Implementation and maintenance Channel outcomes
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Part 3 Implementation
Pages per visit PPV – the average number of pages viewed per visitor to a site this is indicative of engagement with a site since the longer a visitor stays on a ‘sticky site’, the
higher this value will be. PPV is a more accurate indication of stickiness than duration on a site in minutes since this figure is skewed upwards by visitors who arrive on a site and are
inactive before their session times out at 30 minutes.
Visits per unique visitor VPV – this suggests the frequency of site visits. Readers will realize that this value is dependent on the period that data are collected over. These data
are reported for a month, during which time one would not expect many returning visi- tors. So it is often more relevant to present these data across a quarter or a year.
Other information giving detailed knowledge of customer behaviour that can be reported by any web analytics package include:
Top pages; Entry and exit pages;
Path or clickstream analysis showing the sequence of pages viewed; country of visitor’s origin actually dependent on the location of their ISP;
browser and operating system used; referring URL and domain where the visitor came from.
Comparing apples to oranges?
With hundreds of different web analytics tools being used on different sites, it is important that there be standards for measuring visitor volumes. In particular, there are different techniques for
measuring unique visitors which can be measured through IP addresses, but this is more accu- rate if it is combined with cookies and browser types. International standards bodies such as the
IFABC
www.ifabc.org
and Web Analytics Association
www.webanalyticsassociation.org
and UK organizations such as ABC electronic
www.abce.org.uk
and JICWEBS
www.jicwebs.org
have worked to standardize the meaning of and data collection methods for different measures. See Table 12.5 or visit these sites for the latest precise definition of the terms in this section.
Media buyers are particularly interested in accurate audited figures of media sites and organiza- tions such as ABC electronic are important for this.
Table 12.5
Measure Measure
Definition
1 How many? Unique users
A unique and valid identifier [for a site visitor]. Sites may use Audience reach
i IP + user-agent, ii cookie andor iii registration ID 2 How often?
Visit A series of one or more PAGE IMPRESSIONS, served to one USER,
Frequency metric which ends when there is a gap of 30 minutes or more between
successive PAGE IMPRESSIONS for that USER 3 How busy?
Page impression A file, or combination of files, sent to a valid USER as a result of that
Volume metric USER’s request being received by the server
4 What see? Ad impressions
A file or a combination of files sent to a valid USER as an individual advertisement as a result of that USER’s request being received by
the server 5 What do?
Ad clicks An AD IMPRESSION clicked on by a valid USER
Source: ABC electronic www.abce.org.uk
Terminology for key web-site volume measures
Collecting site outcome data
Site outcome data refer to a customer performing a significant action which is of value to the marketer. This is usually a transaction that is recorded. It involves more than download-
ing of a web page, and is proactive. Key marketing outcomes include:
registration to site or subscriptions to an e-mail newsletter; requests for further information such as a brochure or a request for a callback from a
customer service representative; responding to a promotion such as an online competition;
a sale influenced by a visit to the site; a sale on-site.
When reviewing the efficiency of different e-communications tools referred to in Chapter 9, such as search engine marketing, online advertising and affiliate marketing it is important to
assess the outcomes generated. Measuring quantity of clickthroughs to a site is simplistic, it is conversion to these outcomes which should be used to assess the quality of traffic. To achieve
this ‘end-to-end’ tracking, two main tools are used: first, using cookies to identify the visitor across different sessions and, secondly, using tracking IDs within URLs to identify a user session.
An important aspect of measures collected offline is that the marketing outcomes may be recorded in different media according to how the customer has performed mixed-mode
buying. For example, a new customer enquiry could arrive by e-mail, fax or phone. Simi- larly, an order could be placed online using a credit card, or by phone, fax or post. In both
these instances what we are really interested in is whether the web site influenced the enquiry or sale. This is a difficult question to answer unless steps are put in place to answer
it. For all contact points with customers staff need to be instructed to ask how they found out about the company, or made their decision to buy. Although this is valuable information
it is often intrusive, and a customer placing an order may be annoyed to be asked such a question. To avoid alienating the customer, these questions about the role of the web site can
be asked later, perhaps when the customer is filling in a registration or warranty card. Another device that can be used to identify use of the web site is to use a specific phone
number on the web site, so when a customer rings to place an order, it is known that the number was obtained from the web site. This approach is used by Dell on its site.
It will be apparent that to collect some of these measures we may need to integrate differ- ent information systems. Where customers provide details such as an e-mail address and
name in response to an offer, these are known as ‘leads’ and they may need to be passed on to a direct-sales team or recorded in a customer relationship management system. For full
visibility of customer behaviour, the outcomes from these systems need to be integrated with the site-visitor activity data.
Selecting a web analytics tool
There is a bewildering range of hundreds of web analytics tools varying from shareware packages with often primitive reporting through to complex systems which may cost hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars a year for a popular site. Given this, it is difficult for the Internet marketer to select the best tool or tools to meet their needs. One of the first issues
to consider is the different types of measures that need to be integrated within the perform- ance management system. Figure 12.10 gives an indication of the types of data that need to
be integrated which include:
1
Operational data. Data would be ideally collected and reported within a single tool at this level, but unfortunately to obtain the best reporting it is often necessary to resort to four
different types of tools or data source: Referrer data from acquisition campaigns such as search marketing or online adver-
tising. Separate tools are often also required for retention e-mail marketing. Site-centric data about visitor volume and clickstream behaviour on the web site.
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