InformationWeek

hen gathering information on Web-site visitors, online businesses lose sight of potential customers whenever they navigate to Web pages based on Flash technology. But a new release of WebSideStory Inc.'s HitBox software is making those Web surfers visible again.

An increasing number of Web sites are serving up pages with animation and sound created using Macromedia Inc.'s Flash development technology. Problem is, Flash-animated pages don't generate the same kind of clickstream data as HTML pages. That means Web-data collection tools can't track visitors as they navigate through Flash Web pages, resulting in the loss of important customer data.

HitBox 6.5, which WebSideStory offers as a hosted service, supports the Macromedia Flash technology and can report on how Web-site visitors interact with Flash-animated objects, pages, and sites. Footwear retailer Skechers USA Inc., for example, uses Flash technology to animate games and other objects on its kids' pages. But Skechers doesn't have statistics about those games. The company has been using an earlier version of HitBox to track the number of visitors to its Web site, the number of pages they view, and the length of time they stay.

Skechers will use HitBox 6.5 "to understand how important these games are to the site," says Geric Johnson, Skechers' direct marketing VP. Skechers plans to expand its use of Flash, such as for highlighting specific products, and the new HitBox capabilities will be invaluable in determining whether those animated effects are more attention-grabbing, he says.

HitBox 6.5 also can identify the type of connection that visitors use. Skechers, for example, might decide it's making its Web pages too graphics-intensive if many of its customers are using dial-up connections, Johnson says.

The service also can collect data on files downloaded by visitors, and where they go after they exit a site. And the new release offers advanced data-segmentation capabilities that let online businesses analyze Web-page hits using multiple levels of content groups.

HitBox 6.5, which competes with services from vendors such as Coremetrics Inc. and KeyLime Software Inc., is available starting at $2,000 to $3,000 per month for basic data-collection and analysis services.