Real-Time Web Analytics is used for
monitoring as well as reacting instantly to user interactions with social
media/blog/website. In this competitive world, business needs to take decisions
as early as possible and hence real time web analytics is necessary for
generating actionable business insights.
The most important factor in the
real time analytics is the latency time. Latency time is the time taken between
the generation of data and its availability in the reporting layer for analytics.
Hence the lesser the latency time, better the real-time analytics.
In real time web analytics, typically
we are connecting to the websites/blogs of the business through API by
installing a plug in and generating security token. We can then find out the
number of users connected to the site and from which geo location they are
connected, how they are connected and through which OS platform they are connected.
These details are then analyzed for real-time decision making as detailed
below,
Number of users:
Using real time web analytics, we
can determine the number of users connected to the website at any given point
in time and thereby we can figure out the peak time as well as the best social
media promotion (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) method for the website. We can also
determine when to start the re-promotion activity by checking the number of
users in the website.
For e.g. when a mobile network service provider company launches a social media campaign for a new plan, we can monitor its success based on the number of users interacting with the promotion through social media and clicking on the website links. When the count decreases, it's time to initiate re-promotion activity to continue to garner user support for the promotion.
Mode of platform:
Mode of platform is the various types of OS (windows, iOS, Android, etc) through which the site has been accessed. Using real time web analytics, we can determine which platform is widely used and customized the message/offer accordingly.
Region:
We can gather region wise data which is very useful for the
organizations to determine which geographic locations are ahead in reach and
which locations need more focused promotion strategy.
For e.g. From Real-Time analytics, we can figure out the number of users accessing the website by country/state/city/etc. This can then be used by business to decide which geo location needs better focus and tailor made offers/promotions to increase reach. Or alternatively understand why the reach is better for certain locations and not for others.
Subpages:
Real-Time web analytics can be used
to gather data at the level of sub-pages/sub-links within the company's
webpage. This can provide lot of insights on user behavior, preferences, UI of
the site, etc.
For e.g. considering a mobile
network service provider company, we can figure out whether the
postpaid/prepaid plan pages has been viewed more by users. What are the
promotional offers displayed has attracted maximum number of users, what were
the search keywords, how many users register/sign-up, etc.
Data-Warehousing:
One of the best practices while
using Real-Time analytics is to periodically archive the data in to a
data-warehouse, so that it is available for Business Intelligence and Analytics
using Reporting Tools. Also it is a good practice to reconcile the real time
data with the data-warehouse to ensure they are in sync for accuracy and
reliability.