Site Design for Measurability

Commentary by: Mike Osswald, Strategic Director

One of the strategic tasks we are often asked to accomplish is how to best utilize the Web for companies whose products are not sold directly to a site’s major audience. For any company not selling directly over the Web, there exist multiple channels and levels of distribution between company and consumer, and it is inherently difficult to “close the loop” from Web visit to sale.

However, even without e-commerce, there are a number of other opportunities to make a Web site valuable. One such opportunity is to design a site for interest measurement.

A Web site is by far the best media for measuring, since it is available to everyone, everywhere, anytime. Unlike print or television, every page and activity can be recorded to a log or database. A site designed for measurability can capture far more data, faster and cheaper and more effectively than focus groups or surveys.

How does this work in practice?

A Hanson client that utilized the above is Merillat Industries, America's number one cabinet manufacturer. In 2000, Merillat launched a new logo and a highly complex new marketing concept called Organomics™ (a blending of organization and ergonomics). From a marketing standpoint, there was a great deal that Merillat wanted to learn from its customers. Additionally, they were eager to promote this new way of selling cabinets.

Merillat was interested in learning not only people’s interests in Organomics solutions and cabinets, but also wanted to know where users are coming from, whether they consider themselves gourmet, whether they have children, etc.

With today’s heightened awareness of privacy issues, we determined that it would make users uncomfortable to be asked numerous questions about their home life and personal habits. For example, instead of asking, “Do you have children in your household?” we can get the answer to that by noting that a particular user clicks on a link titled “for growing families”.

Hanson created a site for Merillat that measures information by watching the pages and features that the user views on the site. Then, users are allowed to save products and pages in a personal “workbook” which they can print out and take to a dealer. All saved workbook items are recorded in log files that can then be analyzed by Hanson and Merillat.

The workbook feature has proven to be a huge success. Over 11.5% of all visitors create a workbook, and each user saves an average of 7.5 items.

The next step

Designing a site in this way obviously has its benefits for measuring data for later analysis, but it also sets the stage for real-time dynamic modification of a site. By looking at what people click on, and what they save, we can apply group characterizing formulas, and deliver a more unique experience by modifying pages on the fly. And that’s really exciting!

Related Links:

  • Correlating Web-User Data (ClickZ.com, May 1, 2001) A basic overview of how to analyze web-collected data to derive real-world sales opportunites.
  • Personalization (Northwestern University) A description of different types of Web site personalization. Part of a site developed by students in the Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University.
  • The End of the Hit Parade (Web Business - CIO Magazine, May 15, 2000)
    This article describes several techniques of learning what your audience wants, so you can create better user experiences.