Web analytics package Woopra has finally left beta, with nearly 100,000 installs. The analytics package (see Inman News) is popular in the real estate industry for its real-time data and, the big clincher: a pop-up chat window that the Woopra user can send to someone browsing their Woopra-enabled site.
So when someone is browsing your site, you can see this in real-time via Woopra. Then you can pop a chat window up and ask them if you can help them or if they have questions, etc. More on this later …
Personally, I’m not that hot on real-time analytics data for most sites. When I’m speaking at events or with clients, one of the common questions is, "How often should I check my Web analytics?" and my answer is always, "As often as you intend to make changes to your Web site."
So if you’re going to make changes to your Web site constantly, then real-time analytics are great. If you’re only going to make changes to your Web site once every five years, then that’s how often you should check your analytics. I sincerely hope you’ll be making changes to your Web site more often than every five years, though.
There are, of course, a couple exceptions on the real-time analytics issue. Real-time analytics help you quickly identify when something is busted. For example, say you roll out a new search feature on your Web site but the code’s a little buggy. You may be able to see that something’s wrong by watching real-time users on your site via something like Woopra.
So in terms of analytics, I think Woopra is nice but a little bit of overkill for many real estate sites. The chat window feature, however, is worth a look. From the Woopra control center you can initiate a chat session with a site visitor, popping a chat window onto their screen.
The first time I heard about this I said to myself, "Self, that looks creepy and will freak site visitors right out." I gave it a try and sure enough, the first couple people I tried it on immediately left the site. But later, when talking with one of my Realtor clients, they explained it better to me: "So what if it chases off a few site visitors. If it helps me land one, then it’s worth it."
Using something like Woopra’s chat feature is a business decision and, like most business decisions, is worth testing. If you’re going to use the chat window, here are some things I recommend doing:
1. Know the value of a site visitor (financial value of Web leads that close, divided by the site’s unique visitors during a period of time).
2. Keep track of the value of site visitors contacted via the Woopra chat and calculate their value. …CONTINUED
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