More on WA Standards

Judah Phillips makes an excellent argument for standardization of web analytics data that is more clear and concise than my own post on the topic. I still don't see people talking about industry-specific libraries of high-value events, though. Without these, practical interoperability between analytics products and peripheral products will be limited. A "purchase" event really isn't the same as a "flight reservation booked" event or a "credit card application submitted" event, and they shouldn't be treated or described the same. Without high-value business events, you're still just talking about the core measures and dimensions that are the same across all sites. Enterprise analytics solutions go well beyond these core dimensions and measures -- and so must any data definition standard.

I'm happy to see that there appears to be interest in this topic among the big thinkers. It won't be easy to accomplish, for sure. But I believe open standards will be beneficial to vendors in the long run.