Save the Internet from a toxic data culture

The Internet is having a crisis, and web analytics ain’t helping.

User experience, content, and site performance are victims of a toxic data-driven culture where businesses are willing to do whatever it takes to move the needle.

Privacy regulations were supposed to control mindless data-hoarding, but instead, they created an absurd situation where websites ridicule us with dark patterns and invasive consent banners.

As a consequence, people don’t trust the websites they visit. And businesses lack the information to build better ones.

While we stress about funnels and argue which attribution model is the best, we still struggle to answer basic questions like:

“Is my content any good?”

“Which marketing activities are killing it?”

“What do people really think about my website?”

We are paralyzed by complex dashboards, worn-out metrics, and excessive amounts of information.

Instead of being a solution, web analytics has become part of the problem.

We must reinvent analytics

The way we interact with websites has changed a lot, but web analytics is stuck in the past. Analytics tools give you an absurd amount of graphs, metrics, and numbers, but you still have to do the guesswork and interpret what it all means.

We must fix this.

First, we need to think about the users. The core audience of web analytics tools is people who aren’t always data savvy. Marketers, designers, developers, and startup founders need a simple, easy-to-use tool that respects their time and attention and makes their life easier.

Second, web analytics tools should do the heavy lifting for the user, not the other way around. Users shouldn’t have to figure out what to do. So give them insights, something they can actually use.

Third, we need a long-term solution to collect and process website data in a way that doesn't destroy user privacy or website UX. The discussions around privacy regulations are too complex; everyone has interests and agendas. Forget loopholes and do the right thing.

Remember the first time you opened a browser and started exploring the Internet? Even if you don't recall the exact moment, you know it felt magical. We may reclaim some of that magic if we can empower people with data to build better websites.

With 💖, the Volument team