By Michelle Megna
October 28, 2008

Google recently announced seven new features for its free analytics service, aimed at providing advertisers with a more detailed picture of their return-on-investment by offering custom reports, advanced segmentation and integration with Google AdSense.

The move is also designed to make Google Analytics more competitive with other enterprise-level analytics programs that online sellers have to buy, such as Ominiture.
Avinash Kaushik, the company’s analytics evangelist, announced the news recently at a Web metrics conference in Washington, D.C. Features in the upgrade include: advanced segmentation, custom reports, a data export API (in private beta), integrated reporting for AdSense publishers (in private beta), multi-dimensional data visualizations called “Motion Charts,” and an updated user and administrative interface.
The ultimate goal is to give users more granular data on who is looking at their ads and then let them segment the information most relevant to their campaigns in charts, reports and graphs that are easy to read. As for the API, that will allow developers to export Google Analytics data to other sites, widgets and publishers.
Advanced segmentation, custom reports and motion charts will be added to all accounts in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, integration with AdSense is currently in a private test phase and is slated for “a more gradual full release,” according to the Google Analytics blog post by Jeff Gillis.
Details of the new features, along with video tutorials are at the Google Analytics Blog, but here we highlight some of the key points as outlined by Gillis.
• Advanced Segmentation enables you to isolate and analyze subsets of your traffic. It is true on-the-fly segmentation of visits. Select from predefined custom segments such as “Paid Traffic” and “Visits with Conversions” or create new custom segments with a flexible, easy-to-use segment builder. Then, you can apply one or more of these segments to current or historical data, and even compare segment performance side by side in reports.
• Custom Reports are reports you create, save, and edit to give you a specific view of your data. You can choose the information and metrics you want to see, organized in the way you want to see it, by using a drag and drop interface to populate an Analytics report. You can also create tabs if you want to see related data — similar to a “Goal Conversions” tab — in effect creating multiple levels of sub-reports.
• Motion Charts add sophisticated multi-dimensional analysis to most Analytics reports. By comparing metrics visually over time you can expose data relationships that would be difficult to see in traditional reports. Motion Charts will be available through a new “Visualize” button at the top of reports.
• Integrated Reporting with AdSense lets AdSense publishers see their revenue and impression data alongside their site traffic data in Analytics. This integration will give publishers even more metrics to help them measure visitor activity and the performance of ad units, as well as discover areas of revenue potential on their Web sites.
By using AdSense in conjunction with Analytics, e-tailers will be able to tell which pages of their site are netting the most revenue from AdSense ads. It should also let them determine what content is most popular and which referring sources and geographies are garnering the most revenue. Visit the AdSense blog for more details.
Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.

Scannable bar codes will deliver detailed information, coupons and freebies.

http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/cell_phones_scan_bar_codes_ads_081029.html

By Michael Doan

October 29, 2008

Advertisers, cell phone makers and service providers are joining forces, and consumers may not mind so much. Cell phones can now scan bar codes on movie posters and TV and magazine ads to offer up more detailed information and in many cases, coupons or freebies.

For example, a phone aimed at a movie poster might get reviews and local start times displayed on the phone’s screen. Phones pointed at ads on TV or a Web site on a computer screen could deliver the same information. Use your phone to scan a sign at an airline counter to find out arrival times of incoming flights.

The technology is already commonly used in Japan and Europe, where consumers regularly download coupons or other advertising offers. Multiple bar code standards in the U.S. are slowing adoption here, but agreements are being worked out so use of the technology is expected to pick up steam next year.

Getting a head start are companies such as Scanbuy, which has bar codes on Billboard magazine advertisements for downloading free music, in restaurant windows for critics’ reviews, on signs in front of real estate sales with details, and at Sears home appliance centers, featuring product reviews.

“It’s easier to go point at a bar code and click than to enter urls for Web sites, which takes time,” says Jonathan Bulkeley, chief executive officer of Scanbuy.

Another firm, Mobile Discovery, is getting help from Case Western University in Cleveland to test bar codes for all sorts of information. Bar codes on school newspaper ads link to advertiser Web sites. Students use bar codes to enter company-sponsored sweepstakes. Bar codes posted at public transit stops tell students when the next GPS-enabled bus is scheduled to arrive.

The bar codes are two-dimensional and have more information that cannot be transmitted from the one-dimensional bar codes routinely used in packaging and retailing. Many phones already contain the software needed to scan the ads, and the software can be added to many other phones for free from the Web.

Another early adopter of the technology, SnapTell simply has users take pictures of the ad and type in a few numbers to reach the advertiser’s Web site rather than scan a bar code. By pointing to a Discovery Channel ad in Wired magazine, for example, readers can get a video clip of a new show on the Discovery network. An HBO ad in a sports magazine provides a download of a ringtone and an announcement of when the show airs. In a men’s magazine, Gillette offered mail-in discount coupons to people who pointed their phones at an ad.

One benefit for advertisers is that they can gather data on customers. The data will show the location of the cell phone transmission or demographic information about the publication being read. Different ads can be sent to individuals, based on their likely age or geographic location. In exchange, companies will offer freebies, such as product trials or ringtones, etc.

As the use of Web-enabled smart phones grows, there are bound to be hundreds of new applications. At a museum, for instance, you might be able to scan an ad’s code to get an exhibit’s details. Point to a magazine article, and a reader could get a detailed text interview with the author or an audio recording of an interview the writer conducted. Readers could download recipes embedded in bar codes in women’s magazines.

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This page printed from: http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/cell_phones_scan_bar_codes_ads_081029.html
All contents © 2008 The Kiplinger Washington Editors

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