It is a year to the day since I began the Silly Series, in which I profile the great and the good of the digital analytics industry. I had planned to run the thing for a couple of weeks, but it became bigger than me and I have adored learning more about colleagues I admire and respect. This is the 68th profile I have posted – click here to see the full list of profiles.
Huge thanks to all who have participated – if you enjoy the profiles and want to be involved, drop me a line!
Today, helping to celebrate the paper anniversary, is Richard Calentine, man of fashion.
What can you tell us about Richard Calentine, esquire?
The first question is a tough one. I am a very complicated individual. I am not really from anywhere, but I am from a lot of places. I spent some time in upstate New York and I went to college in Texas, so I guess I am a “New Texan”.
I have done a lot of things before I got started in web analytics – from sales, financial analysis, and a pricing analysis for convenience stores. I finally entered into web analytics via a newspaper ad for an internet marking analyst. I had done analysis in previous positions and I had used the internet before. I could do this job, right?
You studied Computer Science at Quinnipiac University. What is a quinnipiac and how do you clean up if it gets on the couch?
I did study computer science for a brief period of time. Well, a Quinnipiac is a bobcat so you are going to need a BIG pooper-scooper. Do you happen to have one I can borrow?
What is the worst answer you’ve ever given in a job interview?
There have been so many bad answers that I have given over the years. There are two that come to mind off of the top of my head.
The first answer is when I was asked a very basic question, “tell me about yourself?”. I then asked the interviewer “So, what do you want to know?”.
The second answer is when I was asked “what is your weakness?”. I then proceeded to say “Reality TV.” I am a reality tv show junkie. If a reality tv show is on, you can probably bet that I am going to watch it at least once, with my favorites being Survivor and Top Shot.
Who is your superhero-sans-cape in the web analytics community and why?
I have a few different superheroes in the web analytics community. My first superhero is Rudi Shumpert, with a picture like this how can he not be?
My second superhero is Emer Kirrane (yes, you) because anyone who will read a governments privacy laws cover to cover, understand them, and NOT fall asleep is my hero.
Lastly, Jason Thompson as he is very outspoken and says things that most of us are thinking and he pushes the vendors to do the right thing. But most importantly he is about the community and getting involved in the community. Honestly, there are probably a few more, but I will stop there for now.
What is your favourite conference of 2011 and why?
Does the Keystone Speaker Series in Austin count? Of course, I might be a little biased on that one.
Really, this is pretty easy answer for me as I have only attended two conferences this year and both conferences were completely different from each other. I attended the Omniture Summit and SXSW. Of the two, I preferred the Omniture Summit, but SXSW was a lot of fun as well.
What is your wish for the remainder of 2011?
To take the fashion industry by storm!
While I am not going to be a designer or know how to design clothes, I want to start my new position off on a good note at Neiman Marcus. I want to add tracking and preform analysis for all of our sites that the fashion industry has never seen before. The Neiman Marcus name is known for high quality, awesome designers, and relevant fashion and I have the same standard for our web analytics team as well. Another way to put it is a quote from Jerry Maguire “Show me the money, testing, and analysis!”
OK, so I added the last part, but I think that fits perfectly.
What is the easiest mistake to make and hardest mistake to rectify in web analytics?
The easiest mistake in web analytics is the overall planning of a web analytics strategy. This covers picking a web analytics tool (free or paid), staffing a team, and implementing the tool. I have seen several times a company not ask the right questions and pick a vendor that does not fit the company, or not implementing the tool correctly.
A bad tool choice or a bad implementation can take years to recover from and get the company back to where they should have been to do analysis on the site.
Tell us something most people probably don’t know about you.
As I mentioned earlier, I am a complicated individual and there are a lot of things that most people do not know about me. One of things that comes to mind that is not well known about me is that I lived in Germany for three years when I was a kid unfortunately over the years I forgot all German that I learned.
Is it ok to skip implementation testing if your web analytics strategy is well-designed?
Well, I guess a serious question deserves a serious answer. It is never OK to skip implementation testing, even if the web analytics strategy is well designed. I have countless number of stories where testing was skipped and the tracking did not go as planned.
I also have a number of stores where testing was performed and code still went live that should not have.
If you have an egg in the hand, how many birds are in the bush?
Two birds, one male and one female. Does anyone have any potatoes to go with the egg?
