Are you a data subject? If you're a person, then you better believe you are! And, so is every person who visits your website. And, if you are in the EU, or you have visitors from the EU, then May 25th, 2018, is a day you should be keeping a close eye on and preparing for now! On this episode, Jodi Daniels of Red Clover Advisors joins Moe and Tim to talk all things General Data Privacy Regulation (aka, GDPR). Give it a listen and pick up delightful cocktail party openers like, "Hey, do you know how to tell someone isn't from the EU? They reference PII." That's not just a delightful witticism -- it's actually important to understand the distinction between PII and personal data! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

When you find a true insight, it can make your head spin. But, will your head spin in a different direction if the insight is found in Australia than if it is found in the United States? On this episode, Rod Jacka from Panalysis joins the crew for a balanced discussion (northern AND southern hemispheres) about how the phrase "actionable insights" should turn the stomach of any right-thinking analyst. More importantly, the gang discusses the need for clarity around insights -- both definitionally and expectations-wise -- and share their favorite techniques for getting that clarity. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

It's a challenge as old as the smartphone (or...technically... a little bit older): we want to track and know people, but, when they're visiting us from their phone, their tablet, their work laptop, and their home desktop, we often really just know cookies and device IDs! Countless vendors tout their enabling technology...but then admit that, yes, you do have to get your customers to authenticate on all devices to provide a common key, which isn't always easy (or even remotely reasonable). Unless you're up for diving into the deep and murky waters of probabilistic linking. On this episode, Tablet Tim -- the only one of the co-hosts who is an avid tablet user -- argues that the whole topic should be pretty "meh" for many companies, while Mobile Moe smacks him down and shares her experiences (the challenges...and the wins that made them worth it!) with linking users across mobile apps, a mobile site, and a desktop site. For complete show notes, visit the show page.  

You're listening to this podcast, so you're, obviously, well-attuned to the cutting edge of all things digital. But, in this episode, we're going to discuss a couple (or countless) products/platforms (PaaS — Platforms as a Service! Who knew that was a thing?!) from a little upstart company based in California. Google wouldn't actually return our calls (okay…we didn't call them), so we went with an Even Better Option: Mark Edmondson — Data Insight Developer at IIH Nordic, Google Developer Expert, author of so many R packages he had to write a package just to count them, delightfully accented Brit who now calls Denmark home, and a guy who tried to solve Twitter political discussions through text mining (not kidding — it's discussed in this episode) — joined the gang to do their First Ever three-continent simulcast. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Do you have a spare shingle lying around? Have you been thinking about painting, "Analyst for Hire - Will Work for Cookies" on it and hanging it up on your front door? It seems like a lot of analysts are pondering whether the next company they should work for should be their own. Adam Ribaudo did just that (figuratively -- we have no evidence of an actual painted shingle) 2.5 years ago. He now works for Noise to Signal, a company he joined...just as soon as he founded it! On this episode, we grill Adam about how he keeps his vast workforce in line, as well as what his thoughts are about the decisions made by Noise to Signal's upper management. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Have you learned R yet? No? Well, then Tim is disappointed in you. Or, maybe that's totally okay! Way back on episode #035, we asked the question if data science was the future of digital analytics. We concluded...maybe...for some. On this episode, we dive deeper into what the career options are for digital analysts with longtime digital analytics industry recruiting and staffing maven Corry Prohens, founder and CEO of IQ Workforce. The good news? There are lots of options (if you find your passion and follow it)! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Let's pretend your goal as an analyst is to eloquently and accurately explain reinforcement learning. Now, let's pretend that you get to try that explanation again and again, and we'll give you an electric shock every time you state something inaccurately and a cookie every time you say something right. Well, you're an analyst, so you're now wondering if this is some clever play on words about cookies. As it happened, we didn't give Matt Gershoff from Conductrics any cookies of any kind in his return to the show. Instead, we gave him a lifetime's supply of opportunities to say, "Well, no, it's not really like that," which is a special kind of nourishment for the exceptionally smart and patient! In other words, the gang walked through a range of analogies and examples about machine learning, reinforcement learning, and AI with Matt, and no electric sheep were harmed in the process.  For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Is your organization customer-centric? Does your product team dive into the demographics of your customers to figure out what features will make them as happy as possible? If so, then you're doing it all wrong! Perhaps. On this episode, the gang chats with Dr. Peter Fader about putting customer lifetime value (CLV) front and center when it comes to developing and executing marketing strategies. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Are you biased? Either you answered, "Yes," or you're in denial. Or you're an AI, in which case you should just go and start your own podcast instead of listening to this one. UNLESS your prediction algorithms told you that this would be the episode where we would finally announce the addition of a third co-host, and you need to collect that data point (and, damn, you're good, BTW). On this episode, though, our THREE (count 'em!) co-hosts dive into different types of biases that analysts (should) grapple with, how they spot them, and what they do to take advantage of them (or mitigate them, as appropriate).  For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

The conceit of this podcast is having real analysts hang out with each other -- enjoying each other's company and talking a little shop. But, for you, dear listener, that hanging out is occurring through your earbuds. What does it take to hang out IRL with other analysts? Guest host Moe Kiss from THE ICONIC joins the guys this week to chat about Web Analytics Wednesdays, MeasureBowling, MeasureCamp, and what it takes to get those local, in-person relationships rolling successfully. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

WHY does Tim simply not give Python its due? Isn't Python a perfectly acceptable -- possibly even better -- option when it comes to diving into programming with data? It's open source, too. Some say it's easier to learn than R. And, frankly, isn't a programming language named after a snake just inherently cooler than one named after a letter of the alphabet? The fellas tackled the topic with Ryan Praskieviecz from EY on this episode...and possibly wound up tackling it in a way that will leave Python lovers that much more ready to strangle them (as pythons are wont to do). For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

It's another one of those on-going lobby bar topics: how much of the data should be made available to whom and in what form? Should all of an organization's data be completely and freely available to everyone in the company, or is that a recipe for messy data being misinterpreted and misused? That's the topic tackled on this show, courtesy of a recommendation from Pawel Kapuscinski. As it happens, it's also Independence Day in the U.S. -- a fact with which the guys had a little fun. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.  

We can watch (sort of) what users do on our sites. That's web analytics. We can ask them how they felt about the experience. That's voice of the customer. But, can we (and should we?) actually analyze their emotional reactions? On this episode, Michael and Tim sat down with Dr. Liraz Margalit, Head of Digital Behavioral Research at Clicktale, to bend their brains a bit around that very topic. And, they left the discussion thinking differently about conversion rates, and even realizing that scroll tracking might just have a valuable application! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Back in the day, we explained the difference between a visitor, a visit, and a pageview to stakeholders using an analogy of a person walking into a physical store. Now, digital channels are dominating, and physical stores are struggling...which is an opportunity to apply what we've learned about behavioral analysis on the web to in-(REAL)-store consumer behavior. Gary Angel from Digital Mortar (@digitalmortar) returned to the show (our first ever repeat guest!) to walk us through the many, many similarities, as well as to explain some of the unique challenges and opportunities of in-store analytics. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Change. It's scary. It's exhilarating. It's a song by Churchill. Sometimes, be it due to your manager, due to a corporate acquisition, or due to a job change, you just wind up with a voice in your head belting out, "You want me to change, change, change!" In this episode, Nancy Koons from Team Demystified joins us to dive into our collective histories when it comes to switching analytics tools -- where we stumbled, where we succeeded, and how we've come to approach the ever shifting landscape of analytics tools. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.  

It seems like a simple couple of questions: 1) When and where does the analyst's role start?, and 2) When and where does the analyst's role end? And, do the answers to either of these questions change based on the type of organization you're in (in-house versus agency)? As it turns out, Michael and Tim largely agree on the answers to these questions…but their agreement is pretty expansive, so this could be the episode that infuriates you, dear listener! Give it a listen, and be prepared to shake your fist at your earbuds! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.  

"Psssst! Hey! Buddy! Want some analytics? Whatcha' lookin''for? Insights? Recommendations? Maybe some implementation? I got anything you want, and I got it at a great price!…" Sound familiar? No? Well, then you're just not hanging out in dark corners next to executive washrooms the world over! On this episode, Sayf Sharif of SEER Interactive joins us to chat about the how and when of selling analytics — from outside OR inside an organization. Plus, there's a nice throw down about the proper pronunciation of "GIF." For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Do you want to know something about analysts? They're people. And, not only are they people, but they work with people. And people have personalities. Even the hosts of this podcast have personalities. One of the hosts is introspective about the ramifications for those facts when it comes to his work. The other host gets so rattled by the topic that he uses the phrase "a lightbulb went off," when the appropriate figure of speech was actually "a lightbulb went ON." Can you guess which host is which? Give this episode a listen to find out! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this show and a transcript of the episode, visit the show page.

Well into our third year of the show, we decided it was time to show that we've become hard-hitting audio journalists by bringing on a heavy-hitter in the world of display media and grilling him with tough questions. And then we found out we're not hard-hitting audio journalists. And the heavy-hitter we brought on was informative, articulate, and willing to muse objectively about the challenges that face display advertising. So much for the original plan! John Nardone of Flashtalking was actually the first person every targeted by a DoubleClick ad, and that was almost 20 years ago! You will hear that story in this episode, as well as sage little gems about "the mythical allusion that the (media) agency is in fact an agent for the client," as well as how "the technology is ahead of a lot of the advertisers' ability to deploy it effectively." It was a fun and informative discussion! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

FINALLY! It's a show all about Google Tag Manager! Oh. Wait. What's that? We had Simo Ahava on the show and actually covered a different topic entirely? WHAT NINNYHEAD APPROVED THAT DECISION?! Well, what's done is done. With 'nary a trigger or a container referenced, but plenty of wisecracks about scrum masters and backlogs and "definitions of 'done,'" we once again managed to coast a bit over the one-hour mark. And, frankly, we're pretty pleased with the chat we had. You'll just have to go to Simo's blog if your jonesing for a GTM fix. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

So, knowledge management and data management walked into a bar and bumped into Github. The result? Open data and, specifically, data.world! Coremetrics...and then Bazaarvoice founder Brett Hurt, along with Homeaway.com and Bazaarvoice veteran Jon Loyens, joined us to talk about what open data is, why it's gaining traction, and why we all should care. And, if you've been pining to have us record an episode that runs for more than an hour, this one is it! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Have you ever been to a really great analytics conference and had just one great conversation after another with other attendees? We have! And, for this episode, we decided to head up into the hills above Budapest and try to bring that experience to you. With a range of fine and foreign libations in hand, a crackling fire toasting our backsides, and a roaming handheld microphone, we asked the questions, and the Superweek 2017 attendees provided the answers. Except when the audience asked the questions...for an episode releasing four weeks hence!   For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

The world is an oyster. It's also a system. A complex system! Companies are components in that system, and they're systems unto themselves! And marketing departments, and digital marketing, and the data therein, are systems, too. As analysts, we're looking for pearls in these systems (and you were wondering where we were going with this)! Join Michael and Tim as they chat with Christopher Berry of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) about "systems thinking." You'll be smarter for it! As a special "feature" (not a bug!) for this episode, we've done a bit of a throwback to the earliest days of this podcast, in that Michael's audio sounds a little bit like he was chatting through a tin can with a string tied to it. We apologize for that! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Pop psychology is fun, if not that useful. Pop analytics can be dangerous! What IS pop analytics? It's a term coined (as far as we can tell) by analytics legend Kevin Hillstrom, and we managed to get him on the show to chat about it! The fact that it turned into a therapy session for Tim was just an added bonus. NOTE: We hit a glitch with Kevin's audio 45 minutes into the episode and have done our best to work around it. It was especially painful, in that he had some very nice things to say about the show, but, alas, the choppy audio means we won't be able to repurpose the clip for marketing purposes! We apologize for the glitch. It was something we didn't recognize for what it was when it happened, but now we know! See the show notes, links, and transcription at: http://www.analyticshour.io/2017/01/17/054-pop-analytics-with-kevin-hillstrom/.

Do you care about acquiring customers? Do you care about data? Do you like wearing shoes that have soles that are 2-3″ thick? Put those three things together and it means you care — or should care — about customer data platforms. On this episode, Todd Belcher from BlueConic joins us to explain what CDPs are and what they're good for. Tune in to hear Todd masterfully steer clear of a sales pitch for his company…while Michael transitions on the fly from getting a basic understanding of CDPs…to installing BlueConic on this site…to pitching BlueConic himself! For complete show notes, including links and the show transcript, go to: http://www.analyticshour.io/2017/01/03/053-customer-data-platforms-with-todd-belcher-2/.