Marketing Analytics Model Part 1

• A clear evolution of web analytics practices exists, and the progress of an organization can be ranked into one of several categories.
• Internal education and adoption of analytic techniques are leading indicators of how quickly companies build competitive advantages in analytics.
• Large budgets and big teams do not always correlate to success.

The 2007 study led to the development of our current model, which provides organizations with a blueprint for competing with web analytics. Born out of our industry experience, our model focuses on how web analytics serves as the catalyst for changing the way organizations think about and use data to beat the competition. It has been tested and validated with our client work, and it is a must-read for anyone who believes that the key to success is building a culture of analytics and quantitative rigor to make better business decisions.

Benefits of Following Stratigent’s Methodology

CMO & Senior Executive.  Provides the vision, framework, and tactics necessary for building a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Marketing Managers & Web Analysts.  Demonstrates how web analytics can be used within the marketing department to establish ROI and contribute to a culture driven by analysis and insights.

IT & Technology.  Provides a framework for helping to understand how technology contributes to an organization’s capability to compete with analytics.

Balance is the Key to Long-Term Success

In 2008, Stratigent performed an additional research project to shed new insights on the activities performed by successful companies to use analytics as a competitive weapon. We found that a balanced investment approach is critical to an organization’s ability to move quickly from novice to industry leaders.

Not surprisingly, our research found that almost all organizations are limited in the amount of investment that they can make at any one time – whether the investment is in people such as hiring a web analyst, purchasing technology such as a web analytics tool, or conducting other important activities such as training, planning and business process development.

As a result, choosing which investments to make becomes one of the important decisions that determine future success. Furthermore, a balanced distribution of those investments is necessary before organizations see a return on their investment. For example, we often see organizations make heavy investments in technology while ignoring investments in people and the analysis activities that capture insights and improve ROI.

To help clients make the smartest investment decisions, we have identified three disciplines where investments can be made and developed a set of questions that help organizations determine where they should make their next investment. These disciplines - Strategy & Business Process, Infrastructure and Value Creation Tactics - contain several key tasks that every organization must address in a balanced approach.

Strategy & Business Process

Evolution requires a unified strategy, along with clear goals and business processes. When companies lack a clear plan or have not made the right investments, progress is slow and successes are often inconsistent and unpredictable. Without a solid strategy and mature business processes, companies fall short of using analytics as a competitive advantage. Typical questions that we ask include the following:

• Have clear goals and a definitive direction been established?
• Does the organization have prioritization of future initiatives?
• Have the appropriate business processes been established?
• Are tagging standards and deployment processes fully matured?
• Is the organization making investments in the right people with the right set of skills and experiences?

Infrastructure

Reliable and flexible technology infrastructure is critical for meeting the current and evolving needs of the business. With the proper technology in place, stakeholders can be confident that they have accurate data about the preferences of their customers and the performance of their business. When companies fail to invest in technology, data quality is often suspect, and data availability can be unreliable. Typical questions that we ask include the following:

• Is your current technology flexible enough to meet current and future business requirements?
• Is the technology optimized and customized to the needs of the business?
• Is the organization aligned to support the technology and the needs of key stakeholders?
• Are stakeholders confident in the data used to make decisions?

Value Creation Tactics

Value creation tactics are defined as any activity that produces insights about the business and its customers. In turn, these insights drive business decisions and contribute to an improvement in marketing ROI. Examples of value creation tactics might include customer segmentation, campaign analytics and optimization, and analysis of site performance. If you are not realizing the full value of your investments, it might be that you have not invested enough or have not selected the right value creation tactic. Typical questions that we ask include the following:

• Which actions are you taking to drive ROI and optimization?
• Is the organization embracing a culture of continuous improvement?
• How are you embedding data and analysis into the decision-making process within your organization?
• Does the organization have the proper KPIs in place to evaluate the success of optimization efforts?
• How are you obtaining actionable insights from your data?

Part 2 of this newsletter will introduce our updated marketing analytics model and discuss the different phases that organizations follow as they evolve into data-drive organizations. View Part 2.

For more information please contact 877-427-8900 or email info@stratigent.com.