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Web Analytics Association Formed
A group including industry experts, leading vendors and client organizations has formed a new non-profit professional body, the Web Analytics Association (WAA), in the USA. The organisation is dedicated to promoting the understanding of web analytics through education, advocacy, standards, research and technology.
The organisation will include committees devoted to advocacy / legislative issues; development of education initiatives (with the eventual aim of certification); international issues; provision of research data into trends and best practices; standards - including measurement methodologies, metrics, and nomenclature; and the development of the sector's technology.
Founding Corporate Members of the WAA include Coremetrics, IBM, Nedstat, Omniture, Visual Sciences, WebSideStory and WebTrends. The first Board of Directors features Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder of Future Now, Inc., as Chairman; Jim Sterne, President of Target Marketing as President; and Seth Romanow, Director, Worldwide Customer Knowledge Management and Analytics, Hewlett-Packard Company, as Vice President.
The founders cited recent Forrester Research which suggests that nearly two-thirds of online consumers use the 'Net to research products and services and then purchase offline, which will drive demand for means of tracking customers across channels. More specifically, Forrester says that 54% of companies expect to spend more or significantly more on web analytics in 2005.
Sterne says that 'many organizations still don't realize the value of web analytics or aren't empowered to take action. The WAA sets out to promote issues like education, advocacy and standards to strengthen and stabilize the growing web analytics industry'.
According to Romanow, end-users lack a common language for measuring and reporting on key metrics, such as conversions, unique visitors and abandonment. 'One of the first tasks of the group will be to review and refine definitions to provide a better understanding of key metrics and industry benchmarking'.
The WAA is online at www.webanalyticsassociation.org
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