This document discusses measuring the success of online marketing campaigns from concept to evaluation. It recommends starting with pre-campaign copy testing to determine the most effective creative content. During the campaign, data from the ad server and web analytics should be joined to track user actions like click-through rate, conversion rate, and post-click and post-view behaviors. After the campaign, users should be profiled and their behavior analyzed to evaluate if the right audience was reached. Post-campaign branding studies can also assess the influence on brands through measures like awareness and brand equity. The key is integrating research functions like pre-testing, monitoring and post-analysis for a full picture of campaign performance.

1. Measuring online campaign successA to Z approach

2. Global InputsH1 2009 Internet ad spend is growing despite the credit crunch: in UK (23.5%) it beats TV (21.9%), and grows 4.6% in 2009, while total ad spend goes down massive 16.6%. Internet measurement becoming as advanced as ever, joining together site-centric, campaign-centric and video measurement tools. CEE markets catch up with broadband penetration levels and inherit best practices on serving heavy ad content Current Internet development allows brands to interact with their users more and more, engage them into social, community, creative, fun and gaming activities – all the innovative things which you can think of, when planning communication strategies

3. Local inputsIn Lithuania internet penetration is 54% (7 y.o. +), which equals 1.7 mln usersOnline adspends share – expected around 5.5% this year, same as last year due to crisis influence. Online ad market volume expectation - 22 mln lt in 2009.On average Lithuanian internet users spend 12H online monthly, and 1H average on a regular working day – that is 2-3 times below European averagesBroadband takes 42% of household connectionsThanks to it – all major innovative tools such as video, microblogging, viral games are there.Internet media is already huge. So how to make most of it? What does it mean - to measure campaign success and user engagement from A to Z?

4. Imagine a case-study…Single-source solution from concept creation to evaluationYou are launching a new product with Your clientYou have clear idea about your TG, offer characteristics, pricing etc via regular consumer intelligence researchYou have selected Your creative agency, web-developersYou have developed a product website with hot & trendy web 2.0 elements such as games, tests, social networking, video contentNow it is the time to launch the communication strategy…Tag Your site Test Your adsServe the CampaignGet users to Your siteProfile themTrack themAsk themFollow up

5. 1 - Start with online copy-testSet a TG, matching predefined socio-demographic criteriaDetermine what character / content is the most clear and attractiveExamine which creative is most associated with the advertised brand and TGInvestigate each creative power to encourage a visit to advertised web site / to take part in a contest / to make a purchase

6. Exemplary test: content featuresQUESTION: Please mark to what extent you agree or disagree with the following statements concerning this advertisement. ad 1 seems to be the leader in regard to attractiveness and drawing attention

7. ad 2 seems to be the leader in regard to clarity

8. ad 4 seems to be the worst evaluated creative in regard to all the dimensionsthe chart presents the average levels of agreement with the statements (on the scale 1 means “I definitely disagree” and 7 means “I definitely agree”); answers “I don’t know” were excluded from the calculationad 1: N = 500ad 2: N = 500ad 3: N = 500ad 4: N = 500

9. QUESTION: What would you associate this advertisement with at first glance?Exemplary test: content associations most common associations with all the creatives are beauty and care products and an exotic trip

10. the following creatives were relatively most often associated with the particular content: ad 2 and ad 4 – with a contest ad 2 – with beauty and care products ad 1 – with an exotic trip ad 4 – with an partythe arrows on the chart are always directed towards the group with the higher percentage of indications of a given association than the other groupthe sum of the percents is not equal to 100 as respondents could have given more than one answerad 1: N = 500ad 2: N = 500ad 3: N = 500ad 4: N = 500

11. 2 – Serve and audit ad campaignSo what does CTR really mean?Czech Republic stats, 2008From one side – clicks are important, but is it ALL we can take from campaign?

12. USERS seen creativeUSERS moved to target page after clickingUSERSperformed action on target page after clickingUSERS clickedGoing deeper with direct campaign responseCTRCRPost-ClickPost-ViewUSERS moved to target page after seeing creative

13. Joining data from adserver and web analyticsFrom other side – not-clicking visitors always dominate, do not underestimate their importance…ALL visitors from your campaignmay actively use your web-site

14. 3 – Track users’ actionsWhat happens next with people redirected to target web-site?! DO they follow the same behavioral patterns as regular visitors?! DO they make required actions?! DO post-view visitors do what you want them to?! DO they become loyal users and “core audience” of advertised web-site?

15. Example of visitors behaviour

16. 4 – Profile your audienceLet’s say: You run a campaign of a well-known car brand, targeted for persons aged 25-39, with secondary or higher education, living in medium and small cities ……You get your average CTR of ~1%, conversion rate at ~80%…Within post-campaign analysis You discover that some required actions were made, but loyal audience (especially post-click) grew insignificantly…What might have gone wrong? Maybe You simply attracted not the right people?Following is some real example…

17. Car brand campaign CTR profile

18. 4 – Profile visitors’ behaviorWith innovative tracking solutions such profiling is possible “on-the-fly”:! NO need to wait 1-2 weeks after campaign end to produce the results! TRACK now – measure effect now.! ONLY this will allow to actually influence and change things before its too late.!AND that is what Internet is for = instant reaction to events = saving moneyInstant XLS report – views, clicks, actions

19. 5 – Evaluate influence on brandWhy post-branding tests matter?FMCG, Auto-Moto and other traditional companies are stepping stronger into Internet. Telecoms are long living there = their main concern is brand promotion.

20. Internet changes to main support medium for TV = Advertisers expect same capabilities and even more. Online branding studies (pre & post) in form of on-site surveys help to evaluate user brand experience.

21. 67%66%Brand X83%9%9% B14%9%7% B23%4%8% B33%3%3% B42%2%2%B52%2%2% B60,4%1%Pretest1% B70,3%Posttest3%Posttest (mailing)3%other1%0,3%0,4%no answer0%0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%Pretest: N = 1 000Posttest: N = 1 000Posttest (mailing): N = 680percentage of respondents100% - all the respondentsBranding studies – spontaneous awarenessQUESTION: Please list up to 5 brand names of ANALYSED TYPE OF PRODUCT that first come to your mind. BRAND X is the unchallenged leader in regard to the top of mind awareness in the general sample

22. there were no significant differences in BRAND X results between the groups that filled in the questionnaire before the campaign (pretest) or after it (posttest)Branding studies – brand equityQUESTION: We would like to know your opinion concerning particular brands of ANALYSED TYPE OF PRODUCT. Please check all the brands that fit the following statements.Among the general sample BRAND X is significantly better evaluated by those who filled in the questionnaire before the advertisement campaign in respect to criterion 1 (products of this brand perform longer than others)Pretest: N = 962Posttest: N = 945Posttest (mailing): N = 67118100% - all the respondents who know BRAND X

23. The bottom line is… Mounting an effective campaign in online always means integration with research functions. Pre-research, monitoring, and post-analysis used standalone do not provide full picture – solution should be integrated: one source data highly advised. Digital marketing is a tool - one of the best ever created, considering the perspective possibilities. But doing it right ain't cheap, or easy .