Evan LaPointe - Action Man

Should the folks of the web analytics community be held in awe for their intelligence, dedication and talents?  Or should they all be cast into a pit of loonies? You decide…

Today, it’s Evan LaPointe – this man does not like to sit around.  And he’d prefer it if you didn’t either.

Evan, tell the nice folks at home a little about you.

Dilbert shaped my life. I always wanted to be the guy who understood both sides: the business and the technical side, and while it’s been a lot to take on, I feel like it’s getting somewhere. I started my career doing Wall St. type equity research, getting to know what creates real value in companies. Then I returned to my darling: the Intertubes. I try to marry these two sides in my day-to-day, and while it’s frankly been tough to have these two conversations at once with some people, I think the industry is really breaking through and beginning to understand the value they create, beyond improvements to the web site. We’re collectively about to discover our super powers.

How many times have you been photographed in an embarrassing costume?

Every time.

If you were a metric, which one would you be and why?

Hmm, I’ll create a jackalope here: Congruency. I’d love for us to dive into (and simplify) how well our visits fit personas and intent. For example, when people click through on the keyword “dress shoes,” what do they actually buy? What with? How does this differ from different product verticals? Web sites with different categories of products (take Sears, for example, where you can buy a shirt, a lawnmower, or a television) don’t have experiences or workflows that represent how people buy these different types of things. People don’t buy a shirt the same way they buy a television. So why are the category level, product detail, product list, etc. pages identical? The setups in the stores sure aren’t. You obviously don’t want people to have to learn new interfaces all the time, but I think we can do a lot better.

You like to solve problems – if something ain’t broke, will you break it?

Everything’s broke. There isn’t a single facet of anything on earth that can’t be improved. It just comes down to whether the cost and/or frustration of fixing it is worth it (and it usually is).

What do you think is the most interesting thing about you?

Hmm, I’m not all that interesting. But if I had to pick, I’d say it’s that I’m interested in just about everything (except for Dancing with the Stars), and probably pick up about 10 new hobbies a year, trying to get good at something new. I usually fail miserably, but it’s fascinating to learn what it takes to really be good at something, and makes you appreciate the people who are. Learn an instrument, for example, and you’ll see live music in a whole new light.

Do you have a plan for world domination that begins with revolutionising the Web Analytics Association?

Actually, yeah, I do. If we realize the impact that we can have, that we have the potential to steer businesses and capital allocation around by the nose (by leading and making businesses wholly accountable to real, measurable success), we will absolutely dominate the world. I honestly can’t see a reason why we shouldn’t, unless we screw up along the way. And we are now. People out there think we are a bunch of band camp Harry Potter nerds. We need to pick up the vocabulary of real business and get this thing back on the rails. And we’ll be blown away by how quickly we are moved into the spotlight once we do.

If onsite tracking was one day deemed illegal due to its oh-so-evil nature, what would you do?

Keep doing what I’m doing. Mostly because the PGA Tour thing isn’t likely to work out. But the less data we have, the more that creative and reasonable analysts are needed. We’ll be forced to do more with less, and that will eventually weed out the people who today can hardly do anything with the bounty of data we do have.

If a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, what is the square root of a potato?

Obviously 42. Or a tater tot. I’m pretty sure that if you would square a tater tot, you would get a potato.

What is your wish for 2011?

This is my wish. We need to finish this coming year with a new perception and set of expectations around what we do.

Who is your superhero-sans-cape in the web analytics community and why?

Well, he clearly already has a cape, but it’s Avinash. The guy has turned people into ninjas, but has never lost sight of why. He’s a businessperson, and he’s incredibly kind and encouraging, given how frustrating this business is. Beyond him as an individual, my superheroes are the youngins getting into this industry right out of school. They are more well rounded than the great majority of us (not so tech-skewed), and they see the Internet as a part of their life, not as an additional channel to those available in 1987, the way most businesses seem to see it today. They will bring a huge wave of change, if businesses can evolve to bottle it up and sell it.

What is the strangest thing you’ve ever been asked by a customer?

Wow, this is like trying to pick dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. I’d say that a greatest hit, because it happens so much, is people asking for data for last year after we installed analytics tools on a site this week, as if the tool has a time machine in it that will go back and figure it all out. But this question is sort of like that thing Bill Cosby does about things kids say: you just couldn’t make this stuff up.

Check out the full list of interviews in the Silly Series here!