Internet Marketing Metrics / KPI
Strategic Internet Marketing requires Key Performance Indicators to manage the implementation
The main metrics used in strategic Internet marketing have to be derived from the underlying Internet Marketing objectives.
Main Internet Marketing Key Performance Indicator
Number of visits: The number of unique visits to the Web presence indicates the awareness created for the products, services or brand via the Internet.
Conversion Rate: The conversion rate indicates how many of the users visiting the Web site have initiated a transaction. This KPI indicates the attractiveness of the products, services or transactions offered online.
Number of Transactions: The number of transactions may refer to financial as well as non-financial transaction.
Secondary Internet Marketing Key Performance Indicator
Awareness Turn around Time
Awareness Cost
Conversion Turn around time
Conversion Steps
Transaction Turn around time
Transaction Return:
Additional Metrics / KPI
Many years of applied and theoretic Internet marketing has resulted into a large set of Internet Marketing Metrics. Many KPI might just be relevant to specific business models or services/products offered.
Overall onsite duration - Time spent on the entire Web site (Might be distorted from tab browsing. May indicate interest or confusion. More relevant measure would be the conversion to indicate the attractiveness of the content
Average time on Web page - Time spent on one specific Web page Might be distorted from tab browsing. May indicate interest or confusion. Again, more relevant appears to be the conversion rate
Clicks per visit - Clicks per visit (same page may count several times) May indicate interest or unclear navigation funnel. More relevant would be conversion steps or turn-around times
Pages / visit - Visited pages per visit May indicate interest or unclear navigation funnel. More relevant would be conversion steps or turn-around times
Total Investment - Cost of Internet presence or marketing activities No relationship to corresponding value contribution. Helpful if segmented for specific areas, e.g. Awareness activities. More relevant would be transaction return (ROI)
Errors - Number of error messages shown No direct link to Internet marketing objectives. Valuable to improve Web site
Onsite search terms - Keywords searched in onsite search function No relationship to Internet marketing objectives. Valuable to identify good keywords and consumer interests
Bounce rate - Percent leaving the Web site after visiting a specific page Weak relationship to Internet marketing objectives. Can be used to improve clickstream. More relevant measure would be conversion steps and turn-around times
Bailout rates- Percent of users stopping transactions on specific break points Weak relationship to Internet marketing objectives. Can be used to improve clickstream. More relevant measure would be conversion steps and turn-around times
Registrations - Number of users registering on Web site Relevant just for specific Web sites. Measured in the KPI ‘transactions’
PageRank - Numerical representation of Web site popularity Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Increased PageRank may create more visits (KPI of the framework)
References / Backlinks - Hyperlinks to the Web site Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Increased backlinks may create more visits
Indexed pages - Web sites indexed in specific search engines Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Increased indexed pages may create more visits (KPI of the framework)
Download time - Time to download Web page Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Decreased download time may create better search engine positioning, consumer convenience and subsequent visits or conversions
File Size Size of html files Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Decreased file size may create better search engine positioning and subsequent visits
Keyword density - Utilization of meta keywords within body text Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Right keyword density may create better search engine positioning and subsequent visits (KPI of the framework)
w3c compliance - Adherence to html standard syntax Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Compliance may create better search engine positioning and subsequent visits (KPI of the framework)
Code to text ratio - Percentage of text in total html source code Technical number which has no direct reference to Internet marketing objectives. Improved ratio may create better search engine positioning and subsequent visits (KPI of the framework)
Alexa Traffic Rank - Ranking from Alexa.com based on estimated traffic Comparative value with no significance to Internet marketing objectives.
