But the volume of traffic quickly made these tools, which count page views, impractical. That was too much for earlier generations of these tools to handle. WebSideStory Inc. In March last year, Gudema installed some HitBox code on the ABC site and customized what they wanted the reports to look like. Now, everyone from internal merchandisers to Web developers, marketing executives and the company president at ABC has access to real-time information about Web visitor behavior. Gudema says HitBox is more useful than first-generation Web analysis tools because it allows users design the system according to their needs.
Users can then drill down into that information for more detail.
For many companies, however, that process now takes too long and isn't automated enough without considerable custom programming. Report tools such as HitBox do it automatically, without custom programming. Savvy IT managers are installing a new generation of Web analytics tools to go the extra mile in gathering data on Web visitor behavior and then translate that data into new insights into what motivates customers to buy and keep them coming back for more. Companies are using Web analytics tools and services to help with everything from planning marketing campaigns to improving site design to shaping business strategy. Companies like NetGenesis Corp. and WebTrends Corp. have been around since the very early days of the Internet, so their offerings come from the perspective of traffic analysis.