This October 2013 white paper title, In the Decade of the Customer, Knowing Your Customer Means Owning Your Data, best sums up why today’s marketers need a solid understanding of web metrics. While the paper focuses on how and why businesses need to consider the implications an acquisition will have on their online presence (Ernst & Young, 2013), many of the reasons for doing so – branding, SEO and actionable insight – are universal to all companies. As the paper's primary author Paul Legutko (2013, p. 20) explains:
Every day a newspaper headline proclaims that customer data is the “new oil,” and just as extraction and refining techniques for energy have advanced with technology, so too should the techniques for understanding customers and providing a targeted, custom experience.
More so than ever before, marketers must realize that a “one-size fits all” approach to engaging consumers no longer exits. Today’s consumers are plugged in, tuned in and turned on 24/7 via computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and other devices. They hold the position of power, able to retrieve and share information about products, services and issues anytime, anywhere.
The following chart from a 2013 study by Pew Research shows just how pervasive digital devices are in America:
With 56 percent of Americans owning a smart phone, 58 percent a desktop computer, 61 percent a laptop and 34 percent a tablet, marketers must truly “manage” their online presence in order to be successful. This means using web metrics – and using them properly – to “mine” for information about online presence. This includes both the “what” and the “why” behind what is happening on a website, social media channels and digital advertising, for example.
Kaushik (2010) points out that most businesses are only using web analytics to analyze clicksteam data. This allows them to get at the “what”– what pages are being viewed, what products are being purchased, what keywords got clicks – but not at the “why.” He explains the “why” includes multiple outcomes, experimentation and testing, voice of the consumer and competitive intelligence data – all information that can result in actionable insight
In a digital marketing blog for Adobe, John Bates product manager, Predictive Analytics, (2012, para. 5) does a good job of explaining why the “why” is so important in helping marketers more effectively manage their online presence:
There is an epidemic failure within digital marketing to understand what is really happening and this leads people who run digital marketing programs to misjudge their customers and mismanage their businesses. Predictive marketing offers the cure to almost every ill-informed analysis and poorly managed optimization effort by unearthing hidden patterns in large sets of data and providing foresight for future decisions. Predictive marketing provides the marketer with the ability to intelligently interact with their customers at every stage of engagement – disrupting past web performance with unprecedented levels of success.
Web analytics that get at the "why" can help businesses better target offerings, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and enhance engagement. From what content should go on a page, to what set of keywords help elevate an offering in online search, to who is directing the most traffic to your website, web metrics are key to better understanding customers. And businesses that better understand customers are better ever to provide tangible value, creating long-lasting, two-way relationships, which is every marketer’s dream.
References
Every day a newspaper headline proclaims that customer data is the “new oil,” and just as extraction and refining techniques for energy have advanced with technology, so too should the techniques for understanding customers and providing a targeted, custom experience.
More so than ever before, marketers must realize that a “one-size fits all” approach to engaging consumers no longer exits. Today’s consumers are plugged in, tuned in and turned on 24/7 via computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and other devices. They hold the position of power, able to retrieve and share information about products, services and issues anytime, anywhere.
The following chart from a 2013 study by Pew Research shows just how pervasive digital devices are in America:
Kaushik (2010) points out that most businesses are only using web analytics to analyze clicksteam data. This allows them to get at the “what”– what pages are being viewed, what products are being purchased, what keywords got clicks – but not at the “why.” He explains the “why” includes multiple outcomes, experimentation and testing, voice of the consumer and competitive intelligence data – all information that can result in actionable insight
In a digital marketing blog for Adobe, John Bates product manager, Predictive Analytics, (2012, para. 5) does a good job of explaining why the “why” is so important in helping marketers more effectively manage their online presence:
There is an epidemic failure within digital marketing to understand what is really happening and this leads people who run digital marketing programs to misjudge their customers and mismanage their businesses. Predictive marketing offers the cure to almost every ill-informed analysis and poorly managed optimization effort by unearthing hidden patterns in large sets of data and providing foresight for future decisions. Predictive marketing provides the marketer with the ability to intelligently interact with their customers at every stage of engagement – disrupting past web performance with unprecedented levels of success.
Web analytics that get at the "why" can help businesses better target offerings, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and enhance engagement. From what content should go on a page, to what set of keywords help elevate an offering in online search, to who is directing the most traffic to your website, web metrics are key to better understanding customers. And businesses that better understand customers are better ever to provide tangible value, creating long-lasting, two-way relationships, which is every marketer’s dream.
References
Bates, J. (2012, March 29). Moneyball marketing: How predictive marketing changes the game. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2013, from http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/analytics/predictive-analytics/moneyball-marketing-how-predictive-marketing-changes-the-game/
Ernst & Young. (2013, October). In the decade of the customer, knowing your customer means owning your own data. Retrieved Nov. 2, 2013, from http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_In_the_decade_of_the_customer_knowing_your_customer_means_owning_your_data/$FILE/EY-In-the-decade-of-the-customer.pdf
Kaushik, A. (2010). Web Analytics 2.0. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Pew Internet. (2013). Trend data: adults. Retrieved Nov. 2, 2013, from http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/February/Pew-Internet-Mobile.aspx
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