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June, 2002 |
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I-Tech |
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Measure Your
Initiatives Having solid
and defined goals from the outset is the key t wasn’t so long ago that companies—dot-coms and traditional firms alike-were obsessed over such metrics as hits and page views when measuring the success of their Web sites. Those days now seem like the dark ages, in the wake of the death of a number of dot-coms and a realization by most companies that these metrics simply don’t matter. Nowadays, most companies are hip to the fact that the initial Web site-centric approach to the Internet is long over. They understand that the Internet is now about saving money and time for your customers, employees, and partners. But how do you go about measuring the success of the Internet initiatives your company undertakes? And is there a way to determine that success in advance, before your company purchases expensive software and begins training employees to use new products? There are a number of ways to measure whether your Internet initiatives are successful. The ever-popular return on investment (ROI) metric is an important measurement of Rupees and hours saved. But customer-satisfaction levels are also key in these customer-driven times. Companies need a new approach to measurement, one that is tuned in to the demands of the customer economy; this approach begins with the recognition that measurement is in fact an essential part of managing, not of accounting. The purpose of measuring is not to know how a business is performing but to enable it to perform better. Define Your Goals Every measurement used should have a clear purpose, and employees must understand why things are being measured and what they are supposed to do about them. For instance, when measuring customer-satisfaction levels, you should track concrete information, such as whether the company actually delivers things to customers by the promised date. Talk to Customers Also, it sounds silly and obvious, but you actually have to talk to your customers. If you are a small company, it is possible that you can get by on intuition, but if you are a medium- or large-size company, you must contact customers to find out if they are happy with your products and services. Some vendors are wise to the fact that the economic climate these days means companies are reluctant to spend money on products unless they can be sure it will pay off. For instance, RightNow Technologies Inc., a provider of Web-based customer-service solutions to more than 1,100 companies, including Electronic Arts, Pitney Bowes, and Schwinn, offers customers an ROI calculator. The calculator is designed to measure the savings a company can realize using RightNow’s solutions over the next two years in two areas: migration of services to the Web and operational efficiencies within the customer-support group. Big Planet, a provider of telecommunications services to individuals and small businesses, is a RightNow customer that has seen measurable benefits using its solutions. According to industry sources, Big Planet saves about $37,000 each month using RightNow’s Web eService Center, where it only paid $50,000 for the product in the first place. The company’s goal was to get more customers to use its FAQs section, by using its e-mail and chat as a way to drive them toward that section. Mine Your Data There are other measurements aside from those that analyze money and time saved or customer satisfaction. For instance, elevator and escalator manufacturer Otis Elevator recently put in place a data-mining solution to measure the effectiveness of its Web site, which has about 35,000 users—including architects, building owners, and building managers—and receives about 1,800 visits each day. They didn’t want to look at the number of hits, or those standard metrics like page views. Instead they wanted to know things like what are people clicking on? How much time do they spend on the site? They started to filter this data back into product-development areas to help reshape the site. This takes them toward personalization. Learning more about its registered users helps create “super-qualified leads” for Otis Elevator’s salespeople. What do Big Planet, Otis Elevator, and few other companies all have in common when it comes to measuring the success of their Internet initiatives? They are keying in on metrics that are goal-oriented and can strengthen their businesses and their relationships with customers down the road. Ultimately, after all, you must realize that the Internet’s most important benefit isn’t flash and glitz but the dry-as-dust idea of streamlining your business and processes. “The Internet is not cool, sexy, and glamorous,” says a famous Internet personality. “It’s another industrial tool with all the glamour of plumbing. But I don’t want to work in a place without plumbing.” By Mahendra Vesawkar with references from international writings. He can be reached at m.vesawkar@itnti.com |
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