New DMA 'Web Analytics Report' Helps Direct Marketers Increase ROI, Conversion Rates

November 14, 2007 — Multichannel direct marketers today can accumulate a plethora of data about their customers through the marketers’ Web sites. But the real challenge for many is how to interpret and use that data effectively — especially when the sheer volume of that data seems too daunting for any kind of meaningful analysis. Enter the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) first-edition “Web Analytics Report.”

In this recently published report, which is based on the responses of 131 marketers and suppliers who responded to DMA’s analytics survey, DMA has encapsulated information that has long been the sole province of those with advanced degrees.

According to Eugenia Steingold, Ph.D., DMA senior research manager and the report’s chief author, the “Web Analytics Report” has two primary objectives: The first is to examine the key components of Web analytics, including common metrics and how marketers employ them — reinforced by survey responses. The report’s second objective is to instruct the reader how to use Web analytics to increase conversion rates.

“With so much data readily available today, one of the principal challenges of Web analytics — long known and now supported by this new DMA research — is determining which metrics to track and then to employ for which purpose,” said Dr. Steingold. “Our report tackles this longstanding challenge. It analyzes each metric, one by one, and describes why each should be tracked, for which purpose it is most effective, and which marketing decisions it can support or enhance. It also examines how Web analytics should be used to optimize websites, evaluate online and offline campaigns, and, probably most importantly, increase conversion rates.”

Dr. Steingold added, “our report also uses the expertise of ‘Wandering’ Dave Rhee of Ox2, the well-known guru of Web analytics, who provides his insights into what Web analytics can be most helpful with, how to maximize its effectiveness for your ROI, and how to avoid various challenges that it might present.”

The report’s eight chapters detail:

Part One: Web Analytics — The Big Picture

· Survey Respondents and Their Use of Web Analytics:

Ø Overview of Respondents

Ø Effectiveness, Challenges, and Investment

· Data Collection and Analysis

Ø Metrics

Ø Examining Web Analytics Programs

· Web Analytics and Channel Integration

Ø Using Web Analytics to Evaluate Online and Offline Campaigns

Ø Using Web Analytics to Launch a Multichannel Campaign

· Web Analytics and Business Decision-Making

Ø Making Decisions About Your Next Marketing Campaign

Ø URL — Its Usage and Effectiveness

Ø Who Uses Web Analytics?

Ø Web Analytics and Overall ROI

Part Two: Using Web Analytics to Increase Conversions

· Additional Metrics for Increasing Sales and Generating Leads

· Internal Search Data

· Optimizing Check Out

The “Web Analytics Report” is $245 for DMA members and $445 for non-members. To purchase a copy, visit DMA’s online bookstore at www.the-dma.org/bookstore or click here.

# # #