Today's technology offers ample opportunities to start conversations with and among customers, fans, foes, competitors, and the press—any person or group who cares to listen and, perhaps, act on the messages received. By some estimates, 85% of the information companies collect is not in a form that they can access or analyze—it is unstructured. The Gartner Group reports unstructured data doubles every three months while seven million web pages are published every day. This cacophony presents the one of the biggest challenges companies face today. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

You may or may not be using the basic segmentation strategy of RFM (recency, frequency, monetary): dividing your email mailing list into a few buckets based on recency in ordering or visitation to the site, the number of times they've ordered or visited the site, and the lifetime spend. But here's a better approach to segmentation. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

As web marketers seek new ways to boost conversion rates and improve the site experience of their visitors, interest in multivariate testing is on a feverish rise. But those unfamiliar with the techniques are often unclear about where to start, or how to ensure success. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Marketers must continually fight the temptation of executing random, disconnected lead-generation activities to prospects. Success today requires marketers to apply the discipline of campaign development in order to establish a relevant, timely dialog with the target audience. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Web analytics tools and pay per click reporting features are becoming more sophisticated, offering savvy marketers vital insights into what's working, what's not, and what needs more effort. But there is so much data available that it can become difficult to determine what to look at and which to ignore. TMI (or Too Much Information) becomes both a blessing and a curse. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Online users expect more today from Web sites, and competition is fierce. Marketers should be considering how to change their sites to keep up with customer expectations of the Web, and to increase conversions and enhance the brand experience. In fact, all companies with public-facing Web sites may soon be challenged with a redesign. There is opportunity for marketers to take the lessons of customer-centricity and put them to work to optimize customer relationships online. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

We may all be tightening our belts a bit more soon. As a result, our marketing budgets will be under even more scrutiny, and marketing professionals will be held even more accountable for the money they invest. The pressure for marketing to demonstrate the contribution and value it is making will increase... yes, even more. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

One of the biggest hurdles that many companies face in adopting a blogging strategy is that they aren't sure how to quantify the results of their efforts. But as blogging has evolved, and it has become much easier to accurately measure blog performance and tie those measurements back to achieving specific goals. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

In the past, the CMO and CIO have had a tenuous relationship, with both roles vociferously complaining about the other's lack of understanding, knowledge, and respect. But two powerful exponential trends are forcing Marketing and IT to communicate and collaborate like never before. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Over the past 15 years, business-to-business marketers have focused on the pipeline—leads converting to opportunities converting to wins. The reason was simple... [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

What is viral marketing? Is keyword density still a factor in SEO?—that and some other stuff that we've been testing... in this Marketing Over Coffee, a weekly audio program sponsored by MarketingProfs that covers classic marketing tactics and what's new on the technology front. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

The scramble to justify budgets can result in a hyper focus on short-term ROI rather than a long-term sustainable path to continuous improvement. In truth, continually improving marketing effectiveness involves addressing three key interrelated, foundational areas. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Email can be a great call to action for multichannel customers, particularly in retail but also in B2B marketing. We all know that email can play a powerful role in turning Web researchers and site browsers into buyers. In fact, more and more of our retailer clients are building a specific segment of in-store buyers—and getting results that blow away store managers. Lessons learned in these B2C experiences can also be applied to B2B, especially with the advance of more strategic account management approaches that cross business and geographic boundaries. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Are you LinkedIn? Do you Spoke, Ryze, Jigsaw, or ZoomInfo? In 2008, will you get a Second Life? If these social-networking concepts are not on your radar, you are ignoring a dynamic trend that could have a profound impact on key areas of your business, such as revenue growth, talent acquisition and development, and operational efficiency and effectiveness. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

If you haven't done it yet, now is the perfect time to map out plans for your email program. Any changes you might make in the first few months of the year will stand you in good stead; any plans or changes that you implement in the first quarter should pay dividends for the balance of the year. Here are several actionable ideas. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Marketers interested in measuring effectiveness and ROI need to understand whether marketing mix modeling can work for them, or how to get the most from it. Modeling measurements are often considered a bit mysterious. But MMM has long been a reliable measurement for consumer packaged goods companies and is now proving to be a great planning and measurement tool. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

What is marketing automation? What are the four methods of measuring Web site traffic? Find out in the latest episode of Marketing Over Coffee, a weekly audio program sponsored by MarketingProfs that covers classic marketing tactics and what's new on the technology front. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Marketing is suffering from a crisis of credibility. So what can marketers do to be seen as part of a machine that drives revenue and profits, not just the people who throw parties and buy swag? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Whether you are campaigning to gain budget approval to implement your nurturing strategy or need to illustrate ROI for an existing nurturing program (or you are just trying to evaluate your current tactics) effective measurement of your nurturing program is critical. Outlined below are five steps to measure your nurturing initiative and start having it be viewed as a profit center rather than a cost center. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Long-term corporate success is linked to the ability to innovate, and Marketing should play a more central role. Who is better positioned to give insight into who will buy, how many they will buy, why they buy, and when specific markets will buy? It is time for marketing executives and professionals to step into a leadership role and lead the innovation charge! [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Without metrics to track performance, marketing and business plans are ineffective. For marketers, three primary metrics stand out as a starting point for tracking their performance. Once companies are aware of their competitive position, their desired outcomes, and what it will take to achieve those outcomes, companies will be better able to identify the success factors, benchmarks, and appropriate metrics to meet their target. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Marketers need to consider a new calculus: "return on marketing integrity"—that is, a new type of "ROMI"—which can lead to stronger business performance. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

Companies should (and can!) implement a sustainable, consistent telephone prospecting program to develop a "sales territory" using an approach that sales reps will actually adopt. If telephone prospecting controls the destiny of your business, you should investigate a better way to control your telephone prospecting. Start here. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

There's new interest in solving an age-old corporate problem of how to measure customer satisfaction. Lukcily, there are new tools for doing so, too. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

What constitutes marketing operations? Marketing operations adds an emerging dimension to the marketing mix. Enabled by new processes and technology, it goes beyond the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), and 3Cs (Customers, Competitors, Corporation), to fully round out the marketing mix. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Metrics & ROI

AutoAnything.com, which sells custom-made automotive accessories and performance parts, designed its homepage almost a decade ago. But as e-commerce has become more competitive, the site needed a strategy. After testing different versions of landing pages, AutoAnything.com increased landing-page conversions by up to 12%.[Read the full story]
Marketing Case Studies: Metrics & ROI

Each year, when MLB's postseason culminates with the World Series, all eyes are on baseball—or are they? With most teams out of the running, do those fans continue to watch? Are the resources invested in marketing worthwhile, or in tune with fans' true passions? [Read the full story]
Marketing Case Studies: Metrics & ROI

The landing page for a top Web site's most popular search term converted about 30 percent less frequently than the company's general landing page. By simultaneously testing four new versions of the landing page, the site was able to ensure relevance, increasing conversions 67%—and decreasing abandonment rates.[Read the full story]
Marketing Case Studies: Metrics & ROI

Kimpton Hotels had successfully created a loyalty program, but its email program was lagging. By implementing an email strategy that focused on segmentation and targeting individual preferences, and by adding a corporate branding strategy, the company increased email bookings fivefold.[Read the full story]
Marketing Case Studies: Metrics & ROI

In this 2007 survey, the third annual on ROI, respondents who use ROI for their marketing efforts expect greater growth and enjoy greater confidence from their senior management than respondents who don't use ROI. [Download] Marketing Downloads: Metrics & ROI

Let's face it, more small businesses fail than succeed. Make sure yours is one of the winners with this guide to getting your small business off the ground and solidly on the road to success. [Download] Marketing Downloads: Metrics & ROI

The e-newsletter has become ubiquitous. Almost a dime a dozen. How do you make yours not only stand out in the inbox, but make a positive impact on your bottom line? This guide will show you how. [Download] Marketing Downloads: Metrics & ROI

Metrics is the guiding light of your marketing efforts. Without measurements, you're operating in the dark. Make sure you are tracking the right metrics, and get tips on interpreting the data with this comprehensive guide. [Download] Marketing Downloads: Metrics & ROI

Direct marketing is one of the fastest changing disciplines within marketing today. What worked 10 years ago, isn't working today. Heck, what worked last week sometimes doesn't even work today, so keep your skills sharp with his How-To guide, focusing on the B2B market. [Download] Marketing Downloads: Metrics & ROI

Your Web site is an ideal venue for holding your customers' attention. But how do you measure the success of your efforts? Inspired by Eric Petersen's presentation on the subject at an eMetrics conference, Katie Paine, of KDPaine's PR Measurement Blog, decided to make a... [Read the full story]
Marketing Quick Read: Metrics & ROI