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August 19, 2008
Avoiding Calamity: Google AdWords/Analytics User Access
One of my best mates recently tied the knot onboard a cruise ship. The day before the boat left dock, destined for international waters, the unfortunate groom discovered that he had overlooked one all-important detail. It was just one detail out of thousands, but one that nonetheless had the potential to scupper months and months of planning for the big day...
It turned out that he had failed to pack his passport! So while he should have been enjoying the company of his mates the day before the big event, he actually spent the time racing back home (a 10 hour round trip) to save his marriage even before it had started!
Why do I relay the events of this poor unfortunate? Because in the frenetic world of online marketing we often deal with so much information that we fail to stop, take a breather, and make sure that we have not overlooked one all important detail that might sink months and months of planning and implementation.
Last week I received a call from a client reminding me of this fact...
Almost a year ago, the client had granted administrative access to the Google Analytics reports to a trusted employee. For whatever reason, the relationship between employer and employee soured over the next 6 months and the employee ended up leaving the organization.
My client effectively "left his passport at home" because only in the last week did he discover that the now ex-employee still had access to highly confidential reports in the Google Analytics account! To make matters worse, this ex-employee had been actively using the information for his own benefit!
In hindsight it seems like it was something obvious and the access should have been terminated at the time of the dismissal. It should never have been overlooked. That is the beauty of hindsight though, it is 20/20 isn't it?!
Now the all important message...
Hands up all you savvy marketers that are navigating the fast flowing waters of an online business venture at present. Keep them up if you are sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available. Keep those hands raised if you have enlisted help to create, implement, run, and monitor that information. Now keep them up if it has been a while since you checked to see who has access to your information...
I wonder how many of you are checking up on this right now. For your sakes I hope it is the vast majority!
