• by Tom Hespos , June 17, 2002

The trackability of online media is the Internet’s classic example of a double-edged sword. Site builders and online agencies sell clients on the Internet’s unique nature as a completely accountable medium of communication. Yet the accountability of online media can lead some clients to misguided judgments. As online media professionals, we all need to be aware that some of the feedback we receive from ad servers, web server logs, third-party auditors and “private metrics” like Yahoo’s Buzz Index or Word of Net has the ability to not only help us, but also to hurt us. Online marketers have a responsibility to their clients to frame this data in a context that is appropriate with respect to what a client is trying to achieve.

We’ve all been hearing for years that an online ad’s click-through rate (CTR) is insufficient for measuring the overall effect that an online ad has on a consumer. After all, CTR is a gauge of immediate interest in a product or service. It tells us nothing about an online ad’s effect on brand awareness, purchase intent, or a prospect’s consideration set. It also doesn’t account for a prospect’s later visits to a client’s website as the result of the ad impression itself. Yet many online advertisers continue to gauge the success of their online advertising campaigns on CTR.

Only recently have online agencies started to consistently demonstrate the true impact of online ads to their clients through custom success measurement. Branding surveys, behavioral analysis, and lifetime customer value tracking have started to move into their rightful place as the tools that will more closely approximate the effects of online advertising. These tools can help every online advertiser, from the brand advertiser to the hardest of the hardcore direct response marketer. More significantly, they will show both industry insiders and outside observers alike that we’ve been judging online advertising unfairly over the past few years. These tools have the potential to be the defibrillators that revive online advertising and breathe new life into this fledgling industry.

The notion of using custom metrics is the subject of a recent panel discussion that you’ll find in this section. Media Magazine assembled a panel of some of the most talented minds in online advertising today, in order to give you an idea of the solutions that today’s top online agencies are employing to get a better handle on what’s working online and how well. While you’ll find that the individuals involved in the discussion might have a wide range of ideas for measuring the effects of online ads, you will notice a common theme in their comments: CTR ain’t working, and in some cases, it can be a downright dangerous metric to use. We hope that this discussion spawns some new measurement ideas for you and renews your faith in our emerging medium. “But wait,” you’re probably saying, “advertising is only a part of the whole. I need to get a handle on my whole online presence.” Fear not, faithful reader. On the following pages, we also give you some practical advice on how to get the most from a website traffic report. Just as advertising’s metrics are evolving, so are the measurements we use to quantify the success of a website. It’s simply not enough to run the occasional templated WebTrends report. Customization is the new name of the game.

Also relatively new to the measurement front are services like the aforementioned Yahoo Buzz Index and Word of Net. But just like anything in the Internet industry, it’s not enough to simply place blind faith in such a service. To truly understand what these services bring to the game, it’s important to pop the hood and take a look underneath, so you can accurately judge what these popularity indicies are worth.

Without a doubt, measurement is one of the key issues that presents huge challenges for the online media industry, and we think it will be thrust under an ever-brighter spotlight over the course of the next year or two. We all know the old adage: “I know that half of my advertising works, I just don’t know which half.” With every advance in the measurement sector, we draw closer to identifying that half. Read on and see just how close we can currently get, and where we’re likely to be in the near future.