P&O Ferries is using a Web 2.0 tool to manage the content of its web site and gather information about consumer behaviour online.

The ferry operator is using the software to collect real-time information on individual user interaction patterns, as opposed to presenting the technical and marketing teams with historical, general and demographic data.

The new tool replaced a pre-existing and limited web analytics system, which only provided generalised information with no individual detail and was particularly onerous to deploy as it required numerous dynamic tags to be manually placed throughout the site, said P&O Ferries’ web manager Dan Acarnley.

“With the new system, you write one line of code on the site and then you can simply configure the analysis from the dashboard to instantly retrieve the specific data that you need at that particular time for that particular purpose. The time savings in deployment alone are massive,” said Acarnley.

“We have implemented the software with the confidence that any future changes won’t result in our having to spend weeks of development time changing the configuration of the system,” he said.

The system was provided by supplier Speed-Trap.