news

PREDICTION 2 RESEARCH RESULTS: ROI METRICS

Read the topline results from feedback about our second prediction from our ongoing online research into the development and future of connected marketing (CM).

These results are an amalgamation of insight from CM industry luminaries who submitted their views about CM Prediction 2 which stated: ROI metrics will be mandatory for viral, buzz and word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing campaigns. ‘Advocacy rates’ and ’sales uplift’ will become important parts of ROI metrics, displacing traditional measures such as campaign reach.

Sadly, old habits die hard. It seems that most viral and buzz marketing campaigns are still measured in terms of their reach. Practitioners or their clients for the most part still seek to justify their efforts by trying to compare any awareness generated by CM projects to that generated from traditional top-down marketing techniques such as advertising and PR.

In fact, even the measurement of conversations generated by WOM marketing campaigns is in reality a thinly disguised form of reach. It simply misses the point of the CM approach. In contrast, measuring the advocacy generated by WOM campaigns provides a more tangible insight into the impact of customer engagement, as does any measure of sales uplift.

However, the measurement of advocacy per se, without linking its increase to any subsequent business growth such as sales uplift, is arguably no more credible than measuring reach in terms of the exposure achieved.

Then again any sales uplift generated by a WOM marketing campaign may be only temporary, particularly when WOM marketing is used tactically and often at a higher cost of contact than a traditional media approach.

In the end, it’s still early days and there’s still work to be done in developing a set of metrics which show empirically the ROI of viral, buzz and WOM marketing, particularly in terms of an enduring return. And it remains to be seen whether there will ever be a “one size fits all” set of metrics for the wide array of CM approaches. Currently, apples are not being compared with apples.

Submit your own thoughts about Prediction 2 and the other predictions here.

4 Responses to “PREDICTION 2 RESEARCH RESULTS: ROI METRICS”

  1. Josh Grobly Says:

    Do you outsource your graphic work for your website? I like them and would be interested in knowing who did yours! I’m in the process of designing my template for my new blog but having a hard time. Looking to pay someone to help.

  2. Frailey Says:

    This is a great resource for anyone who blogs!!

  3. Private Label Rights Says:

    Never really looked at the information like that before. Thanks!

  4. Brigette Reich Says:

    Thank you for the good info. I’ve been conducting a bunch of research on this over the past two weeks.

Leave a Reply


info@connectedmarketing.org
+44 (0)20 7928 7555 tel
+44 (0)20 7928 7299 fax

334 Great Guildford Business Square
30 Great Guildford Street
London, SE1 0HS
Multimap

Copyright © 2005 - 2008 Digital Media Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.