Even with the lean-back nature of online video, it can be a great channel for branding a product or service in the minds of relevant video viewers. But, marketers typically have both branding and direct response goals. Online video can achieve both – compelling viewers to lean-forward and engage. In today’s digital video landscape we have a few ancillary products that can help measure how consumers are engaging with an advertisement. Traditionally, we have completion rates and clicks. The inverse relationship of those two actions often makes it difficult to deduce what a consumer [...]

Related Topics: Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Video | Display Advertising | Video

This is a follow up to my previous article "Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave" which discusses eight common ways we practice self-deception, particularly in the context of metrics, analytics, and continuous improvement testing. Continuing with our earlier list, here are four more ways a marketer might self-deceive: #5: Confuse Accuracy With Precision Example: "Our Average Customer is 32.47 years old" Apparently, your average customer was born June 21. Ok, and your point is....? Do you honestly think you can measure average age of your customers to within three days (i.e., hundredths of a [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Marketing Metrics | Statistics

Over the last decade, digital marketing and advertising have transformed significantly due to the rapid advancement of technology and analytical techniques. One aspect of technology which has changed significantly over time, and continues to carry a substantial impact, is the screen resolution of the marketer’s audience. Apple’s new Retina Display and the extensive marketing push surrounding it exemplifies the general trend of larger consumer electronics companies pushing for a high-resolution Web. Screen resolution is the measurement of how many pixels a computer monitor can display [...]

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"Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice To (Self) Deceive" With apologies to Sir Walter Scott for my mangling of his most popular turn of phrase, I'd like to take some time now to discuss how people −and particularly people involved in metrics and evaluation of "how did we do this week/month/quarter?" − are prone to self-delusion. Along the way, I run the risk of insulting you, but I see that as a necessary risk when confronting a topic like this. It takes a healthy sense of self-worth to say "holy crap! I'm a dufus!" Now, let's start off with some assumptions. [...]

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Many variables play an important role when you're analyzing search engine optimization efforts. This includes factors such as site keywords and content development, as well as the queries being searched for. It can be tempting for marketers to optimize results for shorter queries and ignore the long tail, but how much traffic is overlooked this way? And how does the quality of that traffic impact its relevance? Data provided by advertising network Chitika shows the correlation between query length and ad performance, looking at user engagement as well as the volume of traffic on a given [...]

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Ad spending on digital video is poised to grow from its current 2012 estimate of $3 billion to more than $8 billion by 2016, according to eMarketer. As we all know, advertising dollars move to where eyeballs shift, and if industry predictions are correct, an additional 30 million eyeballs will be moving to digital video, totaling 201 million viewers in four short years. What will it for mean for advertisers if by 2016 over 200 million people are watching digital video? How can advertisers spend those $8 billion dollars judiciously? Most importantly, of all the video metrics you ca [...]

Related Topics: Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Video | Video

When is nothing worth something? Turns out, just about all the time. Whenever you look at your metrics, consider that a metric is, in virtually every case, designed to measure a specific outcome. It may be a positive outcome, one that is beneficial to your company: more sales, more customers, less inventory shrink, etc. Or it may be a negative effect, something that impedes your ability to do business: more churn, fewer repeat customers, higher costs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you want "more" of the former and "less" of the latter. Positive Or Negative, But N [...]

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Google page position has long been considered one of the holy grails for site owners, advertisers, or marketers running campaigns to increase the level of exposure for their site. If you’re reading this, you probably know that search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the main methods marketers can utilize in the everlasting quest for an improved page position. Successful SEO campaigns are executed by focusing on a variety of variables such as content development, site keywords, review of site structure and content. While it is still possible for a site to rank first on a page, Google se [...]

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In our rapidly evolving world of marketing analytics, especially with the daily articles on “Big Data” streams, predictive analytics and real-time reporting, many of us forget to consistently apply the basics we’ve learned from our research and analytics. One core basic that I call “context” provides the needed focus. Context enables a strategic view that is necessary for effectively and efficiently planning, executing, reporting, and then acting -- in other words, for charting the shortest distance from data to insights. But first a little context on context and insights. Rece [...]

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Social media marketing can be an effective way to generate exposure among potential new customers. Done right, that exposure can be translated into engagement, interest, and eventually, a sale. Unfortunately, social media doesn’t always get the credit it deserves for that sale, especially when transactions do not take place on the web site. Here are two approaches to tracking the business value of social media marketing in this scenario: Create Goal (Soft Conversion) Values If a site visitor orders a catalog, asks for a price quote, or signs up to receive email communications, th [...]

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A few years back, I wrote a column about a common worry people express when they use analytics to inform their optimization testing plans. Somehow they figure that the simpler tools on the market (such as Google's free Content Experiments tool) won't be able to handle their site. A more expensive tool, mistakenly, is assumed to yield more effective insight for testing, thereby "reducing" the risk of testing. This may even get fed this line by consultants who  guide their clients to overly complex tools -- why? no one is certain -- claiming that the excellent free tools aren't useful for [...]

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Mozilla’s latest upgrade to the Firefox web browser, Firefox 14, officially launched on July 17th and brought with it a number of desirable new features. These features, however, can have some not-so-desirable consequences for data analytics. One of the more notable changes (from both the user and the marketer’s perspective) is that Firefox will now encrypt all searches made through the location bar, search box, and right-click menu using Google SSL search. By enabling secure search as a default for users searching on Firefox, Mozilla aims to provide a more secure web browsing experi [...]

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There is no denying that mobile marketing is one of the hottest topics in 2012. If you are a marketer in the United States, more than likely you have at least one article in your inbox describing and outlining the benefits of mobile marketing. According to eMarketer, there will be more than 106 million smartphone users in the U.S by the end of this year, and that number is projected to top 148 million by 2015. With the growing population of mobile device users combined with the up and coming generation of super texting teens, we can all understand the need to have a solid mobile experi [...]

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If you are serious about measuring social media, here are seven pitfalls that can lead you down the dark path to frustration and failure (and perhaps to the unemployment line): Low Hanging Fruit Basic social media metrics are readily available, easy to get and generally cheap (or free).  But if you are serious about measurement, you’ll have to break a sweat and stretch beyond simple metrics that serve as “gain” indicators (traffic, buzz volume, fans, etc.). It isn’t that “gain” metrics don’t have value -- they serve as useful pieces of important calculations. But by themsel [...]

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In many ways, being effective online means paying attention to the things that matter. That recipe includes conversion, and analytics, and metrics -- important ingredients, all -- but it also means using your brain to pay attention, as a human, to what your customer, another human, needs. Waitresses are great at this. And as far as I can tell, the over-worked ones at diners and dives often have the best 6th-sense for how to handle a customer. When it comes to your restaurant (your website) and your hungry patrons (your customers), and your waitress (uh, YOU!), answer me this: "Would you [...]

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In less than a decade, mobile computing has emerged onto the technology landscape as a force to be reckoned with. According to Gartner, smartphone shipments reached 472 million units in 2011, propelled by record setting success of the iPhone and Android devices. Market research firm NPD DisplaySearch reported similarly impressive figures for tablet sales in 2011, which approached 75 million units; an annualized growth rate of over 250%. The high volume of mobile device shipments is indicative of a larger trend -- the behavioral patterns in consumer web browsing and interconnectivity a [...]

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Social networks are unique in that they facilitate interaction with consumers in a common language and culture native to the platform. These channels enable the creation and organic spread of magnetic content that attracts rather than distracts a consumer in a participatory mindset. For brands, every Tweet, Like, or share is an opportunity to respond in real-time, amplifying positive sentiment or shifting negative perception. Promoted  Tweets and sponsored stories are accessible to consumers in the social context because they are in their native language. Companies like Intel [...]

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(Full Disclosure:  The author’s company sells a social media measurement product) At least once a week I run across an article or blog post about tools for measuring social media. Headlines like “5 Social Media Measurement Tools That Save Time and Money” or “Six Free Social Media Measurement Tools for B2B” have become as common as graduation parties in June. While it is encouraging to see so many measurement options emerging, the wide range of products in this space can be confusing. Part of the problem is that the term “social media measurement” is used to describe tools [...]

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How do you measure the impact of conversion improvement on your site? Most marketers know the basics of how to calculate this, but might get confused when it came to details -- or do they? Astute readers will recall I began a series on calculating the impact of your continuous improvement efforts a few months ago, called “Making Millions From Losing Tests". Several readers wrote in privately asking for an even simpler example. It turns out that it’s the basic lift calculation that seems to be causing doubt, and therefore the detail work “feels shaky”, as one fellow put it. This [...]

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Pinterest, the visual-focused social sharing startup, has taken the online world by storm over the last year. According to the latest referral traffic and active user statistics as reported by Media Bistro, Pinterest has surpassed LinkedIn as the third most-popular social network in the world with a 145% increase in daily users since January 2012. What makes the story of Pinterest so unique is that accompanying its stratospheric growth are revenue and engagement metrics that have turned the social network into one of the few sources in the space that are actually delivering traffic and sign [...]

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