We all know that today we live in a world of readily available technology gadgets providing almost an unlimited ways and means to access information on the WWW. We also appreciate that Social Networks can now play a big part in driving traffic to our web site, as well as away.
But what happens when the weather outside is hot or cold? Wet or dry? Have you, as a business, considered the effect weather plays to your online and high street sales? Usually, it's one or the other; strong high street sales in nice, warm weather or strong online sales in nasty, cold and wet weather. But could you literally have your cake and eat it by addressing online better, regardless of the weather outside?
Which brings me to my purpose of this blog posting; you can now feed Weather data to your Customer Data Hub (CDH for short) which is THE place to store all your offline and online data. Couple that with a Real-Time engine and you have a powerful combination for providing relevant content to the appropriate people!
Recently, Google launched its own Weather API. So, Consider this theory with an online retailer:
With real-time content injection into a browser now possible, based around various attributes known or unknown of a visitor, a business can promote relevant items which a shopper might well be in the mood for buying.
For example, let's assume for a minute that I'm visiting your web site in October and I'm from Southern England. It's now Autumn and according to Google Weather, it's windy, raining and chilly (but not freezing cold) and I happen to be in the market for something that will take the chill off a chilly day whilst I'm out walking the dog, keep me dry for the rainy days and hopefully keep me from being too windswept!
So, when I arrive on your web site, why are you promoting big winter coats, scarves, bobble hats and gloves?
However, in northern England, it's bitterly cold, significant amounts of snow have fallen in the higher grounds and I'm in the market for a big warm coat, scarf and gloves.
Your current web site setup is only really appealing to 50% of your customer/visitor base today.
When it comes to relevant and appropriate communication, we need to consider the above scenarios. Just because we have seasons doesn't mean the current weather reflects the season we're supposed to be in.
If, as a business, I know weather for the region a visitor is coming from, surely as an online clothing retailer, I can promote the relevant products, to the right people, at the right time. Better still, if I know their purchasing history, also at the right price!
Simply putting the location you're interested in at the end of a Google Weather API string, I get back a vast amount of information back about the weather forecast for the rest of the week: http://www.google.com/ig/api?weather=Newbury
Give it a go and change your location from Newbury to somewhere else above and look at the XML returned. This could take online clothing retailers to the next level of offering personalized, relevant content. All you need as a business is the location (and you can gleam that from a registration process).
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Monday 18 July 2011
Social Networks, are you monitoring them?
When it comes to social networks, positive and negative connotations spread fast. It is usually the negative ones people write most about and they are the ones anyone should be most afraid of.
Earlier, I blogged about how telecommunication companies should be monitoring their web site behaviors more than they do already. I articulated the potential loss in revenue over a 12-18month contractual period could be as much as £3M if patterns in individual visitor behaviors are not spotted early enough - this could and most likely is through defection to another network provider.
So, continuing the theme, Social Networks also play a huge part in pushing potential losses further for a business that is failing to keep its customers 'happy'.
Take the scenario that a visitor is unhappy. The customer tries to solve the unhappiness, whether it be online, offline in the store or on the phone, but fails to do so. They go to Twitter or Facebook and rant about the mobile phone operator. The update is broadcast to the 'unhappy customers' 500+ friends on Facebook who then join in on the 'conversation'. There is a good/high chance that 1 in 3 of those 'friends' on Facebook have a mobile phone account with your network. Therefore, the 'unhappy customer' has a high degree of influence and that should be of concern to your business.
By using a Social Network insight platform, you can get one step ahead of who is saying what, where and when. By combining that with an Individual Customer/Visitor Insight platform, your business can hopefully appease the disgruntled 'unhappy customer' when they call in the store, on the phone or even visit the web site with a token gesture 'gift' or reduction in tariff or free line rental.
I'm sure you can think of better examples to appease 'unhappy customers', but the important bit here is reaching out to someone who could hurt your brand, image and reputation before the damage has been done. Surely, that is worth saving?
Earlier, I blogged about how telecommunication companies should be monitoring their web site behaviors more than they do already. I articulated the potential loss in revenue over a 12-18month contractual period could be as much as £3M if patterns in individual visitor behaviors are not spotted early enough - this could and most likely is through defection to another network provider.
So, continuing the theme, Social Networks also play a huge part in pushing potential losses further for a business that is failing to keep its customers 'happy'.
Take the scenario that a visitor is unhappy. The customer tries to solve the unhappiness, whether it be online, offline in the store or on the phone, but fails to do so. They go to Twitter or Facebook and rant about the mobile phone operator. The update is broadcast to the 'unhappy customers' 500+ friends on Facebook who then join in on the 'conversation'. There is a good/high chance that 1 in 3 of those 'friends' on Facebook have a mobile phone account with your network. Therefore, the 'unhappy customer' has a high degree of influence and that should be of concern to your business.
By using a Social Network insight platform, you can get one step ahead of who is saying what, where and when. By combining that with an Individual Customer/Visitor Insight platform, your business can hopefully appease the disgruntled 'unhappy customer' when they call in the store, on the phone or even visit the web site with a token gesture 'gift' or reduction in tariff or free line rental.
I'm sure you can think of better examples to appease 'unhappy customers', but the important bit here is reaching out to someone who could hurt your brand, image and reputation before the damage has been done. Surely, that is worth saving?
Do telcommunication companies realize how much they are losing out?
Today I'm a happy customer who is happily using your mobile phone network on my Smartphone. Happily watching YouTube clips, texting friends, calling friends, surfing, checking email, facebook, twitter and more.
As a BIG multi-international mobile phone provider, you are most likely racking the cash in (and rightly so)!
Or are you...
What happens when I'm unhappy with my phone and/or network provider? Do you know who I am, where I am, how to reach me? Do you care that I'm having a bad time?
How about another scenario. I signed up to an 18month contract, £30pm, and now I'm 15months into the contract when I re-visit your web site. Did you know I had visited you on the 18th July, 2011? Did you track what I did, where I went? Ask me why was I here?
You should have, and here is why:
Too many businesses (that includes your competitors!) these days are so interested on making 'sales' that their customer retention's team is working over-time. Yet if only the business brought the 'retention' program forward and put it onto the web site, that way when I visit the web site to look at ways to contact your company about a problem I have, you could identify me and assist me there and then. Why wait for me to call?
Alternatively (and this is highly common and most likely happening to your business today), I've come to your web site to compare a price I have got from another network who wants my high value custom and is charming me more than yourselves...
Of course, no one wants to lose a high value customer... So, why should you?
Complex Event Processing (otherwise known as CEP) systems can and will help your business identify a prospect when they are exhibiting any of the above scenarios and plenty more. When handed complete Individual Visitor Data, they can help identify when a fraudulent transaction is taking place by assessing exposure and risk during the visit based around behavior; they can model and spot when a visitor is exhibiting possible churn like behavior - if you know this in advance, why not communicate with them in an appropriate way, therefore reducing defection and saving a bundle of cash in re-marketing costs.
Come to think of it, there are very few reasons not to have a CEP but there are plenty of reasons why you won't have one today!
The likely reasons you are not using CEP systems today - 1) they are new (technology wise they have been around for some time, but not really used in anger in the commercial world... yet; 2) they are not cheap! but combined with a Customer Insight platform, the potential ROI for a business can be huge!
Too many aggregated, post reaction, online optimization platforms exist in the market place today and they are not able to handle the vast amounts of individual customer level detail that is available to collect when a visitor arrives to your online digital home. Businesses need a non-aggregated platform, one which does not require tagging to get the right level of insight required.
The good news is that technology exists today and tomorrow you could literally be saving your business millions of pounds/dollars/euros...
So, now do you know how much you are losing out? Put into monetary terms, if you have 10,000 visitors a month exhibiting churn behavior and 6,000 churn - on a £30pm contract, that equates to £180k/month! Now multiply that number by the length of a renewal contract, £3,240,000! Now, how about working out the cost of fraudulent transactions occurring on the web site and the loss of revenue - £3M again a good number?
So, using an Individual Visitor/Customer Insight platform and a CEP system, your business 'could' save around £6M over a 12-18month period...
Individual Visitor/Customer Insight platforms and CEP systems do not cost anywhere near the potential loss of earnings articulated above.
So, now do you know how much you are losing out?
As a BIG multi-international mobile phone provider, you are most likely racking the cash in (and rightly so)!
Or are you...
What happens when I'm unhappy with my phone and/or network provider? Do you know who I am, where I am, how to reach me? Do you care that I'm having a bad time?
How about another scenario. I signed up to an 18month contract, £30pm, and now I'm 15months into the contract when I re-visit your web site. Did you know I had visited you on the 18th July, 2011? Did you track what I did, where I went? Ask me why was I here?
You should have, and here is why:
Too many businesses (that includes your competitors!) these days are so interested on making 'sales' that their customer retention's team is working over-time. Yet if only the business brought the 'retention' program forward and put it onto the web site, that way when I visit the web site to look at ways to contact your company about a problem I have, you could identify me and assist me there and then. Why wait for me to call?
Alternatively (and this is highly common and most likely happening to your business today), I've come to your web site to compare a price I have got from another network who wants my high value custom and is charming me more than yourselves...
Of course, no one wants to lose a high value customer... So, why should you?
Complex Event Processing (otherwise known as CEP) systems can and will help your business identify a prospect when they are exhibiting any of the above scenarios and plenty more. When handed complete Individual Visitor Data, they can help identify when a fraudulent transaction is taking place by assessing exposure and risk during the visit based around behavior; they can model and spot when a visitor is exhibiting possible churn like behavior - if you know this in advance, why not communicate with them in an appropriate way, therefore reducing defection and saving a bundle of cash in re-marketing costs.
Come to think of it, there are very few reasons not to have a CEP but there are plenty of reasons why you won't have one today!
The likely reasons you are not using CEP systems today - 1) they are new (technology wise they have been around for some time, but not really used in anger in the commercial world... yet; 2) they are not cheap! but combined with a Customer Insight platform, the potential ROI for a business can be huge!
Too many aggregated, post reaction, online optimization platforms exist in the market place today and they are not able to handle the vast amounts of individual customer level detail that is available to collect when a visitor arrives to your online digital home. Businesses need a non-aggregated platform, one which does not require tagging to get the right level of insight required.
The good news is that technology exists today and tomorrow you could literally be saving your business millions of pounds/dollars/euros...
So, now do you know how much you are losing out? Put into monetary terms, if you have 10,000 visitors a month exhibiting churn behavior and 6,000 churn - on a £30pm contract, that equates to £180k/month! Now multiply that number by the length of a renewal contract, £3,240,000! Now, how about working out the cost of fraudulent transactions occurring on the web site and the loss of revenue - £3M again a good number?
So, using an Individual Visitor/Customer Insight platform and a CEP system, your business 'could' save around £6M over a 12-18month period...
Individual Visitor/Customer Insight platforms and CEP systems do not cost anywhere near the potential loss of earnings articulated above.
So, now do you know how much you are losing out?
Friday 15 July 2011
Are We Missing The Point?
Whilst we all panic about the new legislation which was brought into power during May this year, perhaps there are some bits we are missing when it comes to getting a visitors 'buy-in'.
First of all, lets clear up what the directive actually means because it is a little fuzzy. As of May 2012, all web sites which contain tracking technologies which are capable of personally identifying an individual and use cookie based technology to do so, will need to present each and every visitor with an opt-in process. Meaning, Big Brother will not be able to track you and your web site experience unless you explicitly say so. Failure to do so will cost £500k, although today no one knows whether that is an annual 'subscription' fee or a per case basis fee.
So, you could argue that most digital marketing technologies today have a significant problem on their hands. With the law on side with the visitor and everyone being automatically set to opt-out when they arrive, if presented with an opportunity to opt-in so digital marketing platforms can personally identify you to provide better web site marketing insight and reports, most visitors would most likely remain opted-out - after all, why would you want to opt-in? What's in it for you?
Or would they - consider this; how do web sites offer better experiences today? How can they serve better experiences to you, me and the person opposite you if they don't know what it is you like, who you are, what you want, what you have bought/not bought and so on. This, of course, is all done through the diligent use of cookies. But the new ICO EU Directive stipulates one cannot use cookies without a visitors consent - so, give them a reason to provide you with consent. Make it painfully obvious that you care about your visitors/customers and give them a reason/offer they cannot refuse.
For example, this 'model', for better a word, would work beautifully for Telecommunication, Utilities and Financial Services companies. It is all in the wording, of course (what isn't these days!), but by paraphrasing something from this: "By allowing me to track and serve you with cookie data, I can give you 'Mr Smith' a far better visiting experience which will ultimately turn you into a huge advocate for my organisation due to the better experience you will have", you could have something which works to your companies advantage and actually not only helps your organisation out with the current dilemma around the new 'Cookie Law' but also serves a better visitor experience to the people you care most about, your visitors/prospects and/or customers.
So, all round then, this is an opportunity for your business to strive! So why not take it?
First of all, lets clear up what the directive actually means because it is a little fuzzy. As of May 2012, all web sites which contain tracking technologies which are capable of personally identifying an individual and use cookie based technology to do so, will need to present each and every visitor with an opt-in process. Meaning, Big Brother will not be able to track you and your web site experience unless you explicitly say so. Failure to do so will cost £500k, although today no one knows whether that is an annual 'subscription' fee or a per case basis fee.
So, you could argue that most digital marketing technologies today have a significant problem on their hands. With the law on side with the visitor and everyone being automatically set to opt-out when they arrive, if presented with an opportunity to opt-in so digital marketing platforms can personally identify you to provide better web site marketing insight and reports, most visitors would most likely remain opted-out - after all, why would you want to opt-in? What's in it for you?
Or would they - consider this; how do web sites offer better experiences today? How can they serve better experiences to you, me and the person opposite you if they don't know what it is you like, who you are, what you want, what you have bought/not bought and so on. This, of course, is all done through the diligent use of cookies. But the new ICO EU Directive stipulates one cannot use cookies without a visitors consent - so, give them a reason to provide you with consent. Make it painfully obvious that you care about your visitors/customers and give them a reason/offer they cannot refuse.
For example, this 'model', for better a word, would work beautifully for Telecommunication, Utilities and Financial Services companies. It is all in the wording, of course (what isn't these days!), but by paraphrasing something from this: "By allowing me to track and serve you with cookie data, I can give you 'Mr Smith' a far better visiting experience which will ultimately turn you into a huge advocate for my organisation due to the better experience you will have", you could have something which works to your companies advantage and actually not only helps your organisation out with the current dilemma around the new 'Cookie Law' but also serves a better visitor experience to the people you care most about, your visitors/prospects and/or customers.
So, all round then, this is an opportunity for your business to strive! So why not take it?
The Pain Of Tagging - No More!
Over the years I have used them all; Webtrends, Omniture, Coremetrics, Google Analytics et al and the one thing they all share in common is? Tagging!
I've since discovered that there are systems beyond even the most humble Web Analytics platform that also requires tagging. Those include (but are no means limited to) Personalisation Engines and Complex Event Processing Systems.
So, it would seem that if you want anything online to be successful, you and your IT team must embrace the endless fun and joys of 'Tagging' everything up, paying through the nose for it with consultancy engagements and generally missing out on fast time to data and valuable insights during the specification, planning and delivery documents being drawn up - oh, and that is before the actual delivery of reports takes place, from which you must then extract those valuable insights from yourself - and be sure not to mis-interpret along the way.
But don't panic. There are alternatives. Alternatives that require no tagging, can collect every event occurrence from within the page, can model data in real-time and deliver the actions to internal or external platforms, from which your business suddenly becomes significantly more 'pro-active' than the typical 're-active' existence experienced today.
Check out my video blog posting from a couple of days back called 'Tag Free Data Collection'. It can be found on YouTube.com also if more convenient.
Visitor level insight should not be difficult! It should be the easiest part - discovering the truth about what is and is not working for your visitors and business is the hardest part to sometimes accept.
I've since discovered that there are systems beyond even the most humble Web Analytics platform that also requires tagging. Those include (but are no means limited to) Personalisation Engines and Complex Event Processing Systems.
So, it would seem that if you want anything online to be successful, you and your IT team must embrace the endless fun and joys of 'Tagging' everything up, paying through the nose for it with consultancy engagements and generally missing out on fast time to data and valuable insights during the specification, planning and delivery documents being drawn up - oh, and that is before the actual delivery of reports takes place, from which you must then extract those valuable insights from yourself - and be sure not to mis-interpret along the way.
But don't panic. There are alternatives. Alternatives that require no tagging, can collect every event occurrence from within the page, can model data in real-time and deliver the actions to internal or external platforms, from which your business suddenly becomes significantly more 'pro-active' than the typical 're-active' existence experienced today.
Check out my video blog posting from a couple of days back called 'Tag Free Data Collection'. It can be found on YouTube.com also if more convenient.
Visitor level insight should not be difficult! It should be the easiest part - discovering the truth about what is and is not working for your visitors and business is the hardest part to sometimes accept.
Thursday 14 July 2011
What Do Your Reports Look Like?
Too many businesses buy an analytics tool because of it's the market presence and the eye-candy the reports bring.
Having previously been a data and web analyst for many years, data is typically always extracted and placed into everyone's ever so familiar, favorite reporting platform, MS Excel. So why use the charts and graphs provided by an aggregated data platform in the first place? I know many analysts and businesses who would agree with me and say they don't use them (possibly even the analyst(s) in your organisation right now).
It takes a brave person to make a purchasing decision based around the above two key mentioned areas. I can testify (by speaking from experience) just how many businesses adopt this 'strategy', having worked over many years with a lot of organisations across multiple business sectors, including financial services, travel, retail, utilities and telecommunications. Just because the few charts/graphs you have look good doesn't mean the data in the report(s) it provides to the business are with any insight which is actionable. The charts/graphs need to be interactive!
Most of us have MS Excel on our desktop machines. It doesn't take a semi experienced MS Excel user long to build a dashboard from scratch. The hardest job with any dashboard build is the collation and consistency of the data.
One of the most recent dashboards I have built in MS Excel can be seen below. This incorporates non-aggregated visitor data covering all marketing touchpoints (not just first and last click, but all clicks inbetween) which have been weighted to provide a true picture on what channels, promotions, activities, placements, offers, partners and so on actually are working to influence a prospect to engage and convert with a web site.
Additionally, if you have a Business Intelligence platform such as SAP Business Objects, Crystal Xcelsius, Microstrategy, Qlikview, SAS and so on, you can do even better things with the charts/graphs. All with interactive controls and functions, enabling you to get to the lowest level required (which in my case is often the visitor level - their phone number, email address, social security number and so on).
So in reality, if you wanted, your Business Intelligence dashboard could actually look like the screenshot below. Most Business Intelligence platforms today are appreciating Mobile BI is the future by empowering analysts to influence, make decisions and provide real-time insight whilst on the move. The example below is taken from the Microstrategy blog but it shows Mobile BI at its best and certainly provides much better 'eye-candy' than any other online analytics and optimization tool I have used before.
What I love best about interactive dashboards is the involvement of data from more than one channel (typically the web). In the above example, data is being collated in a Customer Data Hub (more about what defines a CDH later), but for a business to see how all channels are performing, volumes of calls, revenue attributed when compared with other channels, trends compared to last year and so on, this insight is like 'Gold Dust'. BUT, what makes this all the more appealing, is the ability to go down to Visitor/Customer/Prospect level and then actually do something with the data extracted; perhaps send a list of possible fraudulent applications to the anti-fraud team by email to investigate, or abandoned insurance purchases to the call center for a follow-up phone call. These are only a few of the actions very few businesses are actually doing today with their marketing insight platform, whilst others so desperately want to be able to do the same.
Without any shadow of a doubt, aggregated data and the charts and graphs associated with them, have limited shelf life. Yes, they are good for spotting trends and identifying upcoming demands, but they are not good enough to give businesses today what they really want. The good news is this, what businesses want from their online/offline marketing channels can be achieved today. But, the right platform needs to be in place. So, the question to ask is: 'Does your marketing insight platform have a Customer data model? (have you seen it? does it address/meet your analyst/business requirements?). Does it provide aggregated or non-aggregated visitor level insight? Can you slice and dice the data quickly, repeatedly, over time, integrate other channel sources and so on? Do you have a Business Intelligence platform in place already? If not, would MS Excel cut the mustard for you?
Done correctly, Customer Insight can be very powerful. The most surprising bit though is the cost to achieve it - it's not as much as you might imagine.
Having previously been a data and web analyst for many years, data is typically always extracted and placed into everyone's ever so familiar, favorite reporting platform, MS Excel. So why use the charts and graphs provided by an aggregated data platform in the first place? I know many analysts and businesses who would agree with me and say they don't use them (possibly even the analyst(s) in your organisation right now).
It takes a brave person to make a purchasing decision based around the above two key mentioned areas. I can testify (by speaking from experience) just how many businesses adopt this 'strategy', having worked over many years with a lot of organisations across multiple business sectors, including financial services, travel, retail, utilities and telecommunications. Just because the few charts/graphs you have look good doesn't mean the data in the report(s) it provides to the business are with any insight which is actionable. The charts/graphs need to be interactive!
Most of us have MS Excel on our desktop machines. It doesn't take a semi experienced MS Excel user long to build a dashboard from scratch. The hardest job with any dashboard build is the collation and consistency of the data.
One of the most recent dashboards I have built in MS Excel can be seen below. This incorporates non-aggregated visitor data covering all marketing touchpoints (not just first and last click, but all clicks inbetween) which have been weighted to provide a true picture on what channels, promotions, activities, placements, offers, partners and so on actually are working to influence a prospect to engage and convert with a web site.
Additionally, if you have a Business Intelligence platform such as SAP Business Objects, Crystal Xcelsius, Microstrategy, Qlikview, SAS and so on, you can do even better things with the charts/graphs. All with interactive controls and functions, enabling you to get to the lowest level required (which in my case is often the visitor level - their phone number, email address, social security number and so on).
So in reality, if you wanted, your Business Intelligence dashboard could actually look like the screenshot below. Most Business Intelligence platforms today are appreciating Mobile BI is the future by empowering analysts to influence, make decisions and provide real-time insight whilst on the move. The example below is taken from the Microstrategy blog but it shows Mobile BI at its best and certainly provides much better 'eye-candy' than any other online analytics and optimization tool I have used before.
What I love best about interactive dashboards is the involvement of data from more than one channel (typically the web). In the above example, data is being collated in a Customer Data Hub (more about what defines a CDH later), but for a business to see how all channels are performing, volumes of calls, revenue attributed when compared with other channels, trends compared to last year and so on, this insight is like 'Gold Dust'. BUT, what makes this all the more appealing, is the ability to go down to Visitor/Customer/Prospect level and then actually do something with the data extracted; perhaps send a list of possible fraudulent applications to the anti-fraud team by email to investigate, or abandoned insurance purchases to the call center for a follow-up phone call. These are only a few of the actions very few businesses are actually doing today with their marketing insight platform, whilst others so desperately want to be able to do the same.
Without any shadow of a doubt, aggregated data and the charts and graphs associated with them, have limited shelf life. Yes, they are good for spotting trends and identifying upcoming demands, but they are not good enough to give businesses today what they really want. The good news is this, what businesses want from their online/offline marketing channels can be achieved today. But, the right platform needs to be in place. So, the question to ask is: 'Does your marketing insight platform have a Customer data model? (have you seen it? does it address/meet your analyst/business requirements?). Does it provide aggregated or non-aggregated visitor level insight? Can you slice and dice the data quickly, repeatedly, over time, integrate other channel sources and so on? Do you have a Business Intelligence platform in place already? If not, would MS Excel cut the mustard for you?
Done correctly, Customer Insight can be very powerful. The most surprising bit though is the cost to achieve it - it's not as much as you might imagine.
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Tag Free Data Collection
A video showing data collection from a fictitious web site - all of which is at an individual level. Every mouse click, mouse movement, page load, key stroke and more is being collected without ANY tagging effort required.
This is how it should be when collecting insight from a web page. Non-aggregated, visitor level detail which can actionable!
Campaign Attribution - Why Do It, Value From Doing It, Who Can Do It?
Today, a large portion of any organisations marketing budget is typically used to drive visitors to corporate websites. Why? Well, according to a survey conducted by IBM in 2010, today, 70 percent of a consumer’s first interaction with a product or service takes place online. Understanding what those individual visitors did and which campaigns are driving the valuable visitors is challenging. 28% of Web site decision-makers dismiss the opportunity, because they believe attribution will never be precise, and therefore is not worth measuring (Forrester Research).
Results from IBM's 2010 CEO Study also in 2010 showed however, that 88 percent of CEOs will focus on getting closer to their customers in next five years and 82 percent of CEOs want to better understand customer needs.
With challenging economic times ahead and to support the stated CEO’s aim to get closer to customers and understand their needs, attribution is now receiving renewed interest. Accurate metrics derived from a sound attribution framework can deliver informed decisions on critical marketing expenditures. Having this data empowers Marketers to demand more productive campaigns based on key business requirements.
Results from IBM's 2010 CEO Study also in 2010 showed however, that 88 percent of CEOs will focus on getting closer to their customers in next five years and 82 percent of CEOs want to better understand customer needs.
With challenging economic times ahead and to support the stated CEO’s aim to get closer to customers and understand their needs, attribution is now receiving renewed interest. Accurate metrics derived from a sound attribution framework can deliver informed decisions on critical marketing expenditures. Having this data empowers Marketers to demand more productive campaigns based on key business requirements.
The Challenge
Many believe Campaign Attribution to be purely based on measuring the performance of marketing communications by means of placing ‘tracking codes’ on inbound marketing campaigns, from which charts and graphs can be produced to show effectiveness and provide the return of investment (ROI) proof for partners, creative’s, placements, marketing programs etc. Without additional information, it is difficult for organisations to contest the value and ROI.
Indeed, perhaps one of the ‘best kept secrets’ in the world of marketing (and particularly online marketing) is that most data models used by analytical platforms are in fact wholly inappropriate.
An example is the widespread use of cookies as a tracking mechanism on the assumption that “one cookie = one visitor”. This could be misleading, for example:
• One cookie, many visitors - Many people share the same device such as a home or work PC
• One visitor many cookies - A unique visitor uses different devices such as a PC, a Smartphone and a tablet to access the same site
• One cookie , many accounts - The same person accesses different brands or accounts belonging to the same organisation from a single device
Another common barrier to accurate attribution is a lack of complete and timely data. The widespread use of traditional web analytics platforms means data may be:
• Aggregated / summarised, by its very nature, aggregating or summarising data means sacrificing individuality and detail.
• Short lifecycle, possibly only 30 days or less data is available meaning key events and complete visitor history are not available
• Extended latency – Data is processed by a 3rd party and can take over 24 hrs to be available.
• Non transparent – Data may be provided by 3rd parties and not provide the level of detail required
These make it very difficult to measure the effectiveness of online behaviour and thus correctly attribute value to campaigns. Add to this the growth of specialising digital marketing agencies, the increasing variety of analytical measurement platforms and the ever more complex Multi-Channel ‘conversational’ landscape, accurate attribution becomes a real challenge.
Why Change?
Today, agencies across the world are being used by companies of all sizes to manage their marketing communications, whether that is affiliate sites, partner sites, paid search, social networks, television, radio, print and more. The success of a particular marketing campaign is typically measured against key performance indicators (KPI’s) such as revenue, downloads or conversions. Yet no one really measures the success of the campaigns leading up to conversion. Instead decisions are based on first or last click methodology. In many cases, the campaign touch-points leading up to conversion are direct influencers and are significant in aiding and persuading a visitor to take action or make a decision whether or not to ‘convert’ with a brand, site or product.
For true value based Campaign Attribution, it is important and necessary to have a detailed dataset of visitor insight available and at an individual visit level. Lack of ‘business’ data (not click stream or raw data) is a primary reason many organisations are unable to perform such analysis today.
Web Analytics platforms for example, are widely used to measure the effectiveness of online visit performance but are based on aggregated sets of data. This means the individual journey(s) made by a visitor over time i.e. the customer lifecycle, are lost as most systems summarise on visit level and use first or last visit/click campaign methodology. However, there can be many visits and referrals made by an individual leading up to conversion. Using traditional reporting platforms, only the first or last visit would be available, other potentially influential campaign clicks and the subsequent behavior and experiential data might be lost. This of course leads to an incomplete understanding of the true value of campaigns and visitors and therefore contributes to potentially incorrect and costly attribution.
A Value Based Approach
However, by taking an approach to maintain a consolidated record of every visit by every visitor (Non-aggregated Data), full campaign attribution at an individual visitor level, based on scoring and weighting of goals achieved in current and previous browser sessions, can be applied, calculated and quantified. This opens up the endless possibilities of measuring effectiveness of many things related to online marketing (both on and offsite). Enabling businesses to work out the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns on the lead up to conversion, as well as establish the quality of inbound visitors from various channels and campaigns. Now with complete and accurate data, it is relatively simple to provide summarised and trended ‘dashboard’ views of campaign performance based on visitor lifetime value. With the added benefit of drilldown to more detail.
How Do We Measure Value?
Performance weighting and scoring calculated on goals achieved whilst a visitor is on the web site can be used to gauge the effectiveness of marketing activities in attracting the most valuable visitors.
For example:
A click-through from an affiliate site might be worth 5 points, arriving on a landing page might be worth 1 point, viewing a detail page might be worth 10 points and watching a video/picture might be worth 15 points. So, on this occasion, the visitor has attributed 31 points but did not convert. However, the product set is such that it requires research prior to purchase. So, this visit was of value as it demonstrated a propensity to purchase and it’s highly likely the visitor will bookmark and purchase at a later date. Even beyond 30 days
Another visitor clicks through from a paid search link (which by the way, cost £3.20!) The visitor arrives on a landing page worth 1 point, views a product details page worth 10 points then leaves. This visitor generated 11 points but cost £3.20 to acquire.
If the above example were representative of a large amount of site traffic, you would very quickly be able to establish that the paid search marketing campaign has a high acquisition cost associated to it but very low quality of visitor based on their lack of engagement with site content. With this level of insight, businesses may well decide paid search is in fact yielding low value traffic which is depreciating the marketing spend. Therefore it might make sense to drop the particular paid search keywords and invest in the affiliate campaigns driving the ‘valuable’ visitors.
Another consideration when implementing attribution models based on less sophisticated first and/or last click models is the possibility of significant duplication both in traffic reporting and payments to affiliates and agencies. It is not unusual to have in excess of 20% of budget wasted on duplicate payments for the same clicks/conversions. To prevent this and provide for fair attribution, a simple formula can be applied where no more than 100% of traffic and marketing budget will be allocated (de-duplication). There is a fixed percentage for the initiating click and the converting click, and the remainder is split over visits and weighted depending on the behaviour of the visit (for example, if someone hits just a landing page but then bounces, they will score differently to a visitor who hits the landing page, views target products, adds to basket and starts a checkout process).
How To Implement Such a Solution
For campaign attribution, weighting and scoring for events that occur during any and all marketing channel sessions need to be defined. Definitions for such events will vary greatly depending on the type of business concerned. For example, an Insurance business will have different weight scorings for hitting a landing page, viewing a product, beginning an application through to quote and then on to saving a quote/purchase. Compared to a travel company where a visitor may hit a landing page, search for a destination/route, start a checkout and go through the purchase process and so on. In retail there may be differences dependant on the value of products, higher value electronics will be researched more than say clothing, therefore comparing multiple products and reading reviews might be scored highly.
Once weight scores have been established, these are applied to non-aggregated visitor data. This is not something that can be retrospectively added to summarised/aggregated results typical of traditional Web Analytics platforms so the platforms capable of doing this today are very small indeed, but they do exist!
Thanks for reading.
What Does 'Data' Look Like?
I often get asked the question 'What does data look like'?
So I show them. The problem with showing data (especially if you are a company in the Big Data space), is you can extract very detailed insights from such platforms. That then causes its own problems because then the question 'what do your charts and graphs look like'? At this point, you start to wonder whether this person is an 'aggregated data' fan or a 'non-aggregated data' fan.
As a former data and web analyst, I get data and I get it in a BIG way! I admit, looking at rows and rows of data in tables upon tables does get a little confusing at times (especially if you are only used to extracting insights from charts and graphs), but this is your moment to spot something that no one has spotted before. You can set the trends, spot the opportunities for improvement, impress your boss with the endless amount of insight you are now able to provide from all this 'Big Data'.
I have worked with many web analytics platforms from which many businesses across all industry verticals have asked me to build dashboards in MS Excel. I don't mind doing this. Being creative with data is something I enjoy, bringing insights from the backroom to the boardroom (what's the point in doing analysis if a business isn't going to listen).
But there in lies the problem. Almost all the web analytics platforms produce aggregated datasets from which gleaming any detailed insight into what caused what, when, where and why becomes challenging. For those that are analysts reading this post, I'm sure you have encountered the situation where endless requests to dig deeper into the data have come forward; 'why did we see a decline in sales', 'who saw out of stock items', 'who are my most valuable customers', 'who is exhibiting suspect churn behaviour'. With aggregated data, these questions (and trust me, there are millions more) cannot be answered for two main reasons; 1) it was never tagged in the first place or 2) because it is aggregated data, you will never know.
So, in summary - data may not look pretty but data is actionable. It can be used to gleam far greater insights which are otherwise not possible today (or likely to ever be possible) in web analytics platforms. Businesses need to move to a platform which can provide 'Big Data' from the online channel and leave the 'charts and graphs' to Business Intelligence platforms such as MicroStrategy, SAP Business Objects, Oracle BI or even MS Excel (the BI platform we all have on our machines today).
So I show them. The problem with showing data (especially if you are a company in the Big Data space), is you can extract very detailed insights from such platforms. That then causes its own problems because then the question 'what do your charts and graphs look like'? At this point, you start to wonder whether this person is an 'aggregated data' fan or a 'non-aggregated data' fan.
As a former data and web analyst, I get data and I get it in a BIG way! I admit, looking at rows and rows of data in tables upon tables does get a little confusing at times (especially if you are only used to extracting insights from charts and graphs), but this is your moment to spot something that no one has spotted before. You can set the trends, spot the opportunities for improvement, impress your boss with the endless amount of insight you are now able to provide from all this 'Big Data'.
I have worked with many web analytics platforms from which many businesses across all industry verticals have asked me to build dashboards in MS Excel. I don't mind doing this. Being creative with data is something I enjoy, bringing insights from the backroom to the boardroom (what's the point in doing analysis if a business isn't going to listen).
But there in lies the problem. Almost all the web analytics platforms produce aggregated datasets from which gleaming any detailed insight into what caused what, when, where and why becomes challenging. For those that are analysts reading this post, I'm sure you have encountered the situation where endless requests to dig deeper into the data have come forward; 'why did we see a decline in sales', 'who saw out of stock items', 'who are my most valuable customers', 'who is exhibiting suspect churn behaviour'. With aggregated data, these questions (and trust me, there are millions more) cannot be answered for two main reasons; 1) it was never tagged in the first place or 2) because it is aggregated data, you will never know.
So, in summary - data may not look pretty but data is actionable. It can be used to gleam far greater insights which are otherwise not possible today (or likely to ever be possible) in web analytics platforms. Businesses need to move to a platform which can provide 'Big Data' from the online channel and leave the 'charts and graphs' to Business Intelligence platforms such as MicroStrategy, SAP Business Objects, Oracle BI or even MS Excel (the BI platform we all have on our machines today).
Social Media And Its Uses In Business
I often speak to people who still consider Social Media to be Facebook. They don't really get it, don't understand its purpose and value. Then when you ask them about Twitter, they like to make jokes about being a 'twit'.
I have read emails, forum posts and heard in conversation that Social Media within businesses is mostly used for PR (Press Releases). Really? I personally use Social Media to either learn something new about something I'm interested in, follow the news/travel/weather updates (more reliable than radio or TV in my opinion). On numerous occasions, Social Media has pulled through for me and given me what I wanted so for that reason, I passionately believe it WORKS!
Honestly, businesses need to really start embracing technology beyond the traditional means of telephone and email. Social Media is here to stay; it is cheap/free to use, has fantastic geographical reach, is incredibly viral and as a Technologist (and futurist), I like to think businesses will one day embrace Social Media to give them the competitive advantage they always yearn for. After all, what business/brand wouldn't like to know what someone thinks about a product or a service they offer?
So, I have a question to all my readers: How valuable would knowing who has said what, where and when be to your business when they visit your web site or call the call center? If you know the visitor is happy, unhappy or undecided, would you communicate differently to them if you knew 'details' in advance?
Thanks for reading.
I have read emails, forum posts and heard in conversation that Social Media within businesses is mostly used for PR (Press Releases). Really? I personally use Social Media to either learn something new about something I'm interested in, follow the news/travel/weather updates (more reliable than radio or TV in my opinion). On numerous occasions, Social Media has pulled through for me and given me what I wanted so for that reason, I passionately believe it WORKS!
Honestly, businesses need to really start embracing technology beyond the traditional means of telephone and email. Social Media is here to stay; it is cheap/free to use, has fantastic geographical reach, is incredibly viral and as a Technologist (and futurist), I like to think businesses will one day embrace Social Media to give them the competitive advantage they always yearn for. After all, what business/brand wouldn't like to know what someone thinks about a product or a service they offer?
So, I have a question to all my readers: How valuable would knowing who has said what, where and when be to your business when they visit your web site or call the call center? If you know the visitor is happy, unhappy or undecided, would you communicate differently to them if you knew 'details' in advance?
Thanks for reading.
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