Forrester Wave report on web analytics: Adobe, AT Internet score top rank

They may not be the sexiest of marketing tools, but web analytics continue their essential role as the radar of websites.

A new Wave report on this category from Forrester Research has pegged the venerable Adobe Analytics in the highest category of Leaders, as well as the Bordeaux, France-based AT Internet Analytics Suite.

The report, regularly available at a hefty fee for those who don’t subscribe to Forrester’s research service, is also available for free from Adobe and from AT Internet.

Among the other evaluated vendors, IBM and Google placed in the second highest category of Strong Performers, while Webtrekk, Mixpanel and Cooladata were judged as Contenders. No vendor was in the lowest category of Challengers.

These vendors were chosen because they are standalone enterprise tools having website analytics as their core functionality. They were evaluated against 32 criteria in three buckets: current offering (including data ingestion, repository, model, access, ownership, analytics and reporting, dashboard/alerts, AI, UX and ecosystem); strategy (such as product vision, road map, performance, partner ecosystem); and market presence.

As Forrester analyst and report author James McCormick pointed out in the study, “web analytics remains the most dominant digital intelligence platform capability,” alongside such other DI capabilities as behavioral targeting, online testing, digital data warehousing, application analytics, tag management, predictive analytics, Voice of Customer analysis and social analytics.

From the Forrester Wave report on Web Analytics

Adobe’s UI is credited for becoming “more intuitive,” although the report still cited it as being “a bit daunting.” That tool also hit top scores in such areas as data ingestion, data repository, data analytics and reporting.

AT Internet was highlighted for its high customer satisfaction, while IBM was cited for easy-to-use analytics focused on conversion, loyalty and LTV (Life Time Value). Webtrekk has a competitive pricing, as well as a data management platform and a marketing automation tool.

Google, which did not actively participate in the research for the report, offers the integration of its Analytics 360 with other tools in its marketing suite, including Tag Manager 360 and Optimize 360. But, Forrester noted, Analytics 360 lacks support and capability for data management, data ownership and reporting.

This is Forrester’s first Wave report on Web Analytics since 2014. In that earlier report, Adobe and AT Internet were similarly cast as Leaders, but so were IBM and Webtrends.

This past spring, the research firm issued a Wave report on Digital Intelligence tools, a somewhat overlapping category in which Adobe’s tools, including its Analytics software, also came out on top.

(For a different perspective on enterprise tools that includes web analytics, check out our free 2016 report, “Enterprise Digital Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide.”)

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech Today. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.