Why I sometimes just sit and wonder. User apparently misses whole sections of features then complains. http://tinyurl.com/68zbxl
Mymo's response:
That article is ROFLCOPTER funny. But sad too. But that is WT challenge, making their product so that this guy can use it.
Julien Coquet Answers
links to comic mocking us stupid non-technical guys :)
JeHawker responds
Agreed. WT has a learning curve and some usability issues. Blaming the user is not usually productive.
Chris G replies:
- i realize i blamed the user. I usually blame usability issues. But sometimes arrogance is just ... there.
Now now, my ego has been hurt. Someone has called me arrogant. He's actually right... I am arrogant, I just cover it with valuable content, and sometimes a rant is called for... While webtrends is extremely useful for enterprise level stuff, there is alot that does need to be improved.
It took over 10 hours of work sitting on the line with a tech rep from webtrends (3 actually) for my client, to find the problem among all of the settings. I also don't like the fact that the reports are way to general...
1) There's way too much work to file out a parameter and see the differences. For example, separating paid from natural search (unless it's because I'm too lazy to read all of the documentation... which I am. I do have it on my todo list...) I know where to break out parameters, and create a custom report... but it's just work. It's drop dead simple - and in beautiful pie and flow charts once it's created, but creating it is a hassle, and I need to be able to customize alot of things for different clients, with changing needs. It's a big time waster. I have done it in the past with clicktracks, and I think the process was a little simpler.
2) I just don't like their UI - I should be able to "get it" the way I "get" weblog analysis (fine, I don't), online marketing, and business strategy, without having a formal college education, or specializing in the field, and still charge my consulting fee (and without having to read the whole manual! I know, I know, I'm lazy)
Webtrends is a technical company, after all, it's software, but I think clicktracks has their butt kicked in the above areas, forget about their overlay onto the actual site, which I love (although clicktale has taken their concept to the next level.)
Chris, I do appreciate your input, and I'm actually looking forward to meeting you, as I see that you know a hell of alot more about web analytics than I do, but I think that webtrends has a ways to go...
