The numbers tell the story or, in the case of e-bookstore analytics, reflect certain behavioral patterns and purchasing tendencies. While not an exact science, analytics can provide critical (and much needed) insight into e-bookstore activity, a service that Qbend offers. “The analytics are aimed at providing publishers with a better understanding of their customers and markets,” says COO Kaushik Sampath, explaining that reports are provided biannually, quarterly, or monthly depending on the traffic at the publisher’s store. They can even be generated on an as-needed basis.



Information such as purchase patterns, for instance, help publishers to determine the effectiveness of a marketing campaign and see the breakdown of the types of content purchased (i.e., whole book vs. chapters). Traffic spike reports, on the other hand, reveal the number of visitors on a day-by-day basis and the frequency of visits, and correlate the data with marketing campaigns in that period. Other key information provided by Sampath’s team of 15 experts includes customer location (broken down by country, state, or city), frequent buyer profiles, a list of most viewed and searched titles, customer responsiveness to discounts and special offers, preferred formats of e-books and types of devices used, and performance of chapter-based sales against whole-book sales.

“When it comes to customized reports, our programmers can dig into any sort of data stored in our databases and read the patterns,” says Sampath. “Work on such reports typically starts with a publisher posing a question on what they need to understand. Then, based on what is available in our database, the publishing client and our experts figure out a way to draw inferences from the relevant data.” He adds that customized reports are provided for a nominal fee since they involve one-time programming and data analysis. “These inferences are meant to help publishers take action. For instance, we provide inferences that publishers can use to plan their marketing campaigns—either on their own or through an appointed agency.”