URCHIN Measuring & Enhancing Web Site Effectiveness

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 2 Albert Einstein “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 3 Nature of the Web Site More than information Intricate collection of: Processes Pathways Perceptions

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 4 Nature of the Web Site Think: amusement park vs. amusing book

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 5 Complexity of Web Site Design Incorporates best practices of Branding Direct marketing Sales Search Design Usability Copywriting Analytics Consumer psychology Persuasion architecture

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 6 State of the Web 68.7% U.S. households use the internet 75% use the internet for information purposes 84% of online Americans have used search engines On any given day online, more than half those using the Internet use search engines. Traffic to Regent website up 44% (Oct ’04-Oct ’05) One-fifth (20%) of today’s college students began using computers between the ages of 5 and 8. By the time they were 16 to 18 years old ALL of today’s current college students had begun using computers – and the Internet was commonplace in the world in which they lived. – 10/05 US Dept of Commerce – 9/04 Pew/Internet Report – 1/05 Regent University WebTrends – 12/05 Pew/Internet Report – 9/02

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 7 “Action” Decision Process

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 8 “Exchange” Process

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 9 Web Sites as a Marketing Tool Are now the preferred channel for lead generation Low cost Web sites are integral to: Traditional advertising Online advertising Search engine initiatives Referral marketing Special events

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 10 Web Analytics – Marketing Applications Help optimize: Critical positioning statements Relevant site content User-centric hierarchy Best marketing mix Specific marketing segments Demographic Psychographic Behavioral Intentional process streams

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 11 Sample Process Stream

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 12 Web Analytics – Marketing Applications (con’t) Visitor Profiles Who are they? Where are they coming from? What are they doing? Optimize online forms Increase lead generation Measure offline marketing efforts Event brochures or postcards can be conference-specific Produce business reports vs. data reports Measurement centered on goals

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 13 Five Market-Driven Web Site Components Structure Design Content Objectives Strategy

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 14 Metrics Traffic Meters Volume, page count, session length, bounce Trends, opportunities, problems Conversion Rates Effectiveness Efficiency

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 15 Metrics

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 16 Metrics (con’t)

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 17 Metrics (con’t)

Bruce A. Snyder 12/14/05 18 Effective Web Sites Defined markets Consumer-driven site architecture Consumer-driven content School-directed action items Designed to measure Modified as needed