With marketing increasingly moving toward Internet programs, it’s no surprise that the Internet will offer many of the tools for results measurement. Below we will identify Internet measures including website statistics, Urchin Tracking Modules or UTMs, and other measures.
Make sure to check out the other blogs in our measuring marketing series including traditional measures and social media measures.
Website Statistics
All website hosting providers offer website statistics for a website domain. Other advanced statistics are available, however, we recommend Google Analytics, which provides:
- Site and page level traffic information
- Visits and Pageviews
- Pages/Visit
- Bounce Rate
- Average Time on Site (stickiness)
- Traffic Source
- Geographic information
Below is a typical Google Analytics dashboard
Urchin Tracking Modules
Urchin Tracking Modules or UTMs offer powerful measurement opportunities. UTMs are used to add extra information to a URL to allow significant website traffic monitoring. UTMs are specifically designed to provide the most accurate measurements of unique website visitors. The UTM is an extremely valuable technology for businesses looking to gain a deeper understanding of their online visitor behavior. UTM combines with Google Analytics to showcase exactly where website traffic is being generated from. UTMs can be used to track all forms of advertising, including print and electronic (e.g. banner ads). UTMs are a powerful combination with social media because you can track what content is generating traffic to a website.
Other Internet Measures
When utilizing electronic news release distribution services like PRNewswire, BusinessWire or PRWeb, each provides a useful dashboard for measuring news placements. As mentioned, traditional press clipping services are still available.
When utilizing an Email Service Provider (ESP) to develop and distribute email campaigns, most provide robust campaign reporting and metrics including deliverability, bounces (bad email addresses), open rates, click-through rates (CTR), and Opt-Outs. Examples of ESPs include iContact, Benchmark, Constant Contact or MailChimp. Comparing rates to average benchmarks is a useful exercise. (Open rates average 5-20%; click-through rates average 10%).
Website registrations can come from a number of offers, registration pages or conversion forms. Marketers may have such electronic forms for subscriptions (newsletters, updates, warranties), white papers, catalogs, training material downloads, promotions and events; or RSS registrations for blogpost updates and news items.
Check out the other blogs in our Measuring Marketing Series:
Measuring Marketing: Traditional Measures
Measuring Marketing: Social Media
Do you use other Internet measures? Let us know in the comment box below and share this post using the social bookmarking tools below!
