How To Put E-Metrics To Work

You are faced with the task of getting the most out of your corporate Web site. You understand the impact that better Web metrics can have on your site, your customers and your company. What do you do first?

Acquire Management Support

The single most common refrain heard throughout recent e-metrics interviews was the gap between what was being accomplished and what might be accomplished. Due to strains on resources and personnel, and the lack of processing power to do the job, the people we spoke with could see the future but could not see a way to get there. They all know information flows through their fingers every day.

They know how valuable e-metrics is to their site, and therefore to their customers, and therefore to their companies. But the time and people necessary to do the job are in short supply. These people are too busy running down the street to jump into the moving car. And they know it.

Only top executives can provide the funding and they first must be convinced of the value of measuring and using e-metrics. Seek out those key decision makers and, by building a strong business case that illustrates what is to be gained and lost by not analyzing the data, convince them to stand behind you with vision, with strategy, with conviction and with resources. They are the ones who stand to gain the most if you do well--and they are the ones who stand to lose the most if they persist in thinking only about corporate metrics on a monthly or quarterly basis. These top executives are the ones who must recognize that the Web is a perfectly ground mirror for casting a reflection of the marketplace into the boardroom - in real-time.

Design For Analysis

Consider site design as a tool for improving e-metric analysis. Creating your site and your reporting systems to be quantifiable takes requires considerable time and attention.

Determine your needs. Scope out the "who, what and where" of your Web project. Perform a needs assessment with the goals of evaluating your current environment and available resources, determining what actions you want users to take on your Web site, deciding what functionality on the Web site supports the desired action and clarifying your high-level objectives. This will allow you to chart the path that will lead to those goals. What will you need in the way of people, training, equipment and software? How long will it take? What will it cost?

Understand your online customer. Your business metrics are driven by the relevant data you collect and store. They enable you to establish a baseline that will provide context and serve as the foundation on which you build e-business intelligence. Identify the information available in your Web data that you are not yet using to full potential. Utilizing information about site navigation, product interest and promotional success all lead toward an improved user Web experience. Focus on your inventory of customer knowledge and map out the next level of customer attributes you need to collect. What information can be collected the fastest --and with the least amount of customer disturbance--that will allow you to provide new customized online services? Work through the collection, normalization and data application process to ensure a smooth operating environment.

Optimize your e-business. Once you successfully have applied customer information into Web design and content management, your e-business intelligence solution regularly will be producing baseline business e-metric reports that reflect your core business achievements. With this solid contextual foundation in place, it is time to put the analytical infrastructure to practical use in your tactical business management activities. Apply the e-metric calculations described in our research study to create a new set of baseline figures. If you are interested in learning more about the Design For Analysis methodology, a detailed DFA whitepaper is available at http://www.netgen.com/forms/whitepaper/whitepaper.shtml. These are the new numbers to beat. These are the stage-one results that will guide you toward increased income, lowered costs and higher customer satisfaction.

Quantify success. A methodology is successful only if it is repeatable and measurable. Make sure your efforts are an iterative process. It is essential to review the methodology itself to ensure that it continues to meet your e-business intelligence needs. Once you have built a solid foundation of long-term e-metrics and have engaged in extensive tactical refinement of your e-business programs, it is time to extract new business directions from actual customer interaction data. You will be setting new e-metrics standards and creating new e-metrics to measure your future success.

Matt Cutler (matt@netgen.com) co-founded NetGenesis in January 1994 and serves as chief e-business intelligence officer. He is responsible for leading NetGenesis' marketplace education and standards development efforts. A frequent contributing writer and speaker at major Internet industry tradeshows and conferences, Mr. Cutler's commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, USA Today, Investors Business Daily, National Public Radio and numerous other media outlets.

Jim Sterne (jsterne@targeting.com) is a principal at Target Marketing solutions and produced the world's first "Marketing on the Internet" seminar series in 1994. A consultant to Fortune 500 companies and Internet entrepreneurs, Mr. Sterne has written several books on using the Internet for customer