DIGITAL MARKETING

STRATEGY, IMPLEMENTATION AND PRACTICE

Part 3. Digital marketing implementation

and practice
Chapter 10. Evaluation and improvement of
digital channel performance
Chapter 10 Evaluation and improvement of
digital channel performance

• Main topics
• Performance management for digital channel
• Content management process
• Responsibilities for customer experience and
site management
Chapter 10 Evaluation and improvement of digital
channel performance
 Performance measurement for digital channels
• 3 stage process:
• Stage 1. Creating a performance measurement system
• Stage 2. Defining the performance metrics framework
• Stage 3. Tools and techniques for collecting insights,
running processes and results
 Stage 1: Creating a performance management
system
• Performance measurement:
– The process of quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of
past actions through acquisition, collation, sorting, analysis,
interpretation and dissemination of appropriate data.
• Barriers to improvement of measurement systems
– senior management myopia
– unclear responsibilities for delivering and improving the
measurement system
– resourcing issues
– data problems
 Stage 1: Creating a performance
management system

Figure 10.2 A summary of the performance measurement process

 Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
framework
• Organizations should define a measurement framework or create
a management dashboard which defines groupings of specific
metrics used to assess digital marketing performance.
• Suitable measurement frameworks will fulfil the following criteria:
– Include macro-level effectiveness metrics which assess whether strategic goals are
achieved and indicate to what extent e-marketing contributes to the business
– Include micro-level metrics which assess the efficiency of digital marketing tactics and
implementation
– Assess the impact of digital marketing on the satisfaction, loyalty and contribution of key
stakeholders
– Enable comparison of performance of different digital channels with other channels
– The framework can be used to assess e-marketing performance against competitors’ or
out-of-sector best practice.
 Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
framework

Figure 10.3 The five

diagnostic categories
for digital marketing
measurement
 Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
framework

• Performance metrics framework

– Channel promotion
– Channel buyer behavior
– Channel satisfaction
– Channel outcomes
– Channel profitability
 Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
framework

• Channel promotion: Measures that assess why customers visit a site –

which adverts they have seen, which sites have they been referred from.
– Percentage of all referrals or sales (and influence in achieving sale last click or assist);
– Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) or cost-per-sale (CPS);
– Contribution to sales or other outcomes.

• Channel buyer behavior: Describes which content is visited and the time
and duration.
– Bounce rates for different pages, i.e. proportion of single page visits.
– Home page views/all page views, e.g. 20 per cent = (2000/10,000).
– Stickiness: page views/visitor sessions, e.g. 2 = 10,000/5000.
– Repeats: visitor sessions/visitors, e.g. 20 per cent = 1000/5000.
 Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
framework
• Channel satisfaction: Evaluation of the customer’s opinion of the
service quality on the site and supporting services such as email.
– Ease of use; Site availability; Performance; Email response.

• Channel outcomes: Record of customer actions taken as a

consequence of a visit to a site.
– Conversion rate, visitors to purchase = 2 per cent (10,000 visitors, of which 200
make purchases).
– Conversion rate, visitors to registration = 5 per cent (10,000 visitors, of which
500 register).
– Attrition rate which describes how many visitors are lost at each step of a
conversion funnel from landing page to checkout
Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
framework

Figure 10.4 potential reasons for causing

attrition on an e-commerce site
 Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
framework
• Channel profitability: The profitability of the website, taking into account
revenue and cost and discounted cash flow
– Setting an Internet contribution target of achieving a certain proportion of sales via
the channel.

Figure 10.5 Multichannel performance scorecard example for a retailer

 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results
• Collecting site-visitor activity data
Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results

Figure 10.7 Examples of different

measures of visitor volume to a website
 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results

Figure 10.8 A framework for

different measures used
to evaluate and manage
social media marketing
 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results

• AB testing & Multivariate testing

 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results
• AB testing: A/B or AB testing refers to testing two different versions of
a page or a page element such as a heading, image or button for
effectiveness. The alternatives are served alternately with the visitors
to the page randomly split between the two pages. Changes in visitor
behavior can then be compared using different metrics such as click-
through rate on page elements like buttons or images, or macro-
conversion rates, such as conversion to sale or sign-up.
 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results

• Multivariate testing is a
more sophisticated form of
AB testing which enables
simultaneous testing of
pages for different
combinations of page
elements that are being
tested.

Mini case study 10.1. National Express

page assessed through multivariate testing
 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results

Figure 10.10 Results of multivariate

testing for National Express
 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results
• Clickstream analysis and visitor segmentation
– Path analysis
• Forward path analysis
• Reverse path analysis
– On-site search effectiveness
• Number of searches
• Percentage of returned searches resulting in conversion to sale or other outcome
• Most popular search terms
– Visitor segmentation
• First- time visitors or returning visitors
• Converters against non-converters
• Geographic segmentation by country or region
• Type of content accessed
 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results

• Selecting a web analytics tool

– A basic choice of a free service (e.g., Google Analytics)
– A paid service from the main providers (e.g., Omniture owned by Adobe Systems,
Coremetrics owned by IBM and WebTrends)
• Selection of the best system will depend on factors:
– Integration with other data sources
– Accuracy
– Media attribution
– Visualization
– Customization facilities
– Support services
– Privacy considerations
Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
metrics and summarizing results
Figure 10.11 Different types of data
within a performance management
system for Internet marketing
 Content management process

• A process of continuous improvement

in online marketing, which involves:
• Write
• Review
• Correct
• Publish
• Test
• Publish

Figure 10.12 A web document review and update process

 Content management process

Figure 10.13 An example of a

content update review process
 Responsibilities for customer experience
and site management

• Questions to ask are:

– Who owns the process?
– Who owns the content?
– Who owns the format?
– Who owns the technology?
Class Activity 9

No Class Activity
Any Questions?