“Analytics is a great place to be in!”
In this interview, filmed at the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit San Francisco 2011, Daniel Waisberg talks to Jennifer Vessenmeyer, COO at Stratigent, a digital analytics agency that provides consultancy in all things analytics.
Analytics is a lot about consulting, either to internal or to external teams. As a long time consultant, Jennifer shares with us some tips on how to provide a good service. She warmly recommends the book Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, which will help readers understand the different roles of consultants. Here are her top 2 tips:
- Understand what your client expects from you
- Listen for what people mean, not what they say
When it comes to creating a data-driven culture, Jennifer’s advice to management would be to start small and be patient, it is not a matter of how much is spent. Creating a culture takes time and it starts with getting all the foundations in place, things like people, process and technology.
For people trying to advance their career, Jennifer recommends first of all getting certified in one of the existing tools, which is usually what companies know about this emerging field: the name of the tools used. The second advice is to get practice with case studies, even working for free to help a non for profit organization. Third, find a niche where there is no guru, a subject to focus the efforts and grow into a known expert.
Jennifer shares with us insights from her workshop Pimp your Reports that helps people creating dashboards, mainly figuring out what should be on the dashboard and getting a grip on visualizing data. She recommends The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don’ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures.
To close, Jennifer shares insights on how she sees the analytics industry moving forward.
Jennifer Veesenmeyer
Jennifer Veesenmeyer is COO at Stratigent, where she specializes in assisting enterprise-level organizations overcome the communication challenges of web analytics, such as gaining executive buy-in, building consensus and facilitating cultural change. She is highly regarded as an industry thought leader and is frequently asked to conduct educational presentations on the topic of meaningful reports. Not to mention one of the top rated speakers in seven years of eMetrics Summits.
Daniel Waisberg
Daniel Waisberg is the Owner of Conversion Journey, a consultancy that provides insights on improving the performance of websites. He is also the founder & Editor of Online Behavior. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and member of the Advisory Council of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit. You can follow him on Google+ or on Twitter @danielwaisberg.