CReATION: Measurement on the 'Net means more than click-throughs

Measuring the success of Internet advertising goes beyond using the standard CPM and click-through models, 'Net ratings and interactive specialists agreed at MEDIA's recent i-Marketing Seminar 2000 in Singapore. It was not the number of clicks that count, but how many of those translated to sales, and what was done with the information gathered from users, they said. CPM (cost-per-thousand) and click-throughs are the standard metrics used for measuring web traffic, but agencies have argued against the accuracy of relying on those models to evaluate the success of a marketing effort. "CPM is the easiest type of metric that clients can understand. They assume that a banner is served every time, but what if it is at the bottom of a page?" said Mr Stephen Yap, director of marketing and communications for IamAsia. Another speaker, Blue Sphere Interactive managing director Jay Shapiro, pointed out that it is the behaviour of users after clicking the banner that is important. "The Internet has the potential to build sales loyalty, and marketers are interested in creating value to drive their businesses. Looking at click rates is a false measurement of success." In other words, measuring loyalty and awareness among the audience is at least as important. Some ways to ensure accuracy, said Mr Hugh Bloch, managing director of ACNielsen e-ratings.com, are by measuring the strength of one site against another, making cross-country and global comparisons, giving detailed measurements of the sites and advertisements, and comparing it with traditional forms of media. The biggest problem, said Mr Yap, is in setting up a representative sample of users to study: "It is not the size of the panel but whether the panel represents the demographics of users. A larger panel is not more accurate." Mr Bloch agreed: "It depends on what you want to do with the data. If people want to look at things in more detail, then a panel is needed where we can look at individual markets." Knowing where to advertise is of course the first step in successful Internet marketing. According to Mr Yap, once the users' demographic data is available, a company can focus on a specific target audience. Many companies, however, choose to advertise in "superportals" that can result in wastage. "People go to Yahoo.com or China.com to ensure they are reaching out to the maximum number of audiences. Sure, they can reach a lot of people, but many are those that they don't really care about," he said. "Web auditing in Asia is still nascent. We should use opportunities available to find a sophisticated way of measuring." He said that the metrics used today cannot determine the particular sites visited and the time of day of an activity. "Media owners and advertisers need to work together to come up with new metrics." A key reward in using the Internet effectively, some speakers noted, has been seen in customer relationship management (CRM), where a company can have richer interaction with users than through traditional media. "The Web is a great way to identify and use information to attract key customers," said Mr Graham Kelly, Ogilvy Interactive's regional creative director of Asia. He cited an example where the Skandic Hotels had used its data to drive its business by identifying its most valuable customers and providing them with free WAP phones installed with a reservation system. Meanwhile, Mr Peter Schoppert, senior VP of product and strategy of AsiaContent.com Media, noted how MTV (Asia) had utilised its online membership to drive its success. Within a couple of months, he said, 200,000 members had signed up for its newsletter. "Getting to know the audience is more important than just providing content," he said.

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