When will "web analytics" pay more attention to "Listening" to website customers? Lets' move towards more "attitudinal web analytics".

Two days ago I reported on the fact that the website was a great "ex-spot". Of course it makes sense, people come to the brand (the website), to search, buy ....and talk!

If so, and if it is all about the "experience", why is web analytics dominated by "tracking behaviors, visits, pages, paths, etc." ? Google "web analytics" for example look at the results, all made of tracking software vendors only. Of course, those analytics are useful and I respect all vendors in this area, but they are not the only ones important.

It is good know the "what" of site traffic, but as important to understand the "whys", and the future engagement of customers visiting your site, no?

The only way to know is: to ask and listen, in other words talk with people that want to talk! If the site success is all about the experience of people (customers) on your site, why do we not count enough metrics that take this into account. Satisfaction maybe one, but it is not good enough, you may be satisfied, but the experience not good enough to make you comeback, take actions online (or offline), and recommend the site to others. So the field of "attitudinal web analytics" is indeed wild open, and I hope that more web industry leaders will start endorsing it more. Indeed, if business success is about all attracting new clients, my experience of entrepreneur tells me that it is as much about making clients loyal. The only way: to serve them better by listening to what they say, no?

We are, as we speak, working on a R&D program to develop a web analytics industry benchmark that provides a good indicator of a site success (as correlated to traffic and revenue for example) based on the value of the site experience. The first results are really promising as they show strong correlations with site performance whatever is the type of site measured: brand websites, portals, or e-commerce. Our ambition is to develop the equivalent of a "Net Promoter Score" for websites.