Marketers Admit: We Don’t Get Web Metrics

Most marketing execs pay lip service to the notion of accountability. But a staggering 84% say that their firms’ ability to measure Web marketing is limited at best.

And it’s not hard to see why. Over 15% say analysis is nonexistent on their teams, and more than half make it a part-time chore. What’s more, executives rate their own Web knowledge as scanty.

Those are among the sad findings of a new survey by WebTrends.

The good news is that most firms are planning actions that could lead to improvement. And they are increasing their Web spending.

Of the 250 marketers surveyed, 31% said the Web was the hub of their firm’s marketing strategy, and 25.3% predicted that it will become that within a year. Another 39% described the Web as a strategic channel, less important than other channels.

But many firms are not prepared for the challenge. Only 4% rated themeslves as Web marketing experts, and they gave even lower marks to their staffs.

The weighted average for staff knowledge was 5.5%, compared with 6.3% for the CMOs. And that ignorance carries over to performance measurement.

A mere 15.1% described measurement as “a real strength of my team.” A hefty 56.4% have metrics but admitted that there is “still room for improvement.” And 23.6% indicated that they have a “weakness” in the area.

What’s holding marketers back?

“The challenge is due to a lack of consistent, goal-based metrics to measure reach, frequency, and conversion across all online campaigns,” said a spokesman for Web trends.

Another cause is “the inability to target customers with relevant marketing and messages due to siloed analysis; tools that only provide aggregated data such as page views and visits,” he continued.

What’s siloed analysis? That’s “the variety of different tools marketers use such as email marketing solutions, search and banner ad networks, that each supply varying levels of analysis based on different methodologies, prohibiting a true apples-to-apples comparison.”

Meanwhile, slightly over a quarter of the firms assign Web performance on a part-time basis to multiple employees. Slightly less assign it part-time to a single person.

At the same time, only 9.7% assign it full-time to multiple employees. And 15.7% delegate it on a full-time basis to a single staffer.

Relatively few—6.9%–give the job to an outside agency or consultant.

And what are these firms doing to foster an ROI mindset and increase accountability?

Almost half plan to do training, and a slightly lesser percentage said they will build metrics into employee performance reviews and compensation.

Finally, 25.5% plan to hire a dedicated business analyst, and 19.4% will hire an outside agency to handle the service.

These things take money, and many firms plan to provide it. Over 83% plan to increase their Web investment this year, 21.6% significantly and 26% moderately. None plan to decrease it.

Of the marketers surveyed, 18% were chief marketing officers, 26% were marketing vice presidents and 29% were marketing directors. The rest were classified as “other.”

As for category, 52% were B2B, 10% B2B and 34% both.