Blog 1: Web Analytics in eCommerce and Security

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Importance of Web Analytics

“Data in its raw form isn’t that useful, you have to do things to it. You have to shape, and discard the stuff you don’t need.” [1] Web analytics helps turn raw data into meaningful information. Web Analytics is the collection, measurement and analysis of web interaction data to provide recommendations for improving web sites.

If the definition of web analytics is the improving of the website then the first step of web analytics is to know the purpose of each page of the site. Only then can value be gained from the information gathered. Amazon has different purposes for different web pages on its site. A wrong assumption while looking at a general Amazon web page is that the goal of the page is to sell an item. However, the goal of the page is to facilitate browsing and shopping. It is not until you check out that the goal of the page changes to selling the item.  Once the goals for the website are determined, the 5Ws of web analytics can be used to determine if users and web page are interacting as expected. The 5Ws of web analytics are Who, What, When, Where, and Which. 

The 5Ws in eCommerce

The previous lecture about Web Analytics and 5W's was quite fascinating. This helps in analyzing the  goals of websites by using the 5Ws. Thinking about the 5Ws can provide valuable insights that can be used to help websites meet their goals. In eCommerce and when browsing through websites like eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Target and Alibaba -  they can be related to the 5Ws.

Starting with the first 'W' - Who. Metrics like total visitors, registered unique visitors (RuV's) and visits/visitor (RuV's) can be really insightful to measure. Tracing GUID’s, user ID & mapped user can help us measure these metrics.

Second 'W' is Where, which can be obtained by slicing above metrics by regions ex: North America, Australia, UK, Germany and other growing markets; which can be interesting to see share and growth trends in that region. IP of the user, site ID or country of registration can be used to measure this.

Third 'W' is When, which is mostly a timeline against which various metrics can be measured. Looking into peak days, seasonal trends and holiday season can help in planning marketing campaigns, planning system maintenance, aligning customer support and planning quarterly/yearly revenue. Timestamp is the key attribute to track here.

Fourth 'W' is What, which can measure actions users are taking on a website. Metrics like click through rate, sell through rate, conversion, percentage of users going to a View Item page from a Search result page can be really helpful to measure. 

Fifth 'W' is Which, which identifies devices, operating systems and browsers that users are using. For example various metrics for mobile only and PC users can be measured. The following are some interesting points worth mentioning:

• e Commerce is shifting to mobile devices rather than traditional PC. Companies like eBay have about 40% of Q2’14 Global GMB(Gross Merchandise Bought) from mobile devices. This shows that most of the users shop using Mobile devices(smartphones + tablets)before 9 a.m. and after 5p.m.

• Also, in a world of multiple screens, users are shifting to multiple devices. Example: viewing fixed price item on eBay from mobile device while purchasing it using PC. In Q2’14 59% of  eBay buyers shopped across multiple screens. So, it's really important to understand the reason why people are using multiple devices for purchases [2].

• Its highly possible that mobile users have high frequency with a low session duration while PC users have low frequency and higher session duration on a site. This can be found by measuring session duration and frequency of user visit for multiple platforms.

The 5Ws in Security

Another perspective on the 5Ws is how they can provide insight on security issues. 

Each of the 5Ws can help in securing a website. The following list shows how this can be accomplished.

Who helps determine what type of customer or user is on the site. If the site is designed for business to business transactions we do uses creating logins for personal use. Knowing the Who of web analytics can improve security on a site. 

What focuses on the actions of users on the site. This helps determine if a user is behaving unexpectedly. For example a single user logged into a site is trying many different credit card numbers to make a purchase. This could be a warning to the site that someone is trying to use stolen credit cards to make a purchase. 

When is also important to security. Seeing a high volume of traffic during a normally slow time is a sign that a cyber-attack is under way. 

Where deals with the source or location of the user. If a company focuses on sales to Latin America and they are getting large amounts of traffic from Russia and China, then they will want to keep a close watch on their secure data. 

Which provides the starting point for profiling a user. Which tells the details of the user, the operating system they use, the web browser they use, the port and protocol they use, the type of device they are connecting with, and how they linked to the site. With this detailed level of information, identifying common attack vectors becomes easier allowing the site to close open vulnerabilities. 

Case Study - DARKReading.com

While looking at a specific site, we can use the 5Ws to understand it’s goals. DARKReading.com is a reputable information security website published by InformationWeek [3]. The overall goal of this site is to disseminate information and data to information security professionals. This includes news stories, commentaries, white papers, and upcoming events. Keeping up to date on current events and emerging technologies are of extreme importance in the field of cybersecurity. Knowing the goal and target audience of this site helps aid in the analysis of the 5Ws. 

Who is coming to the site can reveal if a large enough percentage of the users are, in fact, from the information security realm. While general public and researchers are a welcome audience, without the intended audience visiting in high enough numbers, the goal of the site will not be met.  

When is also important as it can help ensure the articles and features desired by these users are available when they are needed. When can also help analyze trends of visitation to the site after the announcement of a major breach or security event.

Where the users are coming from can be most easily tracked through user account features available on the site. Users can also subscribe to a digital subscription of the publication. 

What is most relevant in combination with the other Ws.  Who, when, where, and what can indicate the overall goal of the individual user.  It can also help identify topics that might be trending higher than others (mobile versus operations, for example).  

Which identifies the tools a user is employing to visit the site and can help with site optimization. For example, ensuring a responsive design is implemented to more easily facilitate usage through mobile devices and multiple browsers. 

Why is more difficult to analyze from the outside. Having specific metrics and user data available is very important for quality user analysis and predictions.

In summary, understanding ‘Why’ using the 5Ws, various metrics and external data is the key for developing insights that can help in constant business improvement.

References

[1] FINLEY, K. (2014, September 8). Ex-Googler Shares His Big-Data Secrets With the Masses | Enterprise | WIRED. Retrieved September 9, 2014.

[2] eBay. (2014, July). eBay Marketplaces - Mobile. Retrieved September 10, 2014.

[3] InformationWeek. (n.d.) Dark Reading: Connecting the Information Security Community, InformationWeek. Retrieved September 8, 2014.