You need to understand: Drake Morton

Managing Data For Sales Conversion

by Tim Altier, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011
There’s no shortage of data — it’s proven data conversion that is in short supply.

As a data analytics professional, every day I’m faced with finding the ways to make customer data pay dividends with increased sales and improved customer engagement. And I know lots of people who are interested in the same thing but don’t know where to start.

Maybe it’s counterintuitive, but the better the data management, the better the emotional connection with the customer.  A data dive into a customer’s history, purchase habits and channel preferences is like a treasure-trove that can be utilized to enhance the connection with the customer.  And the beauty of that enhancement is that you’re building a foundation for future purchases and even brand advocacy.
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You should know: Drake Morton

Of Principles, Solutions And Pilots

(No, We Are Not Creating PSPs)

by Sherrill Mane, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011

The ecosystem-wide initiative, Making Measurement Making Sense (3MS) is now moving from guiding principles and recommended solutions to testing, which is the first phase of implementation.  This is the stage where we will learn what we don’t know.  Moreover, after acquiring information, we will be able to course-correct together.

The ANA, 4As and IAB embarked on the 3MS journey starting in February 2011.  Since then I’ve had the privilege of watching some of the smartest people in marketing and advertising collaborate to create proposed solutions to the challenge of capitalizing on the many metrics available in digital media. In tandem, they are forging a path to cross-platform measurement.

This is no small task.  It has taken giant minds and courageous souls to get us to the point where testing can begin.  As a matter of fact, nearly 40 business leaders and functional experts, all senior executives, participated in 3MS.  And the members of the ANA, 4As and IAB were joined by NAA and the OPA in supporting the work of these executives as facilitated by Bain & Company and MediaLink LLC.
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Need to know: Drake Morton

Six Actions The Video Ecosystem Needs

To Take Now To Double Video Marketing Spend By 2014

by William A. Lederer , Thursday, May 12, 2011

While we all have grown immensely over the past year, online and mobile video is still Precambrian:  an underdeveloped, but now sizable medium in its own right. If we are going to take our act to the next level soon, there are six actions that should take priority to ready ourselves and the medium for major new investment from marketers.

Strengthen Physical Delivery and Make Ad Operations and Workflows EasierFirst and foremost, we need to take a step back. Just as in other high-tech industries, shiny new objects get all the attention, while some of the most basic obvious issues get pushed under the rug. Video delivery and fulfillment technology must continue to advance and become more transparent to better address concerns of both consumers and advertisers. Concurrently, video ad operations and video workflows must become easier.

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Excellent Read: Drake Morton

Does Advertising And Digital Behavior Lack

A Unified Theory And Method For Measurement And Analysis?

by Judah Phillips , Friday, April 15, 2011

Major brainpower and capital is spent measuring digital behavior in the context of the performance of customer acquisition sources.  I mean referrers, like search (seo/sem), crm, emails, and other forms of paid, owned, and/or earned media;and, then spending mental energy and money optimizing digital customer experience for conversion and/or retention.  Digital analytical evolution over the last several years should no longer support a focus only on the linear flow of acquisition to conversion to loyalty.  The devolution of the “funnel” metaphor (are we not measurers?) makes sense because of the complexity of the digital and non-digital ecosystem, which has a multitude of customer touchpoints that lead to value-generating customer performance.  Do you believe the linear “funnel” is insufficient?   Is it really a “tumbler”?
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Good Read: Drake Morton

It takes A Village Or A City And More…

 by Judah Phillips , Friday, October 16, 2009

Companies are more dependent on solid Web analytical data to drive increased revenue and improved efficiency than ever before.  Yet, most companies underinvest in the people and technology needed to deliver optimal levels of analysis.  In my discussions with colleagues at industry events, it is not uncommon to find one analyst or a very small team of fewer than three analysts responsible for everything related to Wweb analytics, from soup to nuts.  And by that I mean all vendor relationships, systems administration and maintenance, tagging specification/verification/QA, AB and multivariate testing, data collection, report creation/interpretation, stakeholder communication, and all analysis activities.
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Good Read / Check for Bold Type: Drake Morton

Web Analytics:    Easy? Hard? Complex? It Depends

by Judah Phillips , Tuesday, September 8, 2009

In the Web analytics industry, there has been an ongoing debate for some time over whether analytics is easy, hard, complex, or both hard and complex.  Certain thought leaders advocate for each categorization.  My take on it is “it depends” on the tools you are using, the site you are analyzing, your company’s requirements, your team’s skill set, and the processes you define for analytics.  Let’s dig a little deeper into each of these concepts:

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Social Network User Demographics

JANUARY 27, 2009

Adults constitute the bulk of social networkers, but use still skews young.

The share of adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled since 2005, from 8% to 35%, according to a November–December 2008 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey.

Pew said adults still make up the bulk of social networking site users. But younger online adults were much more likely than their older counterparts to use social networks, with three-quarters of those ages 18 to 24 using the sites, compared with just 7% of Internet users ages 65 and older. (more…)

Analytics You Need To Know: Drake Morton

Web Analytics — From The Top

 THE SINGLE MOST FREQUENTLY asked question I get about Web analytics is, “Where do I get started?”  It’s a fair question and one I am always happy to hear. It means more people are becoming interested in improving their online results and giving their customers a better online experience. (more…)