Measuring Internet Marketing Effectiveness

Week 12

Objectives

• The maintenance Process

• Measuring internet marketing effectiveness

• Measuring the flow effect

• Responsibilities in web site maintenance

Web Document Review & Update ProcessWrite

Publish Review

Test Correct

Publish

When, w

ho?

How, who, what?

How?

How?

How, who, w

hat?

The Maintenance Process

• Write – This stage involves writing the marketing copy, designing the layout of copy and associated images

• Review – check for errors before document is published

• Correct – updating results of stage 2• Publish – putting the corrected copy on a web page

that can be checked further• Test – final test is performed for technical issues • Publish – published to the main web site

Updating Material

• Within two days of a factual error being identified

• A new ‘news’ item is added at least once a month

• When product information has been static for two months

Responsibilities in Web Site Maintenance

• The questions to ask are:

• Who owns the process?

• Who owns the content?

• Who owns the format?

• Who owns the technology?

Standard Details Applies to

Site structure Will specify the main areas of the site, e.g. products, customer service, press releases, responsibilities

Content developers

Navigation Main menu on the left, home button must be accessible from everywhere

Web site designer.webmaster usually achieve these through site templates

Copy style General guidelines, product specifications, digestibility on screen

Individual content developers

Testing standards Check site functions for:

•Different browser types and versions

•Plug-ins, individual links

•Speed of download of graphics

•Spellcheck each page

Web site designer/webmaster

Corporate branding & graphic design

Specifies the appearance of company logos and the colors and typefaces used to convey the brand message

Web site designer/webmaster

Process The sequence of events for publishing a new page or updating an existing page

all

Performance Availability and download speed figures

Web site standards

Measuring Internet Marketing Effectiveness

• Are corporate objectives identified in the Internet marketing strategy being met?

• Are marketing objectives defined in the internet marketing strategy and plan achieved?

• Are marketing communications objectives identified in the internet marketing plan achieved? How effective are the different promotional techniques used to attract visitors to a site?

Creating a Measurement Process

• Highlighting the need for metrics• Identifying metrics (SMART)

– Specific– Measurable– Actionable– Relevant– Timely

• Introducing techniques to collect metrics and summarize results

• Reviewing the metrics• Acting on the results

Which Measures to Use

• Level 1: Business effectiveness measures

• Level 2: Marketing effectiveness measures

• Level 3: Internet marketing effectiveness

Level 1: Business Effectiveness Measures

• Direct online contribution to revenue

• Indirect online contribution to revenue

• Profitability of web site

• Return on investment (ROI)

• Operational cost reductions

Level 2: Marketing Effectiveness Measures

• Customer acquisition or new leads generated by the web site

• Sales generated directly and indirectly by the web site• Impact on market penetration and demand• Customer satisfaction and retention rates of clients who

use the internet, compared with those who do not• Incremental or cross-sales achieved through the Internet• Impact of Internet on customer satisfaction, loyalty and

brand

Level 2 – internet sales

• Internet sales as proportion of all sales made by company compared with sales by all companies operating in the market

• Internet sales as a proportion of all internet sales for company

Level 2 – Marketing costs

• Reduction in cost of promotional material• Cost of acquiring a new customer• Cost of developing/supporting an existing

customer relationship through time• Also some less tangible elements such as

corporate image and brand enhancement• Building long-term client relationships and

reducing ‘churn’ of customers

Level 3: Internet Marketing Effectiveness

• Capture – how effective are we in attracting customers to site using online and offline promotion methods

• Content – how well are customers supported with information and ease of use through the content and design of the site

• Customer orientation – does the content suit its target audience

• Community and interactivity – how well are the customers’ needs as an individual met by providing community facilities and establishing an interactive dialogue

Level 3 - Further Elements

• Awareness efficiency – target web-users/all web-users

• Locatability/attractability efficiency – number of individual visits/number of seekers

• Contact efficiency – number of active visitors/number of visits

• Conversion efficiency – number of purchases/number of active visits

• Retention efficiency – number of repurchases/number of purchases

Online Measurement Methods

• Online web metric and server log files

• Hits and page impressions (views)

• Site visits (user sessions)

• Web site auditors

Log File Information

• Page impressions for different parts of the site• Page impressions broken down by different time

intervals• Page impression by domain• Page impression by browser type• Referring sites• Exit pages• Document trails• Average length of visit

Tools for Measuring Web Site Performance

• WebTrends – www.webtrends.com• Analog: a freeware tool –

www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~sret1/analog• Wusage – www.boutell.com/wusage• Andromedia – www.andromedia.com• I/Pro site audit – www.ipro.com• Microsoft site analyst – www.microsoft.com• Superstats; a basic web analyzer – www.superstats.com• Hitbox – www.hitbox.com• NetOutcome – www.redeye.com

Measuring Individual Behavior

• Registration– A suitable incentive – most customers will give

information if they will receive something in return– A tacit agreement to enter into a medium to long term

agreement with customer that he or she will enter the site again

– Trust on the part of the customer, which will be based on his or her perception of a company’s brand and credibility

• Cookies• Click-tracking

Offline Methods of Metric CollectionMeasure Measured through

Enquiries or leads Number of online e-mails

Phone calls mentioning web site

Faxed enquiries mentioning web site

Sales Online sales or sales in which customers state they found out about the product on the web site

Conversion rate Can be calculated separately for customers who are registered online and those who are not

Retention rates Is the ‘churn’ of customers using the web site lower?

Customer satisfaction

Focus groups, questionnaires and interviews

Mystery shoppers

Brand enhancement Focus groups, surveys

Evaluation of Promotional Methods

• Unaware

• Aware

• Attitude

• Preference

• Intention

• Trial

• Repeat

Communication Effects

• How well does the page catch the reader’s attention?

• How well does the page lead the reader to go further?

• How effective is the particular appeal?

• How well does the page suggest follow through or call to action?

Customer Loyalty, Satisfaction and Brand Impact

• Online questionnaires

• Online focus groups