Page views, hits, email, chat rooms, etc. There are many ways to track and analyze customer involvement at your Web site. TeaLeaf Technology has a different take, a bigger take. The company lets ebusinesses track the whole enchilada, literally every screen a customer views and interacts with. First released last fall, Tealeaf has just unveiled TeaCommerce 2.0, enterprise software aimed at large B2B Web sites. The new version has more features and wider compatibility than the original 1.0 version.

"We can provide a visual replay of any customer's online experience," says Randi Barshack, VP of marketing and cofounder of the San Francisco-based firm. "And we offer such a level of granularity that you can specify, for example, types of customers, those who experienced error messages, or those who did or didn't make a purchase over the past four months or other period of time."

Where companies might issue a generic apology in response to a complaint about service, TeaCommerce lets them actually view the session in question and issue a more personal response, as well as hopefully fix the problem.

"You could look to see how many other people had that same error and proactively reach out to those customers to apologize or let them know you're aware of what happened and are working on a fix," says Barshack. "I've seen figures that say of all the people who encounter a particular problem, only four percent bother to complain. We provide a way to reach the rest of those people."

Analysts are impressed with the technology. "Tealeaf represents a completely new and powerful approach to Web analysis," says Bob Moran, Research Vice President at Aberdeen Group. "What differentiates TeaCommerce from today's Web site analysis tools is its ability to capture all data about customer's experience across time, visually replay entire end user interactions, and leverage that insight across the enterprise."

PRIVACY CONCERNS The recording aspect of TeaCommerce raises obvious privacy concerns, but Barshack says there are many safeguards to protect individual's privacy. To the extent a Web session is recorded and linked to a specific user name, Barshak compares it to an audio call you might make to your credit card company where you are typically told that the call is being recorded for quality control problems.

TeaCommerce includes a privacy filter which lets its customers omit fields like last names or social security information from appearing. The standard TeaLeaf licensing contract includes an agreement that the customer has a posted privacy privacy policy and adheres to it, adds Barshack. The software also has an opt out feature so users can specify how much of their sessions they want to share. In addition, TeaLeaf offers training in the area of privacy in conjunction with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The technology behind TeaCommerce and the company itself spun out of enterprise software giant SAP AG. TeaCommerce currently has a handful of major clients such as Ashland Inc., Answer Financial, and Agilent, for its software which starts at the entry level price point of $100,000. Answer Financial is already running 2.0.