This document discusses real-time analytics and provides some cautions about its limitations. Real-time data can be empowering by providing a rich, constantly updating data set. However, filtering the data in real-time to view specific user paths through a site often results in small data sets or empty views. While real-time data gives a sense of urgency, decisions generally cannot be made or designs changed in real-time based on limited data. The document recommends basing real-time needs on an ability to enact changes, not just on data availability.

1. ON REAL-TIME ANALYTICS
Michael Dlugosch, Strategist
MVV, Helsinki, September 2012

2. WHY IT’S COOL
IT IS DATA-RICH
Source: http://www.marinetraffic.com

3. WHY IT’S COOL
IT EMPOWERS YOU

4. WHY IT’S COOL
IT CRETES A SENSE OF “NOW”
Source: http://www.socialinsights.com.au/blog/23-chat/111-right-here-right-now

5. WHY IT’S COOL
IT IS CAPTIVATING
Source: http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/post.php?id=443

6. REAL-TIME ANALYTICS
= EMPOWERING = URGENCY
= CAPTIVATING
= DATA-RICH
Source: http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?
hl=en&answer=1638635&topic=1638563&ctx=topic

7. WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH IT
(AS GOOGLE PUTS IT)
Source: http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?
hl=en&answer=1638635&topic=1638563&ctx=topic

9. Source: Google Analytics real-time for frantic.com

10. WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE
Traffic Source Your latest post on Facebook, targeting
your audience located in the UK
Landing page A specifically designed page on your site
Call-to-action Leading to a “Buy now” page
Conversion point A button labeled “Submit your order”, or,
better:
The page saying “Thank you for your order”

11. YOUR FILTERS
… but only
YOU BUILD FILTERS
one from
each type!
(Sorry!)
Traffic Source Your latest post on Facebook, targeting
your UK audience
Landing page A specifically designed page on your site
Call-to-action Leading to a “Buy now” page
Conversion point A button labeled “Submit your order”, or,
better:
The page saying “Thank you for your order”

12. SO YOU SELECT CAREFULLY
As you can’t have it all, you need to select one of these three filters. You can
choose which two parts of this information you want to to leave out.
Landing page A specifically designed page on your site
Those who have clicked the link on Facebook X
Call-to-action Leading to a “Buy now” page
Those who have clicked the “Buy now” button on the landing page X
Conversion point A button labeled “Submit your order”, or,
better:
The page saying “Thank you for your order”
Those who have ordered from you X

13. WHAT YOU MAY END UP WITH:
Be careful: every filter you define creates an exclusive criterion. Only if ALL
criteria are met, you will see a count on your “Real-time” page.
If everything turns pear-shaped, you keep watching the big “0” on this screen
all day long. Of course: “Updated continuously and in real-time!”
What can you do ?
Set up a Tweet about your
campaign on Facebook?
Contact your UK customers
with a newsletter?
Ask your copywriters to
change the copy on the
Facebook campaign? Or on
the landing page?
=> Looking at real-time data
is only worth the effort if you
are able to do something
about what you see in real-
time!

14. WRAPUP
Deep analysis is not done in a split-second. Neither are decisions made in real-
time. Nor can a design be revamped in real-time.
Base your needs on your ability to change things, not on the availability of
data.
With the tools currently at hand, visit volumes matter much more than well
defined deep conversion funnels.
The inevitable data splintering limits the depth of insights you can derive from
your data.
If you are trying to follow complex (or: unlikely) conversion funnels, buried
deep in your site: be prepared to not see any data for your filter set.
And remember: while you are staring at the big “0” on your screen, other
important things may happen around you – and you may not even notice.

15. THANK YOU!
WHY IT MATTERS
I am
Michael Dlugosch, a
Strategist at FRANTIC.
I am reading my email here:
michael.dlugosch@frantic.com
I am blogging here (rarely, though):
michael.westendintie.net
Occasionally, I am tweeting as:
scrutinizer20
WHILE YOU HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO THIS
PRESENTATION, 85 PEOPLE HAVE LOOKED INTO
THIS SHOP WINDOW.
Source: http://flickr.com/photos/marcdalio/

16. APPENDIX: SPEAKER NOTES
[Note: in its original format, this presentation used small "animations" to highlight certain elements on the page. In PDF format, you will see the
last state of the slide. There are no overlays, but the sequence of appearances can only be indirectly seen from the speaker notes (they appear
as [1], [2], [3], ...) MD, Septembr 2012.]
-- slide 1 (title)
Let’s start from the aspect of “Real-time”, not from the “Analytics” angle.. The possibilities for data mashups are immense. We can easily say that
only since connected computers have been around the possibility to capture a rich amount of real-time data sent from a machine to another
machine. Let’s briefly look at the characteristics of this digital“Real-time world”.
-- slide 2 (marinetraffic.com: Data rich)
[click]: It is data-rich. An incredible amount of data, all at your disposal.
This bird’s eye visualization cover over 300 moving vessels and about 230 anchored or moored vessels, together with navigation aids.
With a term coined by the German media philosopher Norbert Bolz, we are looking at a stage for “panoramic apperception” here.
Panorama as in “all + view”; “apperception” in the sense of “perceiving something as part of a context”.
-- slide 3 (flightradar24.com: you make your own choices for data and context)
[click]: It allows you to select YOUR focus. We call this principle of increased involvement “immersion”, and it is mostly reached by a structured
offer of selection possibilities, which enrich the context.
-- slide 4 (100+ hours uploaded to YouTube. "Now")
“Real-time” display of data as well can tell you what you are missing elsewhere.
Although our ability to deal with highly complex and abstract circumstances has increased tremendously since the early ages of mankind, our
advertence or ability to concentrate our attention hasn’t increased in the same proportion.
Concentrating on the “Now”, on the current moment, has become awfully hard, as there so many other things that can draw our attention. And
this is exactly why it is so attractive: devoting undivided attention to something has become a luxury. And real-time data just has that certain
touch of "urgency" and "relevance" to it.
-- slide 5 (Captivating)
[click]: As real-time data continuously updates, your view changes from minute to minute. The immersive character of a constantly changing
input to your perception is soothing. Equally soothing as the luxury to only concentrate on one thing at a time.

17. APPENDIX: SPEAKER NOTES
-- slide 6 (Google Real-time: what it is)
About a year ago, in late September 2011, Google Analytics launched “Real Time”. There are several other “real-time” products out there, so this
one here only serves as an example.
When looking at Google’s own words on what this is good for, we see the same main points: [1] data-rich [2] empowering [3] urgency [4]
captivating.
It is important to understand that these properties don't belong to the realm of Analytics, but to the Real-time realm.
-- slide 7 (Google Real-time: what you can use it for)
Here are a few words from Google about what you can use this data for.
Same story here: : [1] data-rich [2] empowering [3] urgency [4] captivating
And some context for you. The first one especially for your marketing department: [5] campaigns. Here's one for your content owners: [6] site
changes (the bread-and-butter point: improvement). And one for your Web Manager [7] your traffic (that’s what it all of you want: MORE
people spending quality time on your website)
-- slide 8 (2361 active visits)
So far, so good. Start drilling into things in real time. Discovering great insights from observing your visitors. What a promise!
-- slide 9 (If you have a B2B website: 1 visit)
Well: If you are lacking traffic volumes on your website, real-time won’t help you to derive much insight. To derive anything from this small
data set would be plain madness.
But: even if you have more traffic volume on your site: as soon as you are looking at a particular page or campaign in real-time, you have a
rather small subset of data to chew on.
Here’s why:
-- slide 10 (campaign planning)
When you are planning a social media campaign, you plan at least the first two things in this list.
But if you want your users TO DO something something specific on your site, you need to look at all four points in this list.

18. APPENDIX: SPEAKER NOTES
-- slide 11 (building filters)
As an experienced GA user, you start building filters.
One for traffic from Facebook.com. [1] One for your target audience in the UK. [2]
One for people clicking from Facebook through to the landing page on your site. [3]
One for people who click from the landing page through to the order form. [3]
One for people who finally conclude the order. [3]
Or something like this. [4]
Here’s the downside: You got your filters [5]. But you cannot use them all at once. [6]
-- slide 12 (reducing filters)
So: you need to sacrifice your information needs in favour of the tools’ ability. Funnel step data? Funnel drop-off analysis? Not for real time
data. Not with this tool.
-- slide 13 (what's left)
Real-time only shows you whether or not people come to your website as you would expect. This involves (and expresses) risk.
The more advanced you plan your conversion funnel, the more likely it is that you won’t get any data [1].
Carefully weigh your options [2], when considering what you can do to counteract.
[3] Here’s one sound piece of advice for you when it comes to all that hype around “real-time analytics”: only look at data in relation to the time
you need to change things.
-- slide 14 (Wrapup)
-- slide 15 (Fin)