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Posted: Wed, August 24, 2005
Jim Sterne - The ITWales Interviewby Sali Earls
Sterne has written eight books on using the Internet for marketing, produces the Emetrics Summit, and is a Founding Director of the Web Analytics Association. Sali Earls spoke to him to find out more about using the internet as a marketing tool, and the importance of web measurement to businesses of every size. Most companies now acknowledge that they need a website to enable them to compete in the global marketplace. What do they need to do in your opinion to ensure that the site meets the needs of their customers, rather than their CEO? Well, it does need to meet the needs of the CEO or it'll never get funded. Can't take your eye off of that. But the next step is vital. You cannot know if your site is meeting your customers' needs unless you know what they are. That means looking into your web metrics reports to see what your site visitors are looking at, and then asking your customers directly - over and over again. Pop-up surveys, telephone interviews, usability studies, direct mail surveys, focus groups - any tools you have at your disposal or can afford should be used to constantly ask customers what they need. Your job is not to know what they want, but to ask them what they want. Because as soon as you think you know, they'll surprise you. Do you have some top tips that SMEs can implement before putting a new website live to ensure that it's usable? First, there's the Mum Test. She doesn't know anything about your business or your company or your products. Ask her to find the price of a replacement part on your website and you'll wonder if the rest of the world is having the same problem. Next, comes the Five Random Punters test. Bring them in one at a time and give them a task to perform on your website. You will marvel at how five randomly selected individuals could all have been dropped on their heads as babies and then realise that your obviously intuitive website is not so obvious after all. With your heavy involvement in the web analytics industry, you obviously see a company's website as a vital asset. Other than simply measuring return on investment, why should businesses be concerned with analysing the traffic and usage of their website? Web analytics helps optimize the customer experience on the site. That translates to higher customer satisfaction which translates into enhanced feelings about your firm and to more sales. Drat, we're back to ROI again, aren't we?Do you think it's vital that companies invest in software to conduct website analysis, or can they do anything to help themselves? There are some free tools, but there are also some very modestly priced tools out there that provide valuable reports. Certainly, there are limits to the value one gets out of watching web metrics all the time. If you have a large firm and can assign the task to somebody, then they can get better use out of more and more sophisticated tools. But if you're trying to do it on your own, then checking your reports once in a while, just to make sure nothing is going horribly wrong, is a good idea. Like a car, it's a good idea to keep your eyes on the major gauges, but necessary to monitor the engine performance unless you're in a major auto race. Recent research conducted by WebTrends has shown that third party cookie rejection rates have increased more than four-fold in the last 16 months. What advice would you give to businesses that rely on cookie figures to manage their online presence? The first rule is to understand the difference between first- and third-party cookies. If you are relying on an ad serving service to report your success, you'll need to understand their technology very well. But if you are placing and reading your own cookies, then a simple formula will allow you to extrapolate. In other words, if 25% of your site visitors are deleting cookies, then you are looking at a 75% sample which should be more than enough data. You've been working with companies on web marketing since the inception of the internet - in terms of what it allows businesses to do, what do you think is the achievement of the internet? The Internet is a communication tool. Whether it's getting a prospective customer's attention (advertising), convincing them that you have a truly valuable offer (marketing), executing the transaction (sales), or answering questions and solving problems (customer service), the Internet is the fastest, cheapest, most convenient communication tool we've come up with. In time, all communication (text, voice, video) will be Internet enabled. Read more of Jim Sterne's advice on his website at www.targeting.com. In addition, he is Founding Director of the Web Analytics Association (www.webanalyticsassociation.org), and produces the Emetrics Summit (www.emetrics.org). |
Jim Sterne is an internationally known consultant and speaker who focuses on
measuring the value of the Web as a medium for creating and strengthening customer relationships. Since 1994 he
has devoted his attention to the internet as a marketing medium. His insight and currency are assured by his experience as a founding partner of a regional internet access provider and his activities as
a consultant to some of the world's largest companies and innovative start-ups. |
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