Three myths about analytics setup

Most teams know this matters. Fewer have decided who owns it. A few things about analytics setup that get repeated more often than they get checked.

More dashboards rarely produce more decisions. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.

“It only matters for big sites”

Data you do not trust is worse than none. Where this goes wrong is almost never a lack of knowledge. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.

“We can deal with it after launch”

Sometimes true, usually expensive. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions.

“Our platform handles it”

Decide what you will act on before you track it. The cost of getting this wrong is rarely visible on the day it happens. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.

How to tell if yours is fine

Data you do not trust is worse than no data, because it gets quoted anyway. Three things worth confirming about analytics setup before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Decide what you will act on before you track it — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.