Measuring Internet Marketing Effectiveness

1. Measuring Internet Marketing Effectiveness Week 12

2. Objectives • The maintenance Process • Measuring internet marketing effectiveness • Measuring the flow effect • Responsibilities in web site maintenance

3. Web Document Review & Update Process Write How, who, what? When, who? Publish Review How, who, what? Test Correct How? Publish How?

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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?

7. Web site standards

8. 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?

9. 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

10. Which Measures to Use • Level 1: Business effectiveness measures • Level 2: Marketing effectiveness measures • Level 3: Internet marketing effectiveness

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Online Measurement Methods • Online web metric and server log files • Hits and page impressions (views) • Site visits (user sessions) • Web site auditors

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Offline Methods of Metric Collection

22. Evaluation of Promotional Methods • Unaware • Aware • Attitude • Preference • Intention • Trial • Repeat

23. 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?

24. Customer Loyalty, Satisfaction and Brand Impact • Online questionnaires • Online focus groups