Kampyle has integrated its user feedback management platform into Google Analytics and Nuconomy to provide side-by-side analysis of user feedback and website analytics.

Since the launch of its platform last March, Kampyle has been implemented by over 1,500 websites whose users have generated over 100,000 feedback messages collectively. The company claims that small sites average one to five feedback messages per day, medium sites average 20-30, and large sites average 50-1,000. Kampyle presents the most value to these large sites, which must manage their feedback effectively or drown in a sea of suggestions.

Kampyle naturally got the idea to integrate into website analytics from user feedback. The startup found that users would often keep two browser tabs open at once: one for Google Analytics and one for its own dashboard. Tracking analytics and feedback side-by-side allows website owners to keep a closer eye on usage patterns and quickly identify technical and usability issues. The integration is also meant to help with A/B testing and the measurement of other changes to a site, such as the addition of new pages or sections and how they affect user behavior.

Kampyle has been integrated into Google Analytics by way of a greasemonkey script. Publishers must install a Firefox Add-on to enable the functionality (no other browser is supported at this time). The integration with Nuconomy, a next generation web analytics platform, is far “cleaner” since both companies are in Yossi Vardi’s portfolio. The two companies worked out a private API that enables users to view feedback messages related to particular pages and then hop over to analyze engagement and interaction analytics for the same pages in Nuconomy.

Beyond these integrations, Kampyle has also added 60 language translations to its feedback form. Forms created in English can now be instantly deployed in French, German, or any of the other available languages. A greater degree of customization is also now available with categories, sub-categories, colors, icons and feedback button styles.

This post was originally posted on TechCrunch.com where I cover the Israeli startup scene

A few months ago in a Globes interview (Hebrew), I commented that Israeli startups may have missed the window of opportunity in casual gaming. Shortly thereafter the CEO of Kampyle told me that a sister company in Yossi Vardi’s portfolio called Come2Play is doing some interesting things in this space and I have to check it out. He was right!Come2Play is the Ning of social gaming networks. Meaning that, unlike the new generation of gaming networks (SGN, Zynga, etc.) whose games are the formation of branded networks, Come2Play is a white label solution for anyone who wants to create their own gaming network. The true “Ning-ness” of Come2Play’s offering is its platform’s granular customization.

Come2Play’s fully functioning casual gaming channels can be integrated by any sized publisher within minutes. The games are all Flash-based and are social by definition, i.e. two players and up. There are 22 games “out of the box” (Chess, Backgammon, Simon, etc.), but this number will grow as Come2Play develops more games itself, as well as through 3rd party game developers who will be given 100% of the ad revenues their games generate.

From the functionality perspective, a typical Come2Play channel includes a game gallery, play rooms supporting 80 players per room, private/public chat, gamer profiles, leaderboards, and tokens that are redeemable as virtual gifts.

Literally everything can be customized. This includes high-level aspects such as look and feel, language and even integration (iFrame or XML)—this is true for both the entire channel and even individual games. More granular customization can affect the tokens, avatars sound effects, and the game boards themselves. Publishers can also determine whether the game play can take place with users across Come2Play’s entire network, or specifically within the publisher’s own channel.

All games are individually portable as widgets and include link-backs to the channel of origin. As an example of the portability and customization, checkout this TechCrunch-branded version of Checkers (see screenshot on right) available as a Facebook app, a MySpace app and an iGoogle Gadget.

The core of Come2Play’s business model, unsurprisingly, is advertising. Based on nearly 39 million games played, Come2Play is averaging 8 minutes per user, per game. Add the ability to integrate ads—pre/post-game, in the game window and within the game—and you get an offering that could have advertisers and publishers lining up. Come2Play splits “game play” ad rotation 50/50 with the publisher, where each party is in charge of its own monetization.

It sure looks like Israel has a serious player in casual gaming.

This post was originally posted on TechCrunch.com where I cover the Israeli startup scene.

Delver, which came out of stealth back in January is announcing today that its social graph search engine is open to the public. While the product certainly is intriguing, curb your expectations as Delver has slapped an “Alpha” status on it.The objective behind Delver is to uncover and make accessible knowledge and information that is hidden in users’ social graphs—an area that Google’s Marissa Mayer has indicated to be an essential part of Google’s future search offerings.

Delver begins by mapping direct and implicit connections. For example, Delver would discover that Mark Hendrickson, Jason Kincaid and I are all related to each other through TechCrunch. In Mark’s case it would be due to a direct connection with me on Facebook. In Jason’s case it would be an implicit connection because he wrote in his LinkedIn profile that he works for TechCrunch.

Once these connections are mapped, Delver lets users leverage their social graph to perform web searches. The results themselves are ranked based on their social relevance. A breadcrumb indicates the results’ origin in respect to the users’ social graph—using the example above: Me >> Mark Hendrickson >> Jason Kincaid.

This Alpha launch marks the first time Delver’s search engine has been available to the public. It’s a brave move by Delver because the product is far from perfect. So in order to set the appropriate level of expectations, take the following into consideration if you take it out for a spin:

First, there are users who will find limited results because their personal social graphs are incomplete. Delver still has a lot of social graph crawling and parsing to do. That said, the Alpha launch encompasses the profiles of 40 million MySpace users, 30 million Hi5 users, 2.5 million Facebook users, 1.5 million Blogger users, 3 million Flickr users and 300,000 Digg users.

Second, if you’re expecting a streamlined user experience à la Google, then prepare yourself for a serious feature over-kill. Liad Agmon, Delver’s CEO, explained to me that the reason for this is the fact that aside from a destination play, Delver is also packaging itself as a white label social graph search engine. The excess in features are options that social networks could theoretically pick-and-choose from in order to customize Delvers’ engine for integration.

Delver took upon itself an ambitious challenge and it’s still too early to tell whether it will become a player in social graph search. Nonetheless, their offering is a compelling one.

The big questions are: Do you need a separate engine to search your personal social graph, or will Google eventually do it better? And is search even the right metaphor when you can subscribe to your friend’s feeds across all social networks and media using services such as FriendFeed?

This post was originally posted on TechCrunch.com where I cover the Israeli startup scene.

Last week the validation panel met for the second time and it was great. The team of experts, joined for the first time by Gil Keret, the founder of Brooks-Keret, saw three companies. It’s important that the companies enjoy anonymity so I won’t name them but they came from three distinctly different spaces. The first company has an RFID solution for consumers. The second has a B2C offering targeted at the travel industry. The third is a pure 2.0 play.

It’s such a pleasure sitting with the entrepreneurs and hearing them layout the vision and strategy of their ventures. Can’t wait for the 3rd meeting!

Remember, if you want to have your company participate, contact Doron Habshush at DH Consulting.

When I last covered payment service provider Payoneer, the company had announced the collection of $3 million more in funding and the addition of iStockPhoto to its client roster. Today, the company is announcing the initial rollout of “Payoneer Virtual US Account,” a new offering that simplifies payment cash out for international payees.The new offering allows Payoneer card holders that live outside the US to receive direct Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposits/payments without the necessity of actually having a US bank account.

Here’s how it works: Payoneer maintains a bulk of sub-accounts under its main account, which is held in an American bank. When an ACH transfer is initiated, each of these sub-accounts is referenced using its own routing and account numbers. When the funds are credited to one of these sub-accounts, Payoneer loads the funds to the associated card.

Contrary to their name, these accounts are not virtual at all. Payoneer’s thinking here is to call them virtual accounts because they only serve as channels for loading money onto their cards. The accounts cannot be used for wire transfers, they don’t bear interest, etc. I may be splitting hairs, but the name could be a bit snazzier.

The Payoneer Virtual US Account might not seem all that exciting to some, but I assure you, this is a huge deal if you are an international payee. Take the following scenario as a case-in-point:

Let’s say you’re an affiliate marketer living in Russia and you’ve just had your monthly commission deposited to your PayPal account. With Payoneer, it works like this now: you can perform an ACH transfer directly from your PayPal account to your Payoneer Virtual US Account. The funds will be immediately available on your Payoneer Debit MasterCard balance, ready for cash withdrawal from an ATM in Moscow, or available for charge at any MasterCard point-of-sale station (department stores, supermarkets, etc.).

Payoneer’s Virtual US Account program is still in pilot mode and only available to a select group of cardholders, for whom Payoneer can accurately verify the source and destination of funds.

While the program is clearly valuable to international payees, things are a bit stickier with the PayPals, LinkShares and iStockPhotos of the world whose “blessing” is necessary for the program to take off. The crux of their concern is a fear of issues related to money laundering compliance. They would prefer to avoid the matter completely rather than risk getting themselves into hot water. Their “blessing” is necessary because they may already (or can easily in the future) update their terms and conditions to stipulate that ACH transfer to payees from certain countries are barred.

The fact that Payoneer’s systems and methodologies are designed to deal head-on with international compliance issues should help it on this front. If Payoneer has been given the green-light to broaden its offering to include Virtual US Accounts, it has probably handled compliance issues to the satisfaction of its bank, which must have kept a particularly close eye on it from day one.

Many, if not most, Internet startups focus on the American market and its users. Often times this leaves international users without the access to products and services that US users find common-place. So it’s good to see a company like Payoneer simplify payments and cash outs for international payees. It might not be easy, but the rewards could be substantial.