Blast Analytics and Marketing

Telestream: Using Google Analytics and R to Forecast Revenue Impact

Supporting Leaders to EVOLVE

Overview

Telestream sells software that enables Mac users to play Windows Media Files (.wma and .wmv) on their Mac using QuickTime or a web browser. Microsoft notified Telestream that they were removing the link from their website to the product.

Challenge

Since this link provided traffic to their product, and subsequent revenue, Telestream wanted to quantify the impact of the link removal. They reached out to Blast Analytics & Marketing to devise a forecasting solution that would provide a projection of the estimated loss in monthly revenue from this change.

Solution

The first step was to understand if the backend revenue for Flip4Mac matched the revenue reporting numbers in Google Analytics. Once it was confirmed that the Google Analytics data was correct, Blast broke down the revenue for Flip4Mac into two components: revenue from the link, and all other revenue.

Blast then created three possible revenue loss scenarios for the link removal:

  • Best Case Scenario: (25% loss of revenue from the link)
  • Average Case Scenario: (50% loss of revenue from the link)
  • Worst Case Scenario: (100% loss of revenue from the link)

Blast used the statistical package R, which is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics, to forecast the revenue loss according to the outlined scenarios. By manipulating the Google Analytics data within R, Blast was able to determine the impact the link removal would have upon overall monthly revenue.

Results

The results were presented in two different formats:

  • a presentation handout outlining the possible revenue impact of the link removal, and

  • an R markdown file which would allow Telestream to see the methodology and reproduce the analysis, if necessary.

With a forecasted loss of revenue between 2% and 8%, Blast Analytics & Marketing provided Telestream with recommendations that helped address the forecasted loss of revenue, limiting its impact.

Blast’s combined expertise in the fields of conversion research, web analytics, and SEO, make them extremely useful as an outside resource that can lend multiple perspectives toward improving our website’s performance. I particularly appreciated their efforts in understanding our business and markets rather than just applying cookie cutter solutions.

Chuck Whitlock, Creative Services and Web Development Manager
Telestream