Abbar Anas - Google Analytics breakthrough: from zero to business impact

Feras Alhlou,
Shiraz Asif, and Eric Fettman

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Copyright 2016 by Feras Alhlou, Shiraz Asif, and Eric Fettman. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN 9781119144014 (Hardcover)
ISBN 9781119231707 (ePDF)
ISBN 9781119231691 (ePub)

In Memory of Shiraz Asif

When we embarked on Google Analytics Breakthrough, we could never have imagined that Shiraz would no longer be with us for the book's publication. He became ill with the flu and later pneumonia in February 2016, and after battling for several weeks in the ICU, he passed away on the morning of Friday, March 18th. Shiraz is survived by his parents, siblings, in-laws, loving wife and four young children.

Those who knew Shiraz personally and professionally understand that he was among the hardest-working colleagues, most generous mentors, and most thoughtful friends. He was always a catalyst for development and change, and his thirst for knowledge benefitted everyone around him.

Shiraz, we miss you and will always remember you. May your honorable character, kindheartedness, and open spirit inspire us all to embrace each day in gratitude for the gift of life.

Feras Alhlou, Eric Fettman, and the entire E-Nor family

It seems a little crazy that Im about to recommend that you pay serious attention to data and the power of analytics by buying this book. Simply because what has been hyped more over the last decade than data? Nothing.

We had the promise of being able to collect all the data about everyone. Web servers were practically switched on with data spewing out. Then we went into the hype cycle of data warehouses and then analytics tools and then the Earth was hypnotized by the mesmerizing power of Big Data. Nothing was safe; everything was going to be cured!

And yet precious little has changed.

It is ironic that we live in the most data-rich environment in mankinds evolution, yet we are barely any smarter than we were when none of this existed 20 years ago.

So whats the problem? And why hype this book?

A part of it is a generational divide in how executives made decisions (experience first, data secondideally optional). This is changing with time (sadly, the Earth moves, we all get old, we retire, move to a golden retirement home in Florida!).

A part of it was our initial approach of taking all the data we could get our hands on and then puking it like crazy (as if the shower of reports and metrics by themselves could make people smarter). Having failed at changing anything beyond local maxima, I feel that people are ready to stop all the data puking.

A part of it was a lack of a holistic understanding of whats possible, and the ability to create a winning strategy where the objective was not to nuclear bomb the world into changing overnight, but rather have a step-by-step approach customized to your amazing and unique business.

These last two reasons are why Im so excited about Feras, Shiraz, and Erics book. They take a soup-to-nuts approach to helping you understand the entire landscape of possibilities (from implementation to data collection to data processing to data analysis to deliver insights). They hold your hand and lead you step-by-baby-step in helping you understand each amazing element of a successful analytics strategy (covering tag management, audience segmentation, dashboards, and experimentation). In each chapter there is a simple way to figure out exactly where you are today, and then create the next few steps required to go from good to great.

There is almost nothing thats missing from the book that youll need to create an effective analytics and optimization strategy that drives online and offline business profit. The only ingredient that youll have to bring, is a deeper understanding of your business strategy (be BFFs with your bosss bosss boss) and a hunger to get better every day.

Data awaits. Carpe diem!
Avinash Kaushik
Author: Web Analytics 2.0, Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
Digital Marketing Evangelist: Google

The journey of writing Google Analytics Breakthrough started long before we signed the agreement with the publisher. The idea had been brewing in our minds for years.

For more than 12 years in our analytics consulting work at E-Nor, weve had the good fortune of working with some incredibly smart peoplemarketers, analysts, and executives from some of the most recognized brands in the world. Its very fulfilling when, during our discussions, we see that spark in their eyes when they get analytics and have the aha! moment. To get analytics involves asking great, sometimes difficult questions and then challenging yourself to find the answers. We are sincerely grateful to our clients and training participants for encouraging, nudging, and requiring us (sometimes in that order!) to push the envelopeboth for the Google Analytics product and for ourselvesto positively impact their organizations.