Tracking Alvarez A...

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Tra c k i n g

A n g e l a P a o l a A l v a r e z R u i z

D i g i t a l C h a n n e l R e s e a r c h R e p o r t

March 9th, 2014.

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Table of content

What is tracking.

Tracking in the past.

The step from the past to the present.

Tracking in the present.

Why track.

Tracking tools and how to use them:

Google analytics.

Topsy.

Lissly.

Channel Monetization.

Outsourcing.

Lucy Small’s Case.

References.

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What is tracking?

To track, according to the oxford dictionary, means to; “follow the trail or movements

of (someone or something), typically in order to find them or note their course. To note

the progress or course of.”1

As the definitions suggest, it is used to observe and monitor the progress and/or

quality of something during a period of time where systematic surveillance is needed

and this something can be a number of items depending of the type of results desired.

Tracking is the process of finding specific information (in the social web in the case of

digital marketing) and building of an essential database, which will be then analysed

with the objective of evaluating performance, optimizing results and boosting

efficiency in the marketing and advertising activities of an organization. In

consequence, tracking is a fundamental tool within marketing research and the

general marketing activities of brand, product and service positioning.

1 Oxford Dictionaries. Tracking. Available: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/track?q=track. Last accessed 08 Feb 2014.

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The main purposes of tracking are:

• To obtain quantitative results, which measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts in terms of scope or reach, usage

and return on investment.

• To gain qualitative results that draw out customer’s perceptions and attitudes as well as associations to the brand,

product or service.

• To acquire detailed information about consumers’ characteristics, tendencies and habits in order to, one personalize

and improve the way these are targeted, and two identify if the profilers targeted fit the actual consumers.

In this way, tracking allows the attainment of insights to consumer preferences, measures and monitors the performance of

campaigns and different strategies identifying what works and what doesn’t based on real time information, while allowing

organizations to make informed marketing decisions.

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Tracking in the past.

In the old days, companies based their tracking on “quantitative surveys, where structured questions and scales allow an

assessment of how customer perceptions have been affected by the brand positioning efforts [as well as] qualitative research,

which systematically elicits customer perceptions through regular focus groups or in-‐depth interviews.”2 The problem with this is

that monitoring then became a time consuming and expensive method whose accuracy can be put into question because most

of the information is historical, the collection of it took place post-‐campaign, not during, and thus reports and results were

based on what both the company and competitors had already done. “Traditional media gave us a long time-‐lag between

exposure and consumer response, in the past we could get away with looking to the past. Digital media [in the present] is not so

forgiving3” (Wertime, Kent 2008).

Additionally, the information that tracking provided marketers in the past

did not allow precise measurement of actual impact and success of

marketing efforts such as publicity campaigns, in the words of John

Wanamaker; "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is

I don't know which half.”(John Wanamaker) Thus, it was nearly impossible

2 Aaker, David A. (1996). Building strong brands. United States: Free Press. 189. 3 Wertime, Kent (2008). DigiMarketing : the essential guide to new media & digital marketing. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia).

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to accurately define whether a campaign was generating returns or it was an unnecessary and useless expense.

The step from the past to the present.

With the creation, and more punctually, the development and improvement of the

Internet, which is now over a decade old, our world has been revolutionized: from

the way people communicate and interact, information is shared, media is

consumed and distributed, to the way organizations make business among each

other and reach their audience, the way they market and target. Today, not only are

digital channels a way to easily reach and attract masses but they are also a way to

listen to them, because from the development of the web 2.0 there has been a

possibility to ask what the consumer wants and modify things accordingly; the

consumer has gained the power to express him/herself (i.e. to share their opinion

on given issues or products and companies) as well as to create content about

others and themselves (mainly through the use of profiles) and in this power there

is an opportunity for companies to gain valuable insights.

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On the other hand, it is now possible to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts on the web through the use of different

programs and links, cookies and embedded invisible tracking images, among others. An example which will be studied further

in the next chapter is that of emails, it is now possible to identify whether an individual opens an email or not and if he or she

clicks on the links provided. The information within the social web and the digital cannels are means to learning, but the

process of understanding and learning itself is tracking.

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Tracking in the present.

Why track.

Data is the lifeblood of marketing, especially of digital marketing, it is the key to using channels

effectively, identifying and targeting the right audience while approaching it and building a

relationship with it in the best and most appropriate way. Data allows this because it provides

insights to each consumer’s preferences and interests, as well as its habits. It is a “big opportunity to

use the new media to learn what each consumer genuinely wants by analyzing what each actually

does. The ultimate goal is to have a learning loop with consumers, so that each time you have a

customer contact, you can be better informed for the next contact.4” (Wertime, Kent 2008)

On the other hand data is now current, it is possible to base decisions on real time information and

change content accordingly to the reactions received. However, what is the use of all of this data alone? How can this data become useful given the

amount of information available loosely? There is a clear need to filter data and to organize it, to analyze

4 Wertime, Kent (2008). DigiMarketing : the essential guide to new media & digital marketing. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia).

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the most pertinent one and make results visible, through an extended period of time; there is a need to track data.

Tracking tools and how to use them .

The digital tracking tools are, at a very general level, those that create a database and analyse the information acquired to

measure and evaluate results, they are analytics that register data and quantify and

qualify information into comprehensive result representation. The findings/insights

that are obtained correspond to the desired issue and in accordance to the

parameters elected to record and study such information. Such parameters will be

the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the overall performance: An example of

KPIs is the sentiment analysis that “uses computer algorithms to automatically

detect the basic mood, attitudes, or emotions of the creators of content on the social

web. Typically, sentiment analysis classifies social media opinions about a brand (or

other topic) as positive, neutral, or negative.5”

Tracking tools, as mentioned throughout this report, allow measurement of the

behaviour, engagement and characteristics of the profilers and

5 Barker M, Barker D, Borman N, Neher K (2013). Social Media Marketing. United States: South Western. 287

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brand/product/service positioning. The principal ways in which tracking happens within digital marketing are: • Web traffic:

Traffic sources

Clicks

Conversions

Page views

Time on site

Sharing

• Social Media activity: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.

Followers or fan base

Likes

Comments

Active users

Sharing

Mentions

Tags

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Reach

Here are some tips to ensure that the tracking activity is efficient and effective:

1. Choose focus area: what are the main objectives?

a. Quantitative

b. Qualitative

2. Set the right parameters (KPIs).

In this way the right information is analysed, saving time and costs.

3. Chose tool that fits objective the best.

Choose the tool that provides the most relevant insights and parameters.

For example one tool will focus on mentions, while another one will not only do this but also or instead focus on the

words associated to a topic.

4. Select target rich platforms.

When analysing data, it is important to analyse the data from sources that are rich in data belonging the profilers of

interest.

Having established this and taking it into account a general example will be provided with the objective of simplifying the

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concept and use of tracking systems: if a company wants to determine how is its brand perceived and what are the attitudes

consumers have towards it, the organization must use one of the multiple

digital tools available that allow monitoring of the content expressed in the

web around the brand, from comments users posts on forums and social

media, to the key words used to identify it. For this punctual case the company

can use tools like Lissly and Mention.

On the other hand, if the company wants to identify which ads are the most

effective in attracting people to their website and/or which of these actually

convert into purchases, then the most recommendable too will be the Google

Analytics Multi-‐channel funnels6 that, as we will see later on, allow the user to

see how customers interact with the possessed digital channels up to a month

or more before the conversion7 happens.

6 For more visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz4yHOKE5j8 7 “The point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action.” In other words, conversion is simply getting someone to respond to your call-‐to-‐action. I.e. converting visitors into paying customers. http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/conversion-‐defined/

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It is now convenient to take a look at some of the most relevant tracking tools available, although there is numerous analytical

tools only the most important for the final case study will be presented. It is also important to make reference to other Digital

Channel Research Guides that might be pertinent as they are or present features of tracking systems themselves such as Pay

per click and Facebook.

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Google Analytics

Google analytics is a free program used for tracking traffic patterns within a website, it shows the user the behaviour of

customers across different platforms such as video, websites and social media, among others. This provides insights on: 1. The audience’s needs while visiting the website and on the way to conversion.

2. Who they are, what appeals to them and how they interact with content.

3. What channels they go through in order to reach the website.

Possessing this information will allow the user to tailor marketing activities to suit the targeted audience better, pleasing the

existing costumers more and attracting new ones. In this way the user makes sure that the marketing efforts have a greater

impact, that they are actually effective and that the changes needed are made at the right speed.

There are three main steps for using Google analytics; nonetheless the third step will be seen into more detail since it is the

step that provides the more and most relevant results.

3.Learn about your audience.

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This is the key step into using Google analytics because here is where the information desired is defined to be obtained and the

analysis of data is presented. Here is where the user is able to see details such as which type platform directed the customer to

the user’s website, where the visitors are from and which visitors are more engaged, etc.

• The first thing to do here is to select the parameters or KPIs in which the user is interested to evaluate, this is done by

customizing the dashboard. Here it is also possible to choose in what form (type of chart and graph) the information

will be displayed.

Image retrieved fromhttp://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-‐analytics-‐5

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• Next thing to do is to access the

report section, where the user will

find the Visitors Overview screen.

Here, the user will find a chart that

shows the traffic patterns the

website experienced during the

passed month. It is also possible to

see the information corresponding

to other periods and even compare

the data from different phases. The

charts give the possibility to make

annotations correspondent to

relevant facts or actions that allow

the user to identify whether these

changes have an impact on the


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• In the Visitors Overview

screen it is also possible to

see every detail related to

the visitors: the number of

visitors and whether these

have visited the website

before or not, the average

time visitors spend on the

website and the percentage

of new visits.

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• Moreover, demographic data

and medium (system and

mobile) particulars are seen at

the bottom left side, this allows

the user to know what are the

main languages its customers

speak and where these are

located, what is the technology

used to access the website.

There is even the possibility to

view in detail a country and

where within it visitors are

accessing the website from.


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• Next up is behaviour, by

clicking on the second

option on the bar in the

left hand side, the user will

obtain information about

the frequency with which

visitors return to the site

and how these engage

with the website. This

allows the user to identify

and separate its website

fan base, the users that

engage and help spread

information about the

website. Image retrieved from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-‐analytics-‐5

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• Moving on, the section of traffic

sources allows the user to know

what sources the traffic of the

website comes from. There are

different types of sources of

traffic; these are Search (visitors

coming from search engines),

Referral (clicks from another

website into the user’s website),

Direct (visitors directly type the

website’s URL or links clicked in

an email newsletter) and

Campaigns (traffic from adwords

campaigns).

Image retrieved from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-‐analytics-‐5

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• When clicking on each one more detail is provided, for example which search engine directed visitors to the user’s website.

Image retrieved from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-‐analytics-‐5

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A very similar tool that allows the same functions is Facebook Insights, the difference being that it focuses on

content posted in Facebook as a company promotion and fan page.

Topsy

Topsy is a free analytical tool that allows the user to search and analyse the web by introducing a word on its search

engine. It provides information on the tweets related to that specific term within given periods of time. It offers free

services on information pertinent to the last 30 days and last hour separately, organising this information into

statistic graphs while showing the most relevant or recent text, links, videos and picture tweets. It also allows the

user to go through the different languages that are tweeting on this topic.

1. Type the term on Topsy’s search engine.

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2. Get the Topsy sentiment results and recent tweets.

3. Click on the Topsy analytics to get a graph representing the behaviour and amount of tweets around the term in a given

period of time.

Image retrieved from http://topsy.com/s?q=a%20thousand%20splendind%20suns

Image retrieved from http://topsy.com/s?q=a%20thousand%20splendind%20suns

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Lissly

Lissly is a tracking tool that “Lissly collects, sorts and visualizes every single post from different social media -‐ regardless if it's

a blog post, a tweet, an update on Facebook or even a post on a niched forum.1”

• Information presented in an organized and comprehensive form; data regarding mentions within a given period of

time is plotted into graphs.

• Reviews content in forums and other type of social media beyond the most popular channels (Facebook, Twitter,

Youtube and so on).

What really differentiates Lissly from other analytic tools is that it focuses on the content, not on where visitors come from

or merely how much activity there is around a brand but what type of activity there is, what content. Lissly includes a

number of features, the most interesting and beneficial are:

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• Lissly also monitors related video content.

• This application allows the user to separate and highlight information and mentions that result particularly relevant

or appealing within the program itself.

Image retracted from http://lissly.com/features/multimedia-‐monitoring/

• Lissly shows the common related words consumers use to the brand, product or service, allowing the user

to establish quickly and clearly which are the associations in the consumer’s mind.

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The main disadvantage Lissly presents is that, unlike the other tools presented, it is not a free tool. Lissly offers

three packages which differ from each other in the amount of data included, prices range from €149 to €599 per

month, which compared to other tools in the market results quite expensive.

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Monetization

1. Improving efficiency on ads.

2. Optimizing marketing efforts.

3. Optimizing market research

4. Selling Information.

There is another way to take advantage of tracking further from its use as a tool of monitoring but also as

a source of revenue. The monetization of tracking can take different forms, it can mainly happen by:

Improving efficiency on adds can happen in two ways, thanks

to the ability to track where customers access the webpage

from the user is able to see which adds are being effective

and which ones are not, and thus invest more on those which

drive more traffic and cease investment on those that don’t.

On the other hand, the user can also track the activity of customers within the website itself, meaning he/she can see

where customers centre their attention and how much time they spend on that particular area of the website. This

allows improvement of efficiency on ads placement, if the user is offering advertising space within his/her website to

others, in order to get a higher returns advertisement must then be placed on those areas in which visitors centre

their attention on, thus converting more ads exposure into clicks.

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Optimizing marketing efforts is one of the main objectives of tracking traffic on the website and other digital channels

such as social media, for example if the user’s presence is strong on a determined area or place in the world (this is known

because of the amount of visitors coming from that specific place) then the user can focus its efforts on that area, once

conquest it can move efforts to another area where presence needs to be reinforced. The user can also see which of its

social media accounts has higher engagement by customers and thus dedicate more efforts into it.The user can also check

who opens emails and who discards them as spam, this will lead into insights about how to approach the audience and

what type of customers are suited for this type of marketing.

Image retrieved from http://www.personifycorp.com/association-‐technology-‐news/social-‐media-‐news/social-‐media-‐marketing-‐efforts-‐are-‐ineffective-‐without-‐strategic-‐purpose

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The information collected by the tracking system can be sold to another company, especially to those companies that

attract customers with similar interest or are targeting the same segment. Now, the depth and volume of the data to be

sold can vary and proportionally its value. To comprehend this we will look at the chart designed by Accenture on ‘Driving

value from Raw data to Insights. In this chart, the volume of data is highest at the bottom and decreases on its way up

(orange), while conversely the value of the data decreases from top to bottom (yellow).

http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-‐Data-‐Monetization-‐in-‐the-‐Age-‐of-‐Big-‐Data.pdf

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“A good example is the collaboration of Ford Motor Company with INRIX, a leading provider of traffic and navigation services, which now provides Ford with real-‐time traffic information and enhanced routing for all Ford vehicles with Ford SYNC, an in-‐car communications and entertainment system developed by Ford and using Microsoft technology8.“

8Available at http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Data-Monetization-in-the-Age-of-Big-Data.pdf. Last accessed 8th March 2014.

At the bottom of the chart it is possible to sell only the raw data collected at hand by the website, nonetheless the value of this data is low and thus the revenue on it will be in comparison to that one of other types of information, also it minimizes the opportunity to provide enhanced services.

The higher along the pyramid, the deeper data is processed and thus the higher its monetary value; operators begin to create applications and insight products that sit on top of the data. This help generate new value-‐added and create platforms for data-‐driven transactions such as ad targeting, retail payments and the provision of customer insights. Because Tracking processes information according to the KPIs one wishes to establish information is no longer raw data, it is processed data that offers insights after observation and abstraction. In this way Lucy Small is placed on the processed data an insights area.

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“Outsource2india provides Research and Analysis Services like Market Research, Financial Research, Pharmaceutical Research and other KPO solutions at highly competitive rates.

Get neatly structured, clearly presented & expertly designed reports from Outsource2india for all Research and Analysis Services.

Hire a full-‐time statistician at $22 per hour (this rate is on a minimum of 100 hours per month).9” $220 a month minimum.

9 Available at http://www.outsource2india.com/kpo/research-‐analysis-‐pricing.asp Last accessed Mar 8th 2014.

Outsourcing.

In order to save efforts or get better and more specific results outsourcing of information tracking is possible. Here are some of the Key players that offer these services.

Nabler offers the data necessary to make important marketing decisions processed in “a

way that makes sense to you” providing data collection solutions, tool usage and reporting.

This includes an account that accesses information, work from experts in all mainstream

web analytics applications and reports with KPIs and other performance indicated tailored

to the user’s needs.

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10 Avaliable at http://www.beehivestrategy.com/services/implementation/

This company focuses on behavioural research about costumers and their response to products and services. Amongst their services they offer eye tracking of websites, magazines, search engines, etc. This is useful for Lucy as mentioned before in order to optimize her website’s design and potentially the cover of her book online and off line.

To conduct 2 days of eye tracking

research with 20 participants:

£ 11,200 +VAT ( approx. 14560

EUR )

“Right implement and customize the tools is important to the generate the right intelligence of reports and insights for future strategy and decision-‐making. Beehive Strategy helps you throughout implementation and configuration of analytics tools according to the nature of each tool when selecting”

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Having understood what tracking tools are and which are some of the

options a company or brand can use, it is now pertinent to evaluate how and

why these tools are useful for the particular case of Lucid Small, her book and

Lucid Writing in general.

On first instance, the use of tracking tools will allow Lucy Small to gain crucial

information about her customers and the effectiveness of the channels

through which she promotes and delivers content, it will also allow her and us,

the marketers, to identify what associations and terms are the strongest

around the issue in the existent content within the web. More punctually it

will allow:

• The easy identification of the target group in terms of demographics, as

well as its behaviour.

• Evaluation of what techniques attract such group the most, which are

Lucy Small’s Case.

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more effective.

• Insights on what marketing efforts are more effective, which have a higher ROI (return on investment).

• Overview on the response of customers to Lucy small, her book and coaching services.

• Exploitation of areas within which she has a strong presence to later on once conquest focus on areas where her

presence is weaker.

• Enhancing and improving website design to improve customer experience and highlight desired content (ads or

important announcements, etc).

• Ads Optimization.

• Increase overall of return on investment on all marketing efforts.

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Wertime, Kent (2008). DigiMarketing : the essential guide to new media & digital marketing. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia). Aaker, David A. (1996). Building strong brands. United States: Free Press. Barker M, Barker D, Borman N, Neher K (2013). Social Media Marketing. United States: South Western. Oxford Dictionaries. Tracking. Available: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/track?q=track. Last accessed 08 Feb 2014. Available at http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/conversion-‐defined Last accessed 08 Feb 2014. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz4yHOKE5j8 Last accessed 08 Feb 2014. Available at http://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-‐analytics-‐5 Last accessed 09 Feb 2014. Available at Topsy.com Last accessed 09 Feb 2014. Available at Lissly.com Last accessed 08 Feb 2014.

References

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Available at https://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=insights Last accessed 08 Feb 2014. Available at http://www.google.com/analytics/ Last accessed 08 Feb 2014. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz4yHOKE5j8 Last accessed 08 Feb 2014.

Available at http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-‐Data-‐Monetization-‐in-‐the-‐Age-‐of-‐Big-‐Data.pdf. Last accessed 8th March 2014. Available at http://www.personifycorp.com/association-‐technology-‐news/social-‐media-‐news/social-‐media-‐marketing-‐efforts-‐are-‐ineffective-‐without-‐strategic-‐purpose . Last accessed 08 Feb 2014

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