The 543 Group

Objective and Subjective ROI

Every client or prospect we work with today is asking the same question:  "How do we improve ROI on what we are doing?"  And, more importantly, they want to know how to measure ROI for all their marketing investments, online or off.

I'm fond of saying that, with online marketing, everything is measurable, and it is true, if the strategy is set up correctly and it includes the expected ROI and a pre-determination of how that ROI will be measured.  What cannot be totally guaranteed is that everything is completely measured objectively.  Branded manufacturers will say that is it almost impossible to measure direct ROI from online marketing efforts because they are a step or two removed from the actual customer who purchases through their distribution channels.  Coupons, offers, coded registrations and special online 'extras' are often not sufficient to know the extent of how well efforts are working,but they are good options.  Sometimes companies simply need to look at spikes in sales activity as one objective measure of success, although it may be due to a variety of factors including the mix of online and offline marketing and sales activity.

What is in the control of any company marketing on the Web is how well its online experience conveys its brand, its differentiators, and its value propositions.  Google and Yahoo! and Apple did not get where they are through poor online experiences - it is precisely their ease of use and rapid delivery of that which they promise that compels millions to beat a path to their door.  Shaw Floors may not be able to know precisely the degree to which their online simulation that places their products on a photo of your home interior drives sales, but they can know their online experience is likely to foster a stronger brand affinity than that of their competitors.  Any catalog retailer who has a great selection and fast-loading large photos but has a lousy online shopping cart and payment process is likely to see a reduction in orders offline as well.  Why does every major auto manufacturer offer almost the exact same type of online experience and functionality now?   Because they needed to do so to level the playing field.  Prospective customers start on the Web and the experience better be good or they'll go somewhere else.

Every touchpoint matters and leaves an impression.  It's like a music system that only sounds as good as its weakest component.  If there is any area of your online experience that suffers, the total impression is likely to suffer.  And the impact of a brand's online experience does not have to be subjectively evaluated; it can be measured through Website satisfaction surveys or even page-specific 'Was this helpful?' inquiries. 

The actual value of a highly engaging and flawlessly executed online experience?  Priceless, for any company serious about growth and customer satisfaction.   

Thank You, Mr. Obvious!

There is one aspect of the advertising for the Apple iPod phone that is refreshing to see.  It's what you might call 'obvious advertising.'  There are no fancy marketing gimmicks, no catchy slogans.  Frankly, there is nothing more than a simple, up close and personal, demonstration of an innovative product and how it works. 

It points out what has always been true in marketing, but not practiced often enough.  Develop a corporate culture that drives innovation in products and services, and you can spend less time worrying about how to be innovative in your advertising, and more will still beat a path to your door and become advocates for your brand.  You do that with proper insight to your target audiences, their needs, and how your brand can deliver on those needs in a competitively differentiated manner.  Strategy first, always.

Does 2.0 Enhance Your Brand Experience?

I recently was involved in two research efforts that looked at the effectiveness of specific Web 2.0 features various brands include in their online experiences.  While many of these types of content and functionality do not, in my opinion, really fall into the Web 2.0 category, it is worth considering how many of the following might reach and engage prospects and customers better and should perhaps be a part of your own online marketing strategy:

• 360 degree spins and alternate views
• Blogs
• Color swatching/colorizing
• Designing your own 'product' or look and mixing and matching components
• Interactive catalogs
• Mobile commerce
• Monogramming or engraving tools
• Microsites
• Personalized messages embedded in the Website based on embedded cookies
• Product tours - interactive or linear playback
• Quick looks and rollover views or fast zoom in, etc.
• RSS feeds
• Shop by category - type of room, outfit, look, etc.
• Stored personalization through areas like My Account, My Profile, or site favorites
• URL and Widget sharing - also embedded on other sites
• User rankings and ratings and comments and feedback
• User-generated visual content - photos/video/audio/graphics
• Videos - used for demonstration, advertising, merchandising, or other promotion
• Videos based on user remixed content
• Visual filtering and advanced search on product features or actual visual product configurators - often referred to now collectively as RIA or Rich Internet Applications
• Web to print
• Wikis

The key is not that any of the above site enhancements are generally more effective than others, but how effective any in particular may be to reach and engage your visitors to compel them to make a purchase or otherwise take the actions you desire as a result of your investment in online marketing.  And the key to that determination is how you measure their effectiveness.

I have said many times that almost every action online can and should be measured.  And how you measure is just as important, so your business can know as precisely as possible that specific new content or functionality enhancements, or online advertising or search or database efforts, or any online marketing initiative, led to direct increases in purchases, average order size, upsell incidence, site traffic, time spent on site, or other key metrics that provide upper management with the ROI they likely require for all marketing.  Did visitors click through from that e-mail campaign? Did they go to the new rich media demo that was promoted on the home page?  Did they watch all of it and then click to learn more, or leave after ten seconds?  Did they send a referral to their friends, or leave positive feedback on their customer service experience?  These and many like them are the right questions to ask.

When you have a strategy supporting every online brand experience and marketing component, and a plan for measuring, analyzing, and learning from the ROI from each, then you can know what Web 1.0 components are working well, which are not, and what new or Web 2.0 features should be considered.

It's The Interactivity That Matters

As the vast majority of e-mail being sent to consumers falls into the category of spam that is automatically discarded, it is challenging enough to even make it through the clutter and actually be opened.  When an e-mail salvo is fortunate enough to be read, it had better reach and engage the consumer in the first few precious seconds or it is immediately sent to the trash.  Even trusted brands don't garner significant levels of loyalty to click through if the offer is not compelling.

Thus, the more engaging the message title, the initial headline, and the graphics, and better.  But interactivity trumps rich media much of the time.  If the offer is intriguing, the message 'wrapper' does not need to be competing with it.  Case in point - a recent message Kodak sent me.  In the first second, it leverages my curiosity to find out what I have won:

I've got children; it was timed to the first day of school, and it takes a half a second to click through for the pay-off:

I imagine the pay-off would be the same no matter which backpack I chose.  And, in this instance, Kodak is lucky as I have heard about their service and wanted to compare it to Snapfish and Flickr anyway.

A good rule of thumb for your e-mail marketing.  Make it as interactive as possible, and match the pay-off experience to the e-mail message. 

HP On Target

HP's new printer campaign takes their already aggressive marketing to a new level, with new celebrity alliances like singer Gwen Stefani:

HP - What Do You Want To Say?

The campaign is certainly on target in one respect:  it gives consumers more reasons to print something from their computer.  The degree to which it spurs a measurable increase in sales is certainly important.  But, even if it does not, it uses ink, and lots of it.  The ink they are getting in the trade press isn't hurting them either.