Measurement

Fifteen or so years after organisations first started to measure what was happening on their websites by parsing log file data, what does good look like? There are five characteristics that define an analytically empowered organisation.

• Clearly defined key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Holistic approach to measurement
• Integrated data strategy
• Investment in “humanware”
• Ability to execute

Clearly Defined KPIs

At analytically empowered organisations, considerable effort goes into defining digital key performance indicators. To do this, the digital strategy must be clear and coherent. If the strategy isn’t clear, how can you possibly measure its success? In my experience, defining good, robust KPIs is not an easy task. As a result, KPIs are often not very good. Going through the process forces an organisation to think hard about its strategy, define what success looks like, and make a commitment to measurement. If you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage it.

Holistic Approach to Measurement

The old saying goes, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.” Ever since the log file was developed, the digital marketing industry has been banging away with its web analytics hammer. The analytical empowered organisation understands that it needs a whole toolbox. Web analytics provides some but not all of the answers about digital performance measurement. It’s great for telling you what is going on but even a well-configured web analytics tool (itself a rarity) isn’t very diagnostic. Organisations need to invest in additional quantitative and qualitative data sources to truly understand what is going on and why. Additional investment requirements include voice-of-the-customer feedback on a number of levels (based on visit, page level, and post-experience), ongoing user experience measurement and analysis, site performance tracking, and contextual information about trends in the marketplace.

Integrated Data Strategy

A holistic approach to measurement also requires a unified approach to data integration. An organisation also needs to understand how all the pieces of the jigsaw fit together. This requires some effort around data definition (what the metrics actually mean) and where different types of data will be housed. In an ideal world, data is integrated around known users but this may not always be appropriate or possible. Different data types have different characteristics, so planning is needed to understand how the different components fit together. For example, some internal data may be on a customer level, but digital data is often based on cookie level data and one customer may use a number of different devices to interact with the organisation resulting is a number of different cookie records.

One powerful outcome of data integration is the ability to match behavioral data with data around attitudes and opinions. By integrating web analytics data with voice-of-the-customer data, it’s possible to look at the relationship between what people do in a digital channel and the experience they have. This type of integration gives the organisation the ability to measure outputs (things that happen in the channel) and to understand outcomes, which are often the most important things to know.

Investment in Humanware

All the hardware and software in the world will get you nowhere without “humanware” to extract insight and value from data. Too often in the past, investments have been made in technology without appropriate investments in people. The result is often disappointment, if not failure.

Today, analytics teams are taking a more multi-disciplinary approach. As data becomes more integrated, an integrated approach to analysis and insight is needed as well. Web analysts must start working alongside customer insight specialists and user experience experts, sharing their knowledge and expertise.

Ability to Execute

Organisations gain a competitive advantage from the application of insight, not by the generation of insight. Insight has no value unless something happens as a result. So the analytically empowered organisation has the ability to execute and make decisions. This has implications beyond the immediate concerns of analytical technologies; it also concerns a business’s entire technology landscape. Often, a product or site development process and technology constrain an organisation’s ability to affect change. So the analytically empowered organisation must develop strategies in technology and processes that enable it to act on its insights.

This article was originally published on ClickZ

Many organisations see the digital channel not just as a way of selling products and services but also for servicing their customer base or providing additional product support. There are obviously potential advantages to both customers and organisations to allow customers to be serviced online, as well as through traditional channels such as the branch or the call centre. For customers, it allows them to access their accounts at a time of their choosing from wherever they happen to be. For organisations, it generally provides a cheaper way of serving customers, though often considerable investment is required to develop and launch online servicing applications, so how do you know that you’re doing a good job?

Read more…

Over the last few years since the term was coined back in 2004, an increasingly diverse range of ‘Web 2.0’ technologies have enabled the rapid development of a new breed of applications, loosely grouped under the term ‘social media’.

From the start, social media applications were ‘C2C’, as it were – interactive, collaborative and user-centric. Consumer generated content creation and networking were fundamental to early players such as Facebook, which when it was first unleashed all of six years ago held no promise for the enterprise. It was primarily used for sharing holiday snaps and anecdotes with remote family members while avoiding the complexity of bulky e-mail attachments. Social media platforms weren’t about business, they were about people – enabling users to connect across communities sharing similar interests while pointedly leaving big brands out of it. The buzz was about corporate blogs, RSS and VoIP. ‘Viral’ still referred primarily to e-mail, not YouTube. Read more…

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com on 27/08/10 and is republished here with permission.

Despite all the known issues and problems with the way we measure the effectiveness of acquisition marketing activity such as the use last-click attribution models, I often wonder whether we’re measuring the right thing at all. By that I mean the point at which we define “acquisition” and therefore the point at which we determine the return on investment (ROI) of our marketing budget. Read more…

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com on 13/08/10 and is republished here with permission.

I don’t know whether the number is right or not but a while back I heard that sophisticated marketing companies such as the world’s leading brands spent about 10% of their marketing budget on research and measurement. Irrespective whether the number is accurate or not, it’s a good benchmark I think – 10% feels about right. Read more…

I’m giving a short talk at eMetrics London next week (18th May). I was absolutely chuffed to be asked by Jim Sterne to take part. He has asked me to provide a ‘real world’ context of what metrics are being used by companies out there.

I remember the first time I attended an eMetrics conference in 2005 and being overawed by the calibre of the people speaking. It was also the first time I came away from a conference with a souvenir bag full of goodies including what looked like a sextant. Read more…

Welcome to the Foviance ‘crossing the channels of experience’ March newsletter. I have taken over as editor this month, as sadly Marty has decided to leave Foviance after nine years. Marty is leaving the life of consultancy to set up a new online venture and we wish him the very best of luck and success.

In this issue we focus on cross-channel customer experience. I relay my own experiences from a recent practical master class with a number of senior marketers, Sean shares his views on information visualisation, Adam points the way ahead for mapping experience, while Guy rises to the challenge of cross-channel measurement.

If you enjoyed this latest newsletter, you might also enjoy reading and commenting on some of our consultants’ thoughts and opinions on our regularly updated blog page.

I would be very interested to hear from you directly with any feedback.

Paul

Paul Blunden, CEO, Foviance

In this issue:

Customer experience master class

Information visulisation

Mapping the experience

Conquering cross-channel customer measurement

“Number 1 app in UK, France and Germany…”. Those who regularly browse the Apple AppStore hunting for applications (apps) will undoubtedly be familiar with this type of catch phrase.  It’s generally what users first read when they land on app description pages (as if they were all number one!). Developers and designers use this type of technique to lure candid users to download the app by making them believe it’s the best of its kind on the market. This also illustrates how the success of an app is often assumed: the higher in the ranking, the more successful it is. But as you may probably know already, this approach is entirely flawed. Read more…