thefunnel

I came across an interesting web application that I’m probably going to try out.  This tool greatly improves on-site conversion rates by being able to present content to web site visitors dynamically, based on a certain set of user defined rules, such as keywords, visit frequency, location, referred / visited URL and so on. What this means is that based on what you know about the visitor as a persona, you can present the visitor with more relevant content, which leads to higher conversion. For example, if one of the web sites visited prior to yours was one of your competitors, you would have a different message compared to if the visitor was a frequently returning loyal customer. Not only does this helps in being more targeted in your messaging, it also provides a potential solution for reducing “page sub optimization” (this is when the same one web page is trying to target multiple audiences, by scrolling messages / banners, etc.), and the need for specific landing pages, which are not helping to build your SEO equity on your main site.

In B-2-B marketing and lead generation due to the length and complexity of the marketing / sales funnel marketers and because of lack of closed loop systems, often have to accept that sometimes the only things that can be measured are impressions or clicks, instead of the true marketing ROI. Even at this level marketers should try to closely examine not only the quality of clicks generated, but also the cost as it turns out that the face value of the cost might be deceptive.   The True Cost of a Click  The True Cost of a Click

A bit disappointing to read the MarketingProfs 2009 success story case study collection about Social Media ROI. The paper talks about how 11 known brands that are listening, engaging and measuring social media. I think this part are OK, and there actually some interesting approaches that one could learn from. The connection ROI however is in most cases not there. A statement like “thanks in part to increase coverage (PR) sales have continued to risen….” simply doesn’t cut it, and marketeers need to make sure we don’t claim or take credit for things that we can’t prove. It will only get us in more trouble and not advance the credibility of marketing. On the other hand the story is re-assuring for companies only now starting the experiment with social media, in the sense that not many, if any, have figured out the financial return.