Online retailer Fingerhut, part of Bluestem Brands, recently reported a dramatic 49 percent improvement in page speed through its checkout process by doing one thing: adding Tealium to its web site.

Tealium enables clients to improve site performance by 1) replacing dozens of digital marketing vendor tags with a single line of code, and 2) employing a variety of best practice techniques, including asynchronous tag loading, conditional tag loading, and slow-tag killing. Fingerhut used conditional tag loading to only load certain tags on its checkout pages, instead of loading all of its tags on every page hit.

Read the entire Bluestem Brands case study.

Editor’s Note: The following is an interview with Jason Paulsen, global analytics manager at Avnet (NYSE: AVT), one of the largest distributors of electronic components. Jason got his first taste of analytics with eBay in 2004. He used Omniture data to help eBay’s power sellers increase their conversions rates. He then began working for Omniture directly in 2005. He left Omniture in 2009 to work for an independent consulting agency. He joined Avnet in 2011 and is in charge of the global analytics program for Avnet’s e-commerce business group.

1. Tell us a little bit about Avnet and your role at the company.

Avnet is the world’s largest distributor of electronic components. Basically, we provide all the components that make up most electronic gadgets – from micro-processors to power supplies to connectors – that go into everything from smartphones to fighter jets. I manage the analytics globally for the e-commerce team.

2. When did you first hear about tag management?

I heard about tag management at Omniture’s Summit in 2011.

3. How many digital marketing vendor tags do you manage via Tealium?

We manage five unique vendor tags, but we have more than 30 accounts from one vendor that have to be managed individually within Tealium.

4. Who is your web analytics vendor(s)?

We currently use Omniture. I know I’m supposed to say Adobe, but I’m old school.

5. In what ways has tag management benefited you?

While I don’t have specific ROI numbers I can share, I can tell you that we have saved significant IT resources both from a cost perspective, and more importantly, from a “usage” perspective. With Tealium, I no longer have to take a spot in the IT project list. This means my team members can have their projects worked on sooner, which drives their business more quickly.

6. You told us a great anecdote recently about how you made some key web analytics changes during a meeting. Can you repeat that here?

We were in the middle of a site redesign. There were some interesting discussions regarding how many of our users view our site in different languages. We had not been tracking that value. So, in the middle of the meeting, I opened my laptop, logged into Tealium, created a new variable and started sending language usage data into Omniture. By the end of the meeting, I had some initial data to share with the team. This will help us determine what languages we should focus on supporting in our redesign.

7. What has your experience with Tealium been like?

My experience has been awesome so far. The support has been tremendous. I haven’t been able to come up with an issue that Tealium couldn’t handle.

8. What’s your next big web analytics project?

My next big project is the integration of our online data into our CRM systems. I’m hoping Tealium can play a role in that as well.

- Thanks Jason!

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1. Tell us a little bit about Semphonic?

Semphonic is a digital measurement and analytics consultancy. I often stress the word analytics, because we focus on delivering actual site and digital channel analysis to our clients, most of whom are very large, multi-channel enterprise clients. Most agency and internal teams that describe themselves as web/digital analytics seem to be pretty much limited to tagging and reporting. Getting clients to the point where we can do real analysis has also pushed us to deliver both infrastructure (tagging) and reporting solutions and, increasingly, it’s meant that we’ve been helping our clients drive analytics data out of traditional web analytics solutions into data warehousing. But the end goal is to drive change – and analysis is what does that.

2. When did tag management first come on your radar?

A couple years back. Seems like ages ago. I think the first real application we saw was actually with you guys. We had a client with a critical site section (The Account Application Process) that was built in  a manner that changes could only be done with a full development deployment cycle. So it took about six months to drop an image request on the page. And since it was the single most critical conversion point, they kept wanting to add tags.

3. What are some ways that tag management benefits web analytics?

Good analytics is dependent on good infrastructure. Costly, time-consuming infrastructure deployments greatly extend the time-to-benefit from analytics and can even chew up all the available measurement dollars.

Our team greatly prefers to do deployments these days with a Tag Management System (TMS). A TMS moves the bulk of the tagging work from IT to the measurement team. It’s actually much easier for us, in most cases, to customize the tag than to explain to an IT team how to do it. It also puts us in control of the measurement. I think it makes for better and cheaper implementations.

Tag management also gives you much greater ability to tune and customize the tag without impacting site and IT cycles. That’s critical because measurement is the tail, not the dog. Lots of measurement changes get de-prioritized or delayed when you have to run them through traditional IT cycles.

4. From an analytics standpoint, what are some of the signs that you may need a tag management system?

Honestly, I’m not sure you need signs. In my view, every tag deployment at the enterprise level would benefit from a TMS. But if I have to pick some signs, here they are:

• Governance issues with missing tags
• Measurement queue of tagging changes
• Reduced measurement designs to fit implementation cycles
• IT concerns with tag proliferation
• Constant changes to existing tags or foregone reporting because changes can’t be made
• Page load performance issues from tags

5. What are some of the things you should look for in choosing a good TMS?

We’re finding that the decision about a TMS blends two separate elements: IT and marketing. For years now marketing has been adding tags to the web site without a lot of feedback, governance or control. Interestingly, when it comes time to think about tag management, IT concerns tend suddenly to surface. That’s not a bad thing. I think you want to look at a TMS that supports core IT concerns around page weight, performance, control, and reliability.

On the other hand, measurement is a marketing function. The single biggest reason (by far) for having a TMS is to create a system in which the actual measurement design can be quickly and seamlessly controlled without tying up IT cycles. The current system of tagging puts tremendous pressure on the design-cycle to create a comprehensive infrastructure. It makes for bulky implementation process – and makes it very challenging to work on any kind of an agile cycle.

So I think the features that matter most in a TMS are the ones designed to facilitate that flow: configurability of the measurement system from a GUI, ability to control and deploy page-based customizations from a GUI, workflow management that provides sound governance, and a content structure or UI layer that makes it possible to track and manage large numbers of site customizations.

6. Is web analytics vendor lock-in a thing of the past with tag management?

I’m going to have to say no. Tag management DOES significantly reduce web analytics vendor lock-in. Tag implementation is probably the biggest single barrier to changing solutions – so the impact is real. But there are a number of other friction points that don’t go away. Collection design is actually somewhat different on different systems – so there is design and implementation work to be done even with a TMS in place. And, of course, things like training, reporting, data feeds, APIs, etc., all introduce significant friction. I think it’s fair to say that tagging is the one major difference between web analytics and other types of enterprise software when it comes to friction and vendor lock-in. But vendor lock-in exists in pretty much every single type of enterprise software.

7. Semphonic has grown tremendously. What are your plans for the future?

I wish I knew! Seriously, one of the hardest things in our industry is the pace of technology change. It puts a lot of pressure on consulting companies to constantly adapt. Going back to my first answer, I’m pleased with the increasing level of maturity in our industry. It’s creating real demand for customer analytics that actually drive the business. It’s funny to say, but we’re really starting to do the kind of analysis we hoped to do when we began the business 14 years ago. Digital is just catching up with the types of statistical, modeling and customer analytics techniques we were using 10-20 years ago in database marketing. That’s not because we somehow forgot the techniques – it’s because the infrastructure, platforms, richness of data, and customer maturity just weren’t there. Tag Management Systems are a big part of reaching that level of maturity – a level where implementation is a small part of your analytics program – not the whole enchilada.

A) Throw your own party at a hotel next door and poach guests as they come and go?

B) Or realize that the conflict of interest is legitimate, and maintain positive relations with that person?

That scenario is playing out in Salt Lake City this week at the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit, one of the biggest digital marketing events of the year, and it speaks volumes about maturity and leadership in the fast-growing tag management industry.

If you hadn’t heard, Adobe banned all tag management vendors, including Tealium, from exhibiting at its annual event just weeks before the summit was to begin. Its reason? It has a competing product.

That’s certainly understandable, and no hard feelings here. Although we couldn’t exhibit, Adobe allowed us to send several representatives to meet and network with the digital elite, including many existing Tealium customers and prospects. We appreciate that. More importantly, we respect that.

Adobe is a strategic vendor that we manage in a unique way within our platform. It’s critical that we maintain an optimal relationship – not burn bridges – so that we can continue to support our customers and their choice to use and manage Adobe products through the Tealium platform.

In addition to Adobe, Tealium fully supports all other web analytics vendors, as evidenced by our recent announcement with Webtrends, which is using Tealium to deliver turnkey web analytics implementations for its customers.

As the leader and fastest-growing provider of enterprise tag management, our goal is to fully embrace the entire digital marketing ecosystem, and have positive relationships with each of those players. Why? Because that’s what’s best for our customers. A robust digital marketing ecosystem gives them ultimate choice and flexibility in choosing the solution that best fits their needs.

Leadership isn’t just about getting customers, it’s about serving those customers better. The rest will follow.

What does this have to do with Tealium? Well, in addition to enterprise tag management, we help you make the most of your web site initiatives in a number of different ways. Whether it’s link tracking, A/B testing, content modification or affiliate tracking, our product is a flexible tool that helps make life easier for your team. We currently provide many turnkey customizations that allow you to extend your integration beyond tag management.

One of the many questions our clients keep asking us is, “What else can Tealium do to remove the involvement of the IT team?” Let’s discuss a few items just to give you a taste.

• Link tracking is a big request from our customers. Whereas a typical internal release cycle would be needed to enable this functionality, Tealium delivers this with a few simple configurations and a quick publish. After a few moments the change is live and any link click will package up the appropriate data and fire off that data to your web analytics vendor such as Google Analytics or Adobe SiteCatalyst.
• A/B testing is another request we receive often. Clients need the ability to test vendors against each other. Say you are looking to add product recommendations to your site, but you want to pilot each vendor and measure the results. No problem, we have you covered! With our product you can have this test up and running within a few minutes.
• Thinking of all the affiliates that are supported on your site may make you need another sip of that cocktail. Tealium can also track affiliates to help you determine not only which affiliate helped push that sale, but also the order of affiliates leading up to that sale. Sometimes you want to give credit to more than one affiliate, so with affiliate tracking you know each affiliate that supported the sale.

These are only a few of the many customizations that Tealium provides beyond enterprise tag management. Some of the out-of-the-box customizations were a request from clients. However, some of the customizations have been provided because we understand the need for our solution to be flexible. As Ty’s last blog post explained, it is easy to setup Tealium to interact with various web analytics vendors. However, as we all know not every integration is a textbook example. There are always one-offs and unusual configurations that throw a loop into the integration. Our solution is designed so that whatever arises can be dealt with in the most simple way possible. Even if the tools provided do not meet your criteria, we still have other methods of meeting your requests. Now that’s something I’d raise my glass to any day!

Through the partnership, announced in conjunction with eMetrics San Francisco, Webtrends will be able to deploy its leading web analytics solution on any site within minutes via a single line of code, giving organizations unprecedented flexibility in choosing the solution that best fits their digital marketing needs.

In previous years, implementing web analytics solutions was considered a costly chore because of the work associated with installing new code and customizing it based on business requirements. Through Tealium, Webtrends can deliver an advanced implementation within minutes or hours.

Read the release …

Hayneedle.com, ShoeMall.com, The Finish Line, Inc., Lulu.com and others have chosen Tealium for its tag management needs after conducting an extensive review of the market. Lulu.com tapped Tealium for its deep functionality, next-generation methodology, and a best-in-class user interface that enables business users to add, modify and edit the web page tags of any digital marketing vendor with point and click simplicity — no JavaScript expertise required.

“Tealium has greatly eased the pain of adding and managing web page tags for both marketing and IT staff,” said Becca Quimby Liberman, acquisition marketing manager at Lulu.com, a leading print-on-demand e-commerce site. “Tealium allows us to be much more nimble when adding new online marketing partners, while also providing greater consistency in reporting across a variety of channels.”

Read the entire press release …

Here’s a specific example, the “order – thank you” page.

If you’ve ever added a tag to your order confirmation page (either a web analytics tag or a marketing pixel) then you know that this is no easy task. The reason is every digital marketing vendor collects information in their own unique format. There really are no two tags alike. And in my experience, these order tracking implementations are not intuitive (maybe ‘crazy’ is a better word). Because these tags are tricky, they are often implemented incorrectly in the first attempt.

Tealium’s tag management solution has decoded and deciphered this for you. That means you only have to set a standard set of variables (product, order ID, quantity, etc) one time. That’s right, just once.

For those of us who have gone through the process multiple times, this is exciting news as you realize you won’t have to get your web developers involved in deciphering another tag’s requirements on the order confirmation page again.

Take a look at the samples below. This example shows only a few tags, but imagine there are 5-10 or more.

/***** Before Tealium *****/
// lots of individual sections of detailed javascript code

// Google Analytics
_gaq.push(['_addTrans','1234567890','store','25.00','2.50','0','90000','state','USA']);
_gaq.push(['_addItem','1234567890','C123','mycereal','food','4.00','2']);
_gaq.push(['_addItem','1234567890','S123','myshampoo','hygiene','5.00','1']);
_gaq.push(['_addItem','1234567890','O123','mysoda','beverage','4.00','3']);

// SiteCatalyst
s.events=”purchase,event1″;
s.products=”food;mycereal;2;4.00,hygiene;myshampoo;1;5.00,beverage;mysoda;3;4.00,;;;;event1=2.50″;
s.purchaseID=”1234567890″;
s.zip=”90000″;

// Performics
img src=”https://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/order?vid=KABCDEFG&oid=1234567890&amt=25.00&btzip=90000&prdsku=C123^S123^O123
&prdnm=mycereal^myshampoo^mysoda&prdqn=2^1^3&prdpr=4.00^5.00^4.00&prcatid=1000^2000^3000
&prcatnm=food^hygiene^beverage&cart=0&FXSrc=USD” width=”1″ height=”1″

// Commission Junction
img src=”https://www.emjcd.com/u?
CID=5555558&OID=1234567890&TYPE=300000&ITEM1=mycereal&AMT1=4.00&QTY1=2
&ITEM2=myshampoo&AMT2=5.00&QTY2=1&ITEM3=mysoda&AMT3=4.00&QTY3=3
&DISCOUNT=0.00&CURRENCY=USD&METHOD=IMG” height=”1″ width=”20″

// PepperJam
iframe src=”https://t.pepperjamnetwork.com/track?
PID=0000&INT=ITEMIZED&AMOUNT=25.00&ITEM1=mycereal&AMOUNT1=4.00&QTY1=2
&ITEM2=myshampoo&AMOUNT2=5.00&QTY2=1&ITEM3=mysoda&AMOUNT3=4.00&QTY3=3
&OID=1234567890&CURRENCY=USD” width=”1″ height=”1″
frameborder=”0″

// etc

All of these tags can be removed as Tealium condenses these all down to just one tag. Then Tealium packages up the order details and sends it to all of the tags you have enabled for your order page. And don’t forget the same is true for your product detail or cart page.

One more benefit to consider is the ability to get your product categories into Adobe SiteCatalyst at time of order. Most likely, in your original SiteCatalyst implementation process, you were told to leave out the product categories because you can add them later via the Omniture SAINT tool.

Your products variable may look like this:
s.products=”;mycereal;2;4.00,;myshampoo;1;5.00,;mysoda;3;4.00″;

But wouldn’t it be nice to simply add the product categories at the time of the order? Why manage a separate spreadsheet that is a duplicate of data you have available at the time of the order? Tealium makes this possible. No more need to upload category data offline using Omniture SAINT. You can add the product categories immediately.

Just another example of how Tealium simplifies tag management.