[Summary-Talk] Visitor Tracking Methods

["Chris Young" <ChrisYoung@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We offer Summary to our clients but I have a single client asking me to
take a look at installing Urchin for him on our server.

After looking at their method for tracking visitors it has raised some
questions.

Apparently they have a system that uses a combination of tracking code
placed on each web page, cookies, and standard log data. The tracking
code is supposed to help with server clustering, proxies, and caching.
The cookies helps with return visitors and sessions but doesn't
eliminate the first visit information like page entry and referrer
information. The tracking code consists of a JavaScript file that also
loads a small invisible graphic.

I noticed in the Summary documentation that if you enable tracking
visits by cookies or sessions that the entry page and referrer
information is not available. I was wondering if there were any plans to
enhance Summary so if cookies were used to track visitors that the first
hit related data like page entry, etc., isn't lost.

My client seems to want the most accurate accounting of unique and
returning visitors. Are the extra measures in Urchin likely to produce
significant results in determining those values?

Is there any way to configure Summary in a similar fashion and in you
opinion would it be worth it?

I am also interested in analyzing some E-commerce data from ELF log
files (Extended Log Format).

Are there any plans to support ELF formats?

Thanks.

Chris Young

Synergy Point
Toll Free: (877) 859-6370
Local: (828) 859-2444
Fax: (877) 633-5373
Web: http://www.synergypoint.net
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