well as use A/B testing strategies and funnel analysis tools to incrementally improve Web sites.
So, how do professional services add to your TCO?
It depends largely on the route you decide to take. You have three options:
Whatever option you choose, you’ll encounter some, if not all, of the following costs:
If you have one FTE dedicated to Web analysis, calculating the expense is easy. If you disperse duties across several individuals in different departments, such as IT and marketing, you must estimate the time associated with common analysis tasks on a weekly and monthly basis. Once you’ve figured out the total time needed, calculate it as a percentage of the FTE’s salary for gross cost. A dedicated FTE can cost you anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 in annual salary, plus overhead expenses.
Web Analytics TCO Checklist
Now that we’ve looked at all the potential expenses associated with a Web analytics solution, we can devise a handy checklist for calculating TCO. To find your TCO:
Questions, comments, like to know more? Let me know if you’ve run into TCO problems implementing your solutions. I may include your story in a future column.