As we all know, there is now more web data, and more web analytics reports, than there are hours in the day. One could literally do nothing but stare at web analytics reports all day every day. Unfortunately, that approach would be well beyond the point of diminishing returns.

The fact is that web analysts aren’t paid to stare at web analytics reports all day. They’re paid to provide data-driven insights to drive the business. In the absence of insights, they are paid to ask thought-provoking questions that have the potential to become marketing insights.

Given the scarcity of time to come up with insights and the overabundance of reports, I believe it’s important to have your own “short list” of super-powerful reports or analyses that can quickly give you insights or things to talk about with your marketing colleagues.

I’m going to share one of mine with you. It consistently either a) gives me insights about the prospects of a given website or b) gets my mind buzzing with questions that can be further investigated. Continue reading →