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Thought I should share some of the lastest analytics news/tools I found…

Microsoft Excel-Google Analytics integration

Through one of my LinkedIn groups I found this new tool - it’s a free, open source, plug-in for Microsoft Excel that let’s you import, store, and manipulate data from Google Analytics.

The add-on is available for free download and use at: excellentanalytics.com - go check it out.

Tracking mobile applications

With all the mobile app stores that have sprung up in the past year, developers and brands have a wide range of new ways to reach mobile users. As is so often true, however, opportunity brings new challenges, and in this case it’s monitoring sales and performance across all those platforms.

Distimo, a Dutch startup has the solution, tracking prices and download activity on all the major app stores. It covers Apple, Android, Blackberry, Nokia and Palm app stores, among others and functions as a sort of Google Analytics for mobile applications, monitoring and reporting on the details of each application’s performance across platforms.

The free Distimo Monitor program (in beta) offers a central place to monitor one’s apps in all app stores. Updated daily, the Monitor program provides an analytics page that also includes information on the competition, such as which channels they’re doing best in and how price changes are affecting their download numbers.

In addition to a free monthly report focusing on Apple’s App Store, the company also offers custom reports for the Apple and Android markets that provide data specific to a client’s applications, including those of the competition.

As the world embraces all things mobile, there are opportunities aplenty not just for developers, but also for those who can help support them.

ROI

When you have all the measurement codes etc. in place, next step is to really have a closer look at your digital marketing investment ROI - some of the key metrics you should be looking at/discussing are:

• Total campaign cost
• Total cost per sold item
• Redemption cost
• Total revenue
• Total profit
• Prospect acquisition
• Customer acquisition
• Click rate
• Response rate
• Conversion rate
• Risk assesment
• Breakeven point
• Prospect asset value
• Life time customer value
• Customer satisfaction
• Long term programme value

Google has launched a free voice-based mobile internet search facility in India that has been built entirely by the internet search giant’s India engineering team. Further the work is on in order to improve the facility as it might have some problems due to different accent prevalent in the country.

India is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in world. Mobiles (slightly over 415 million) outnumbered personal computers (PCs — slightly over 30 million). It could be the next biggest medium for advertisers!

Here are the details:

The voice-based mobile search throws up results similar to a PC-based search query. A user can log on to the internet on his/her mobile, open the Google search page, and ask for a particular location, pizza joint, taxi stand or florist while driving a vehicle. Simply speaking the word “weather” into the phone, for instance, would throw up the top results.

Currently available only to the estimated 400,000 Blackberry cell phone users, the company hopes to extend this facility to other handsets by the end of the year.

A couple of months earlier, Google India had also launched an SMS-based search in Hindi and Telegu in cities like Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The mobile internet-based voice search, however, is currently available only in English.

Right now, Google is struggling to reconcile India’s variegated accents and pronunciation with the search engines. “Accents are indeed a problem, and we are working towards improving the application,” said Vinay Goel, head of products, Google India.

For its SMS-based “voice search”, Google uses a combination of an automated voice recognition engine and operators to provide this facility. To make the service faster and better, it is also experimenting with voice recognition technology, which will ensure 24-hour support. The company plans to extend the technology to other cities once it is confident of the quality of its speech recognition technology “in any region of the country”.

Meanwhile, as handsets and data plans get cheaper and the number of mobile internet users grows, Google India is gradually moving its focus away from just SMS to other value-added services (VAS) like social networking, Google Maps and voice-based internet-based search on mobiles, according to Goel. The logic is simple. Mobiles (slightly over 415 million) outnumber personal computers (PCs — slightly over 30 million) in India.

On the social networking front, “one out of 10 mobile internet users use Orkut in India. The users are primarily in the age group of 19 to 25,” said Goel, adding that Orkut “is the largest source of photo uploads in India. Many users upload photos from Orkut to YouTube (another Google property)”. The Google Maps application, on the other hand, provides a cheaper alternative to GPS or global positioning system-loaded devices. Unlike GPS, which uses satellites to guide users, Google Maps uses mobile operators’ cellphone IDs (from towers) to help users identify locations, especially in cities.

Google also hopes to be a catalyst in the dialogue between device manufacturers and carriers to foster the development of Android (its open software platform which any handset manufacturer can use) phones in India.” Pricing is the key to Android’s success in India. While pricing is the prerogative of each handset manufacturer, the Rs 10,000 figure is a sweet spot. This should foster data usage and growth of mobile internet,” asserts Goel.

Source: SiliconIndia

For those of you that doesn’t know what ColorCode technology is - here’s a brief overview: ColorCode Technology uses symbols like the ones below; they connect consumers to content on the internet via camera enabled mobile phones and PDA’s - basically it’s the gateway to the internet for mobile. The free software called ColorCam, can be easily downloaded onto a mobile phone to provide instant access to content by “capturing” a ColorCode. In Singapore all Sony Ericsson phones are preloaded with the software and the newest numbers shows that the software is installed on more than 1 million handsets.

ColorZip Media introduced the ColorCode Technology back in 2004 and launched in Japan in 2005 (Main investing companies; Adobe, Fuji TV, TBS). Currently the company is expanding throughout South East Asia through partnerships and next up is US and Europe.

The great thing about these codes compared to QR codes is that they can be made in so many eye-catching designs on any surface and from any material; ColorCode’s can be basic or designed to an advertiser company name because each cell in a ColorCode needs to display only 40% of the identifying color, allowing superimposition of advertiser logos, products and images. Altogether the 5×5 cells and 4-colors = 17 billion variants!

So why should you or your clients use ColorCodes:

• It’s simple and easy to use
• ColorCode’s can be used in any media and on almost any surface
• ColorCode designs are easy to recognise
• ColorCode’s connect consumers to any form of content
• Code’s transform any analogue media into a digital platform i.e. allowing print to become TV

Because the service is real-time, the content linked to the code’s can be changed 24/7. The service can capture and track user data which means it’s an ideal CRM tool and the possibilities for use is endless: Product/service information, Coupons, Streaming, Video TV commercials, Music downloads, Product info/discount offers, Movie trailers, Movie Tickets, Data collection opportunities etc.

From my perspective ColorCodes or QR codes should definitely be used by all clients in markets where the software has a reasonable penetration. The great thing about these codes are that you are actually able to interact with you target audience through analogue media (like newspaper, magazine, outdoor etc.) and the best part –It’s ALL measurable, so you can now see which media performs and optimize your buys (as the case is with digital campaigns…)

With recent launch of the Google Analytics Data Export API, Google Analytics data is starting to show up in some new places. We have already seen this kind of service from tracking systems like TraceWorks. But know Google Analytics will also show up on your mobile phone.

In the past it was challenging to keep up with your performance data while on the go. Using the new API, a number of developers have created mobile solutions to tackle this challenge. Note, it still takes our system some time to process your data, so if you’re checking today’s data, proceed with caution.

Here are some examples of mobile applications already using this API:

For the Android OS:

Mobile GA from Actual Metrics (This app is great since it allows you to quickly identify what metrics are changing on your site)

Google’s Nick Mihailovski (Google Analytics API Team) reached out to Mike and Kirk from Actual Metrics to get a sense of how difficult this application was to build. “The GA API was very easy to use, Mike mentioned, “it is extremely flexible and allows us to get the data we want. What may require multiple calls in other product APIs can be done with just one with the GA API, allowing for higher product performance. ”

For the iPhone:

Analytics App by Michael D Jensen, The Google Analytics for iPhone App by Sergej Mueller and the Ego App by Garrett Murray

Analytics App is great for accessing all your GA Data. The Google Analytics for iPhone app also has some great reporting. Finally, Ego App allows you to consolidate reporting from different services, such as FeedBurner and Twitter, all in one simple dashboard.

Just saw this great blog post over at Bannerblog:

If it wasn’t for Twitter and social media as a whole grabbing all the headlines Augmented Reality would be the most talked about “technology” of 2008/2009.

While the roots of the technology have been around since as early as the 1990’s (remember VR games!) it’s only in the last 12 months has the interactive industry taken to it like moths to a flame. Below you will find some of the worlds biggest brands dipping their toe into “Augmented Reality”. Some are in it for the PR aspect others trying to find a useful application. Many just to satisfy their need to do something new.

The technology has it’s limitations though. Not only do you need a web cam but also a printer to activate it. Add to that one requires a download and installation of an application you cut your potential audience down considerably.

Follow this link and have a look at 35 great examples of Augmented Reality over at Bannerblog.

Also have a look at http://www.metaio.com/ - a pioneer company in the area of augmented reality technology, that develops software products for systems driven by visual interaction in both real and virtual worlds. They produced this cool in-store installation for LEGO in Disneyland Orlando:

Also have a look at this cool Mobile augmented reality case from Fanta:

Is the Growth of the Web Slowing Down or Just Taking a Breather? There are now 231.5 million websites according to Netcraft. But last year the number of new sites added to the Web slowed down to 29.9 million, from 48.7 million in 2007. The total for the year will almost surely be much greater than the 2007 increase, and is already larger than all the sites added in 2008. Does that mean the global economy is already on a rebound or simply that countries like China and Russia are embracing the web in a big way? 

Over the past year, China exponentially added new websites into the internet everyday. However,  many of these websites were duplicate websites. Overall, it is unclear based on internet growth whether the global economy is already on a rebound. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure,  developing countries like China, India  and Russia are becoming increasingly more influential on the internet world.

On another note (also concerning growth) mobile gaming in India is still up’n'coming (SMS still constitutes the largest chunk of the pie, mobile gaming is approximately 1%). With the onset of 3G, the mobile gaming industry is estimated to grow by up to 200% by the next financial year, say industry experts. Today variety of games are available and many games are offered for free downloads, making games very popular among the mobile users.

India is famous for their cheap mobile rates and a huge youth market.  Propelled by the onset of 3G games, sheer size of the market and the continual growth of the youth subscriber base, gaming is certainly the next big thing to enjoy on the go.