by Nick Weiser, CEO, MuchoInfo
How can web marketers be sure they are delivering a positive customer experience to their online visitors? One that will result in buying products or clicking on ads?
In the "bricks & mortar" offline world, the answer to this question is relatively easy. You simply ask shoppers about their experience as they go through your store or the checkout line. But in the online world, most web site visitors leave nothing but a fleeting electronic impression. Unless they buy something or register at your site, your knowledge about them remains speculative and is typically based on anecdotal evidence.
Much of the recent debate about the validity of web site ratings has focused on the need for a standardized measurement tool—a TV-like rating system that would provide a consistent measure of web site traffic for media buyers and others accustomed to Standard Rate and Data-type statistics. The new web site Audit Central, recently endorsed by ABC Interactive and BPA International, will try to provide this information to advertisers who need better data to compare audience sizes.
But for web marketers, a more critical component of online success is the ability to understand and deliver a positive customer experience that drives higher conversion and click-through rates. That’s the reality.
Measuring Customer Experiences on the Web
There are thousands of potential experiences any one web site can provide to its visitors. These include browsing, shopping, reading, listening to music, watching a movie trailer, using a comparison shopper, entering a contest, clicking a banner ad, posting a bid on an auction, using a shopping cart, and on and on.
Before we can accurately measure these experiences, the first requirement is to define them in a way that is meaningful to web site managers and e-marketers. This means looking beyond traffic logs and hits and delving deeper into each interactive experience. By classifying the thousands of possible experiences that can be offered to a site visitor, a systematic online measurement tool begins to materialize for the e-marketer.
The second crucial requirement for relevant online experience measurement is engaging in a reliable method of measurement so that the data accurately represents all visitors to a web site and all of their potential experiences.
Finally, the third essential requirement is a flexible reporting interface that allows e-marketers to get to this vital information in way that consistently helps them better run their businesses.
These three elements in combination provide the kind of data marketers are accustomed to seeing in the offline world. The result provides accurate visitor demographics and allows web site managers to answer otherwise impossible questions, such as: Why aren’t they buying the new line of products? What improvements can we make to the site that would create experiences that encourage increased sales? Who are our prospects and what do they think of us? Why is it that so many people visit, but so few do what makes a bottom-line difference to our business? Essentially, this is what drives web site ROI.
A Tall Order
This sounds like a tall order, but the right technology can make it happen. The truth is, it’s amazing that e-commerce has grown as fast as it has without such a tool. Online marketers are getting tired of playing "pin the tail on the donkey" when it comes to making key online business decisions.
Without real experience measurement, online marketers will continue to make decisions while blindfolded, and mostly miss the mark. It’s costing a lot of money to play this game. And worse, it’s sending many businesses to the trash heap because managers don’t have the answers they need to properly serve their online audience.
Don’t be satisfied with the current state of affairs in web measurement. E-marketers deserve better. Demand accurate and useful data that is pertinent to your web site and helps you understand your visitors, so you can market effectively.
Author Bio:
Nick Weiser is the CEO of MuchoInfo, a firm that develops and markets decision-making tools to help businesses manage web sites more effectively. The company’s ThinkStreamSM visitor-measurement service is designed to help managers increase e-commerce or advertising revenue. You can contact Nick via email at nweiser@muchoinfo.com or by phone at 303-504-4300.
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