eMetrics: You thought this was going to be easy?

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.

The 2005 line-up included: Avinash Kaushik (Who was he then? Reminds me of a time when Bryan Adams was a supporting act at a Police concert and no one listened. I tell you what, everyone listened to Avinash that day and from then on), Matthew Tod, Neil Mason (Foviance’s own and speaking again this year), Mike Grehan, Dave Chaffey, Jim Sterne himself amongst others. Best practice case studies for that year included Carphone Warehouse, Lastminute.com. Lovefilm, Royal Mail and Direct Wines.

Some of the titles of the sessions included: Getting beyond the basics, Catering to the masses online, Measuring your misery, Getting buy-in from the top down, and finishing up with – You thought this was going to be easy?

It struck me, even with the continuing mainstreaming of social media, how little has changed in many respects. Companies are still caught between paranoia and paralysis. I can measure everything, so I must. I do measure everything, but why? What I do measure, what is it telling me? What do I do with the stuff I am not measuring?

We are daily reminded that everything can be measured, so why is it still so difficult? People haven’t significantly changed between 2005 and 2010. We still buy and we still complain, and we will continue to do so. Social media and smartphones have simply made doing this a little bit easier, a bit more accessible and very much more public.

As a customer I can engage with a company in store, via email, web site, fixed phone, mobile phone, social media, chat, word of mouth… There’s no doubt that we have far more channels than we’ve ever had to communicate or engage with a company.

So where does it all seem to come unstuck?

Surely companies define their objectives, define what success or failure looks like, define what metrics they will use to understand this… the metrics are simply a tool to gauge progress or lack of. It seems to me that the problem with metrics has little to do with metrics and more to do with understanding what you’re trying to actually achieve. The fact that we can supposedly measure everything, isn’t a cause for paranoia, it simply gives us a richer toolkit of metrics to choose from.

A quick glance at the session headings for eMetrics London 2010 shows me that the conversation has moved on, with social media featuring prominently. And if nothing else, I’ll look forward to getting a new souvenir bag, as my one from 2005 finally fell apart shortly after seeing Jim again at the Travelling Geeks event last year.