Web analytics professionals can earn up to 18.3% more in roles with marketing agencies than they would in client-side roles with retailers, finds niche professional recruiter Blue Pelican.

Agency salaries for senior web analytics managers were £89,300, compared to £75,500 in retailers, while the salary gap for head or directors of web analytics drops to 12.7%.

However, at more senior roles, the balance swings towards retailers, with the least senior role, that of junior web analyst, posting salaries of £31,150 in retailers, 16.45% higher than in agencies.

Blue Pelican principal consultant Kate McDermott says: “Not all consumer-based businesses are at a stage where they can justify building an entire function to support their ecommerce offering (for example), and so choose to continue to outsource their web analytics requirements to agencies. This enables external partners to realise huge change and commercial improvement for their clients very quickly, thus driving the value of these skills through the roof.”