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Of the three products reviewed in this package, Omnitures SiteCatalyst 10 has probably seen the least obvious improvements. Of course, when we reviewed SiteCatalyst 8 two years ago, it already had many of the features—such as visual path analysis—that competing products are just now starting to add.
Click here to read the full review of SiteCatalyst 10.
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Of the three products reviewed in this package, Omnitures SiteCatalyst 10 has probably seen the least obvious improvements. Of course, when we reviewed SiteCatalyst 8 two years ago, it already had many of the features—such as visual path analysis—that competing products are just now starting to add.
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And while the improvements in SiteCatalyst 10 might not be immediately obvious, they are important, especially when analyzing e-commerce Web sites and incorporating data from sources other than the Web pages.
Using SiteCatalyst 10s new Data Sources Manager, we could pull in data from sources such as Web server log files, ad servers, CRM (customer relationship management) systems and survey applications. Although this feature proved useful for extending our view into site usage and its relationships, we would like to see something that worked more in real time.
In addition, the Data Sources Manager pulls its data sources through standard FTP. Given the sensitivity of some of that data, we think SiteCatalyst 10 should have a secure FTP option.
SiteCatalyst 10 includes several new deep-analysis options. Among these is an interesting value metrics option that assigns value scores to multiple items in a page or campaign, providing information on how items contribute to overall value.
It is also now possible to perform fairly complex analysis of visitor behavior through SiteCatalyst 10s highly customizable segmentation options.
We could also view keywords used by referring search engines, making it possible to see if there was a relationship between searches and search engines. In addition, for Web sites organized into specific hierarchies, such as by topic, it is now possible to track traffic by site hierarchy.
Among the hosted applications many new analysis options and features, we especially liked one that made it possible to assign a unique number to event actions while allowing us to specify that certain user actions, such as refreshes or hitting the back button, should not be recounted.
For a service, SiteCatalyst also offers welcome security options, such as the ability to limit access to specific IP addresses and the option to specify which domains can receive report e-mail.
SiteCatalysts pricing begins at $20,000 per year, based on an annual contract, and increases with page-view volume.
Labs Director Jim Rapoza can be contacted at jim_rapoza@ziffdavis.com.
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