A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

4 

Qualitative to quantitative: from qualitative assessments by customers through surveys 

and focus groups through to quantitative analysis by independent auditors of data across 

customer acquisition (e.g. number of site visitors or reach within market, cost of acquisi-

tion, number of customers, sales volumes and revenues and market share); conversion 

(average conversion rates) and retention such as repeat conversion and number of active 

customers.

5 

In-sector and out-of-sector: benchmarking against similar sites within sector and 

reviewing sectors which tend to be more advanced, e.g. online publishers, social networks 

and brand sites. Benchmarking services are available from analysts such as Bowen 

Craggs & Co (

www.bowencraggs.com

). An example of one of their benchmark reports is 

shown in Figure 8.11. You can see that this is based on the expert evaluation of the suit-

ability of the site for different audiences as well as measures under the overall construction 

(which includes usability and accessibility), message (which covers key brand messages 

and suitability for international audiences) and contact (which shows integration between 

different audiences). The methodology states: ‘it is not a “tick box”: every metric is 

judged by its existence, its quality and its utility to the client, rather than “Is it there or is 

it not?’”