It seems a little crazy that I’m about to recommend that you pay serious attention to data and the power of analytics by buying this book. Simply because what has been hyped more over the last decade than data? Nothing.

We had the promise of being able to collect all the data about everyone. Web servers were practically switched on with data spewing out. Then we went into the hype cycle of data warehouses and then analytics tools and then the Earth was hypnotized by the mesmerizing power of Big Data. Nothing was safe; everything was going to be cured!

And yet precious little has changed.

It is ironic that we live in the most data-rich environment in mankind’s evolution, yet we are barely any smarter than we were when none of this existed 20 years ago.

So what’s the problem? And why hype this book?

A part of it is a generational divide in how executives made decisions (experience first, data second—ideally optional). This is changing with time (sadly, the Earth moves, we all get old, we retire, move to a golden retirement home in Florida!).

A part of it was our initial approach of taking all the data we could get our hands on and then puking it like crazy (as if the shower of reports and metrics by themselves could make people smarter). Having failed at changing anything beyond local maxima, I feel that people are ready to stop all the data puking.

A part of it was a lack of a holistic understanding of what’s possible, and the ability to create a winning strategy where the objective was not to nuclear bomb the world into changing overnight, but rather have a step-by-step approach customized to your amazing and unique business.

These last two reasons are why I’m so excited about Feras, Shiraz, and Eric’s book. They take a soup-to-nuts approach to helping you understand the entire landscape of possibilities (from implementation to data collection to data processing to data analysis to deliver insights). They hold your hand and lead you step-by-baby-step in helping you understand each amazing element of a successful analytics strategy (covering tag management, audience segmentation, dashboards, and experimentation). In each chapter there is a simple way to figure out exactly where you are today, and then create the next few steps required to go from good to great.

There is almost nothing that’s missing from the book that you’ll need to create an effective analytics and optimization strategy that drives online and offline business profit. The only ingredient that you’ll have to bring, is a deeper understanding of your business strategy (be BFFs with your boss’s boss’s boss) and a hunger to get better every day.

Data awaits. Carpe diem!
Avinash Kaushik
Author: Web Analytics 2.0, Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
Digital Marketing Evangelist: Google