1. Measuring and evaluating web marketing programs

2. What is Your Understanding
Of the Term
“Metrics” ?

3. Why is it Important to Measure Online Marketing Effectiveness?
First, it’s the best way to allocate $$ to marketing actions that have proven to be effective.
It is one of the key advantages that online marketing has over offline
The data available are incredibly detailed.
The data are not produced in a form that lends itself to marketing analysis and decision making.
It takes disciplined time and attention.
It also takes internal education to help the organization understand the importance, the content, and the challenges.
Why Does it Seem to be So Difficult?

4. Marketing Priorities at a Pizza Chain B2C
Focus Managers on Analysis, Not Data Collection
Data Collection Automated at POP
Not Reported in Formats for Decision Making
Improve Customer Service Promise
Were Underpromising
Improve Promotions Management
Loyalty Plan and Online Orders

5. Analytics focus at a software firm B2B
Sales Effectiveness
By Region, Bi-Weekly
Marketing Campaign Effectiveness
Objectives Guide Metrics for Measuring Success
Marketing Expenditure Optimization
Industry Benchmarks, Expenditure x Prospect Internet by Region
Used for Allocation of Marketing $$

6. Important marketing metrics
Top Line
Easiest: (green)
Individual Channels
Online Behavior per Visit
Vendor Performance
Online Customer Behavior over Time
Hardest: (red)
Offline Customer Behavior
Customer Behavior, Social Media
Substantial No. of “Don’t Knows”

7. Only “somewhat” confident using right metrics

8. How do we measure Website Effectiveness?

9. What is Usability Testing?
Why is it Important?
It’s all about customer experience.

10. What Kinds of Usability Testing, when?
Concept Testing
Before Site Construction
Qualitative Data
Prototype Testing
Multiple Times During Construction
Metrics +
Full Usability Testing
Before Site Goes Online (Beta)
At Intervals After
Metrics + Satisfaction Survey Followup (if considered necessary)

11. Usability Testing Can be Fast, inexpensive

12. Key Issues in usability testing
Don’t Consider Eliminating It
Be Sure Testers are Target Audience
Key is to Have Testers Perform One or More Typical Tasks on Site
Especially in Early Stages, Ask Them What They Think
Frequent Small-Scale Tests Better Than One Large One
Can Be Outsourced or Internal
Techniques Are Focus Group Research + Web Metrics

13. Why Measure Both? Business Performance Site Performance
It’s all about customer experience, both technical aspects and marketing aspects.
Marketing Task
Technical Task

14. Measuring business performance
Customers Often Bought Recommended Items
Given Greater Prominence on Site
Segmentation of Customer Database
Program for Product Launch
Seasonal Program (Valentines)
Who Opened, C-T, Purchased
Metrics Based on Keywords
Add New Products
Metrics, Usability Tests
Decreased Rate of Cart Abandonment
Marketing Research Showed iPhone Use
Offered Mobile App
A good site to visit live, especially looking for the trust-building items, so important for a food product.

15. Measuring Site performance
Technical Task
Measuring Site performance
Marketers must be concerned about performance, even though creating it is not their job.

16. A relatively Simple Hit Counter
It does offer a hit counter—and much more. Free hit counter; try to upgrade to premium service.
Stat Counter has changed it’s site since the text was written.
You can get color images at
Or you can go there live; it’s a simple metrics site to look at as compared to many of the others. Students may also be interested in the fact that it’s free for relatively small sites.
Somewhere on the demo pages they have a warning that if they are going to track all pages, you have to put the code on each one. That actually allows it to offer tagged pages.
If you want to go back to a simple hit counter, try this one

17. Server Request Logs Each File Request Is Recorded on the Server
Data for Each Hit (File Request)
IP Address, Requesting Computer
Date, Time of Request
Code Indicating Successful, Failed Request
Number of Bytes of Data Transferred
Referring Site
Type Version of Browser
Operating System

18. TAG
A Few Lines Of HTML
Placed On Each Page
To Be Measured

19. Data Beyond Hit Counter

20. Stored on User’s Computer. Send Data Back to Server of File(s).
COOKIE
Small Data Files
Stored on User’s Computer.
Send Data Back to Server of File(s).

21. Types of cookies Session Cookies Persistent Cookies
In Effect for 1 Visit
Persistent Cookies
On User’s Computer for a Period of Time
First-Party Cookies
Set by the Website From Which Files Requested
Third-Party Cookies
Set by Ad Network or Metrics Service

22. Cookies, Web Pages, Metrics Platform Work Together

23. Panel Metrics Customer Panels (like marketing research)
Track a User Over Time
Add Panel Profile Data to Web Metrics
Can Track Same User, Home and Work (also mobile)
Can Track International IP Addresses
Neither Nielsen nor comScore has a simple explanation of how they do what they do; probably because that’s not possible.
Nielsen does have a 2 minute video that explains their cross-platforms product, and it gives some sense of integrated metrics, but has no detail on methodoloty

24. A Few of Many Metrics Available
Traffic
Audience
Campaign
Hits
Visitors (Total,
Unidentified, Unique)
By Channel
Impressions
Site Behavior (#Page Views, Session Time, Path, Cart Abandonment, Entry/Exit Pages, more
By Offer
Page Views
Search Effectiveness by Keyword
Sessions
Click-throught
Each One of These
Metrics Is Available
by Time Period:
Day
Week
Month
Year
All Time

25. Which metrics to follow? Objectives provide only answer!

26. Google analytics dashboard
These are real metrics, in this case from ML’s blog. Being able to show even a few of the pages live seems to helps students a lot.
If you or one of your colleagues or students has a site with GA on it, you can go live. If someone else does the demo for you, you will need to be careful to given them a plan.
Or you can try to get someone to come and do a presentation. Try your school’s webmaster office or a contact at a firm. Unfortunately, most webmasters are not particularly eager to talk about their metrics because there’s too much implied criticism.
Google’s own video tutorials are good. I’d always assign the Product Tour from Interactive Exercise 14.2 first. Then you can find other demos and examples on the Analytics pages or by looking at some recent entries on the Google blog

27. What Content is Driving Vists?

28. Which search Keywords are Driving visits?

29. Overlay Screen Gives Another Perspective on Content

30. Paid Platforms offer integration; reports from an email campaign

31. May offer more detail in elements like segmentation

32. Conversion paths through site

33. Limited Panel Data Available free
It’s free and easy to go to Compete or Quantcast and get metrics for a single site. Most of the sites no longer offer comparisons between sites as a free service.

34. Key Performance Indicators measure business success

35. Avinash Kaushik on measurement
Metrics—numbers—alone do not meet marketing and management needs. Only when the metrics are carefully chosen and reported in sufficient detail to guide strategic choices are business needs met.

36. Newer Internet Platforms
Social Media Metrics Mostly Available Only on Specialized Platforms
Free from Network; Paid from Specialized Suppliers
Social = Special Metrics Not Used by Other Channels
Mobile Available from Platforms and App Suppliers
Quickly Being Integrated into Existing Platforms
Mobile = Same Metrics, Different Channel

37. Marketers Lack Confidence in Metrics

38. Integrated view Hardest task

39. Summary
Ability To Provide Metrics Data Key Advantage of Internet Marketing
Customer Perspective>How Well Site Works
Usability Testing
Bus. Perspective>How Effective Are Websites, Programs?
Hit Counters, Server Log Metrics, Panel Metrics
Traffic, Audience, Campaign Measures
Objectives >Only Way to Choose Right Metrics
Need Reports That Support Marketing Decisions
Managers Tend to Lack Confidence in Metrics